Focus Stacking in Photo Shop
Apr 4, 2018 16:52:30 #
I do very little focus stacking, so when my subscription to Helicon Focus came due, I didn't renew it. Instead, I looked around for a free alternative and found that the current version of Photoshop has focus stacking. Certainly its not as advanced as stand alone software, but for free, it works. Here is the process if you want to give it a try.
When I do a landscape, three to five images is about all I use. For this example of the Christmas cactus I used 18 images. Here's the process.
1. In Bridge, select all your images.
2. Once selected, in Bridge click Tools, Photoshop, Load files into Photoshop layers.
3. Once the images are brought into Photoshop, select all the layers.
4. Go to Edit, click auto-align, then in the new box click auto and click OK. Wait for Photoshop to do its processing.
5. With all layers still selected, click Edit, auto-blend, and check the boxes of stacked, seamless tones and colors, and content aware, then click ok.
6. Wait for photoshop to process, then flatten the images.
7. Once flattened, adjust to suit your taste, ie, crop, levels, etc.
Here is the flower example using this process.
When I do a landscape, three to five images is about all I use. For this example of the Christmas cactus I used 18 images. Here's the process.
1. In Bridge, select all your images.
2. Once selected, in Bridge click Tools, Photoshop, Load files into Photoshop layers.
3. Once the images are brought into Photoshop, select all the layers.
4. Go to Edit, click auto-align, then in the new box click auto and click OK. Wait for Photoshop to do its processing.
5. With all layers still selected, click Edit, auto-blend, and check the boxes of stacked, seamless tones and colors, and content aware, then click ok.
6. Wait for photoshop to process, then flatten the images.
7. Once flattened, adjust to suit your taste, ie, crop, levels, etc.
Here is the flower example using this process.
Apr 4, 2018 18:26:35 #
Apr 4, 2018 18:41:54 #
Apr 4, 2018 22:11:50 #
I must say your procedure surely works nicely. I wish I could get a clear explanation of how to do it with GIMP.
Apr 5, 2018 01:55:25 #
ImageCreator wrote:
I do very little focus stacking, so when my subscription to Helicon Focus came due, I didn't renew it. Instead, I looked around for a free alternative and found that the current version of Photoshop has focus stacking. Certainly its not as advanced as stand alone software, but for free, it works. Here is the process if you want to give it a try.
Here is the flower example using this process.
Here is the flower example using this process.
The first time it happened, it was like WOW, I can do this. The only difference is, I let Lightroom process the handoff to Photoshop.
Apr 5, 2018 07:35:00 #
Apr 5, 2018 09:33:33 #
I like it. Thank you for taking time to explain the process in such detail. If it ever quits raining here I will be able to give your process a try. Some flowers are starting to bloom in this area.
Apr 5, 2018 10:57:29 #
Beautiful X-mas cactus. Doesn't Photoshop auto-align automatically when you select Photo Merge?
Apr 5, 2018 22:09:54 #
Apr 9, 2018 13:40:51 #
ImageCreator wrote:
I do very little focus stacking, so when my subscr... (show quote)
Focus stacking was part of PS for many, many years and I always preferred it over stand-alone programs like Zerene or Helicon ( which I also used for some time)!
Focus stacking has also been possible in PSE for quite some time ( but it is very time consuming with a lot of work-arounds)!
Apr 9, 2018 15:00:06 #
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