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Nov 21, 2019 07:23:27   #
John Howard Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.
 
I am posting this here tho it maybe should be in the Post Processing section. Several of the new cameras have a Focus Stacking feature where after inputting the settings, the camera will focus at increasing distances and produce a series of images that you can merge in Photoshop to have complete depth of field. I have taken that idea and done it manually, say at F8, focusing on a foreground, middle ground and distant element (manually with focus peaking turned on) and then blended the images. I was wondering and will give this a try tomorrow, if combining this manual focus stack process with exposure compensation so that for example - photographing an early beach scene with the beach in shadow, a pier in sunlight, and a very bright sky. There are three layers to the image and you adjust the exposure (time not aperture) for each layer. Then open the three shots in Photoshop, auto align and then merge based on content. The merge will create masks for the out of focus bits, and the focused bits will have the exposure blended also. Sort of a focus stacked HDR. I do not believe the auto focus stack feature can adjust exposure also. Thoughts?

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Nov 21, 2019 07:46:15   #
ELNikkor
 
You mentioned 2 of 4 things that I've been observing that digital offers that would be arduous or impossible with film. Focus stacking, HDR exposure blending, resolution-increasing multi-exposures, and pano-stitching. Go for it! Let us know/see your results!

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Nov 21, 2019 08:01:28   #
MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"
 
I started shooting for HDR a few years ago and I now regularly blend six exposures. I do this with landscapes as well as studio work with still-life photos. I use Photomatix Pro for a program. I just recently started focus stacking using manual adjustments, with mixed results. I imagine that I could render each stop of focus using HDR and blend all of them in Photoshop: first HDR then focus stack. Each final image would take a while to complete and I'm just starting. Considering the amount of time each final image will take to complete I feel I have to be very particular about the subject.

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Nov 21, 2019 09:24:54   #
Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
 
John Howard wrote:
I am posting this here tho it maybe should be in the Post Processing section. Several of the new cameras have a Focus Stacking feature where after inputting the settings, the camera will focus at increasing distances and produce a series of images that you can merge in Photoshop to have complete depth of field. I have taken that idea and done it manually, say at F8, focusing on a foreground, middle ground and distant element (manually with focus peaking turned on) and then blended the images. I was wondering and will give this a try tomorrow, if combining this manual focus stack process with exposure compensation so that for example - photographing an early beach scene with the beach in shadow, a pier in sunlight, and a very bright sky. There are three layers to the image and you adjust the exposure (time not aperture) for each layer. Then open the three shots in Photoshop, auto align and then merge based on content. The merge will create masks for the out of focus bits, and the focused bits will have the exposure blended also. Sort of a focus stacked HDR. I do not believe the auto focus stack feature can adjust exposure also. Thoughts?
I am posting this here tho it maybe should be in t... (show quote)


You might be able to do this manually with masks, but I don't know of any software that can process focus and exposure stacks at the same time. I've done full hdr/pano/focus stacks by processing the focus stacks first, then hdr then pano. I think that was the sequence I used, it was a while ago.

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Nov 21, 2019 16:48:00   #
bleirer
 
You can do hdr and panorama at the same time in Lightroom, do multiples of these at different focuses then bring them into layers in Photoshop and mask which area of focus to reveal. Big files.

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Nov 21, 2019 16:59:16   #
Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan
 
John Howard wrote:
I am posting this here tho it maybe should be in the Post Processing section. Several of the new cameras have a Focus Stacking feature where after inputting the settings, the camera will focus at increasing distances and produce a series of images that you can merge in Photoshop to have complete depth of field. I have taken that idea and done it manually, say at F8, focusing on a foreground, middle ground and distant element (manually with focus peaking turned on) and then blended the images. I was wondering and will give this a try tomorrow, if combining this manual focus stack process with exposure compensation so that for example - photographing an early beach scene with the beach in shadow, a pier in sunlight, and a very bright sky. There are three layers to the image and you adjust the exposure (time not aperture) for each layer. Then open the three shots in Photoshop, auto align and then merge based on content. The merge will create masks for the out of focus bits, and the focused bits will have the exposure blended also. Sort of a focus stacked HDR. I do not believe the auto focus stack feature can adjust exposure also. Thoughts?
I am posting this here tho it maybe should be in t... (show quote)


I have been experimenting with hdr/focus stack/pano shots using a shift lens, Aurora HDR, Zerene and Paint Shop Pro.

