Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

Hi photogrl...
Being a stubborn German Capricorn, the first thing I would do is get a yardstick. (Do you see where I'm going here?)
If you're shooting at 2.8 and your DOF is 2", and your subject had a total depth of 18" (front to back), then you probably have 7-8 shots.
(Why only 7-8 shots and not 9? Because your effective DOF increases as you focus out to greater distances.)
Put this handy yardstick in the scene and focus on the near plant or flower, noting the focus point on the yardstick.
If you're like me, you will remove the yardstick before you take your photo.
Photo #2: put the yardstick back in and focus on the next segment using the easily focused on numbers on the stick.
And on and on, till you have your 7 or 8 photos, at which point you begin the next stage of your project, heading for the well lit "darkroom".
Make sure to post your results for us, at which time we'll all be asking YOU questions! Best of luck!

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Hi! Mr. cs5 expert here. I wish I can remember where I saw the tutorial but the guy took 13 photos On a pretty long subject. It looks like yours could be done in 3 or 4. Obviously you are using a tripod or what's left of it.

Do it in manual mode with manual focus. Get your lighting right. Set your aperture to what you think it should be. Then focus on the front portion. Shoot the frame. Look closely and determine where, in the photo, does the back end drop out of focus? Then zoom in to that point. Re focus and shoot the photo. Continue until you reach what you think is the end.

I can not remember how he did the layering. I did this a long time ago when I should not have. I remember doing 6 photos and it was very tedious for me since I did not even have the basics of cs5 down yet and I kept messing up. But it worked. I was going to try it once more today as a matter of fact, using my Lionel train as the subject. It was going to take too much time which I did not have. But this time I would at least have the photos saved properly. Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=intzev1gsbI

Now remember, I really suck at photoshop but heed me when I tell you to shoot in manual with manual focus. This part I have down pat. I hope I was of some help, your Highness.

dwightdills Loc: Charlotte, Tn.

I was thinking even to focus on a grey card at different focal lenths.

treadwl Loc: South Florida

Start with a lens that has a VERY shallow depth of field. Maybe something like the nikon 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 lens. Be certain that you are nearly as close as possible to the subject to avoid the lens jumping to an infinity setting and focusing on everything. Use spot focus setting and make certain that the focus "square" in the view finder is positioned "DEAD CENTER" on a particular piece of the arrangement.(front most object) Take first shot. The change the focus "square" to another section of the photo (green thing in the back) and shoot again.

It might be rough to do in an arrangement that small because you are working with a DOF issue and it will come down to how the lens actually reads the subject. But the more shallow the DOF the more selective the focus will be.

Larry

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

I am by no means an expert. I just have a thought. If you're on a tripod and you have the camera on autofocus, even with spot focusing, isn't the camera focusing on the same area each time?

I would probably try manual focusing.

My 2 cents.

lesdmd Loc: Middleton Wi via N.Y.C. & Cleveland

By now you have probably realized that the aperture does not change, only the focus. I recently discovered two pieces of software that do a spectacular job: ControlMyNikon -currently only for PC and Nikon that allows the stack of shots to be set-up automatically (assuming one is using an autofocus lens) and Zerene Stacker that then takes the stack of shots (100s, even 1000s) to create a final shot with tremendous depth of field. To avoid confusion, if one is creating the stack manually, the lens must be in manual focus mode; when using the software to do so, it must be in auto focus mode. ControlMyNikon is a real bargain for $10 and allows tethered control of the camera using a PC. Zerene Stacker (lifetime support and upgrades for $89) is far superior to what Photoshop provides and in addition allows a nifty editing function.

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

If I am understanding correctly ... the main difference in where it focus' is the zoom ?

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

Ah ... changing the focal position on the screen is the one thing I didn't try ....

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

Yes I'm on a tripod and manually focusing

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

Your Highness LOL tainkc you are a hoot .... I got a new tripod ... a manfroto :) and the heathens won't come anywhere near me when it's in my hands .. they run away lol.

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

I downloaded a 30 day free trial of zerene stacker ... I'm going out today to apply all the good advice y'all gave me ... wish me luck ... and patience LOL.

lesdmd Loc: Middleton Wi via N.Y.C. & Cleveland

Zerene Stacker is only as good as the images it has to work with. You can do the focusing manually. You must use a tripod. take the lens of autofocus, and the more layers (slices) you create, the better will be the results. Keeping the lens parallel to the subject will also help.

HOHIMER

To see the concept of stacking do the following.
1. Get three yardsticks.
2. Place them end to end on a long table or driveway, in good light. (This provides 9 feet of depth)
3. Place your camera on a tripod at one end of the line of yardsticks. Make sure all the yardsticks are visible in the frame of view and you can see the inch markings and numbers.
4. Select a lens with very low “F” stop. (50 mm, at f 1.9 is good). Set it to the lowest f stop.(wide open)
5. Use manual focus to focus on the inch mark closest to the camera. Take a picture.
6. Without moving anything, manually focus on the one foot mark on the first yardstick. Take a picture.
7. Without moving anything, manually focus on the 2 foot mark on the first yardstick. Take a picture.
8. Continue this process, taking a picture focused at each of the one foot marks along the three yardsticks from nearest to furthest end.

You now have a set of images that can be stacked to show the total 9 foot length of the yardsticks in focus.

The effect can be more dramatic if a macro (close-up) lens is used since the DOF is much shorter. The higher the magnification the better the effect can be seen.

In the old days (film). I used a light slit to photograph bugs to get greater DOF so the whole bug was in focus, front to back. Just move the slit along the body of the bug, focusing at each point on the area covered by the light slit, and re-exposing. The result was a bug in focus from end to end.

silver Loc: Santa Monica Ca.

Focus stacking is a series of images made at different depth points in the image. In order to do this properly you need a focusing rail that can move your camera forward at set intervals. The correct way to do this is not to change the focusing of the lens, you have to literally move the camera forward slowly and make exposures as the camera is moved. Changing the focusing of the lens changes the perspective of the subject and the end result is not sharp. This has to be done on a focusing rail. There are videos on youtube that explain the process. Look for focus stacking on a focusing rail. You dont change the focusing of the camera, you have to move the entire camera forward bit by bit until you cover the depth of the item you want to photograph keeping the focusing of the camera untouched. Here is a video on the correct way to do focus stacking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf7ABBqd0bw&feature=related One last thing, you can not have your camera set to auto focusing it must be in the manual setting. This is the only way to do focus stacking properly. I would recommend the Novoflex castel-l focusing rail, you can find these used on ebay for a good price. They are a little expensive but its a great rail. The stacking is done in photo merge in photoshop and there are videos about this also.

pfredd

I believe you have CS5, and can use it, so briefly ——
Layers — masks — soft low opacity black and white brushes will do what your last post says you want.
Or get all in focus with small aperture, accept the concurrent resolution reduction, gaussian blur, mask, erase.