Shift the lens to the right, then center, then left, and at each shift at each of three different focus points take three different exposures by changing the shutter speed. Then, 27 (raw) shots > 9 hdr (TIFF) images from Aurora > 3 stacked images from Zerene > manually stitch the 3 images together in PSP.

Mike

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Nov 22, 2019 09:27:08   #
gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast
 
I have read that changing the aperture on the various shots changes the DoF and doesn’t play well with the final merging. Not a good idea to try to blend focus stacking with HDR.

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Nov 22, 2019 12:21:24   #
Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan
 
gvarner wrote:
I have read that changing the aperture on the various shots changes the DoF and doesn’t play well with the final merging. Not a good idea to try to blend focus stacking with HDR.


Of course changing the aperture changes the depth of field. That doesn't mean that it is not a good idea to try to blend focus stacking with HDR. Change the shutter speed to change exposure.

Mike

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Nov 22, 2019 15:18:49   #
bleirer
 
Gene51 wrote:
You might be able to do this manually with masks, but I don't know of any software that can process focus and exposure stacks at the same time. I've done full hdr/pano/focus stacks by processing the focus stacks first, then hdr then pano. I think that was the sequence I used, it was a while ago.


I think it might have to be done manually, as you say. I recall trying to run it in Photoshop automatically but I kept getting stopped by "images must be the same size." I don't know how they got out of kilter, maybe the overlap on the the pano made the images different.

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Nov 22, 2019 15:24:07   #
Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan
 
bleirer wrote:
I think it might have to be done manually, as you say. I recall trying to run it in Photoshop automatically but I kept getting stopped by "images must be the same size." I don't know how they got out of kilter, maybe the overlap on the the pano made the images different.


Panos are pretty easy to do manually, at least for me, and I figure if my 20 year old version of Paint Shop Pro can do it then surely the up-to-date Cadillac of software from Adobe can.

Create a blank canvas of the appropriate size> add each image as a layer > drag them around so they align > merge all.

Mike

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Nov 22, 2019 15:45:52   #
bleirer
 
Blenheim Orange wrote:
Panos are pretty easy to do manually, at least for me, and I figure if my 20 year old version of Paint Shop Pro can do it then surely the up-to-date Cadillac of software from Adobe can.

Create a blank canvas of the appropriate size> add each image as a layer > drag them around so they align > merge all.

Mike



The OP is asking about panos that are hdr that are also focus stacked. I was saying that Lightroom will combine hdr and panos in one click, but to add focus stacking you'd have to do multiple hdr panos at different focuses, but Photoshop won't automatically focus stack those as usual because of different image sizes, so you have to roll your own by bringing them into layers and using masks to pick which part is best focused.

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Nov 22, 2019 16:45:06   #
mffox Loc: Avon, CT
 
Just do it.

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Nov 22, 2019 17:05:05   #
Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan
 
bleirer wrote:
The OP is asking about panos that are hdr that are also focus stacked. I was saying that Lightroom will combine hdr and panos in one click, but to add focus stacking you'd have to do multiple hdr panos at different focuses, but Photoshop won't automatically focus stack those as usual because of different image sizes, so you have to roll your own by bringing them into layers and using masks to pick which part is best focused.


Ca you walk me through that, given that I am not familiar with LR?

Mike

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Nov 22, 2019 19:00:21   #
bleirer
 
Blenheim Orange wrote:
Ca you walk me through that, given that I am not familiar with LR?

Mike


Say you took five shots to merge as a pano but you shot 3 exposure bracketed sets of those 5, you select all 15 and right click and choose hdr panorama, you have some decisions to make about which projection, whether to deghost, whether to apply auto settings, whether to fill in the cropped edges, etc. Takes a few minutes on my setup, time to get coffee.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/panorama.html

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Nov 22, 2019 19:07:44   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
gvarner wrote:
I have read that changing the aperture on the various shots changes the DoF and doesn’t play well with the final merging. Not a good idea to try to blend focus stacking with HDR.


I wouldn't discourage anybody from doing anything based on what somebody read.

Trying something new is almost always a good idea, even if it doesn't turn out as planned. You still may discover something new.

---

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