Mark Sturtevant wrote:
From what I understand that you are trying to do, it will help immensely if you have a tripod or at least a monopod, and also very still conditions. As in an early morning before the breezes have stirred up.
You can do quick stacks, with a small number of frames, by simply turning the focus ring a little. Do several 'runs', and attempt the stack with picture frames that line up the best. There will be artifacts with this method because of movements, but these can be patched up later. A stacking program like Zerene Stacker has tools for selecting which bits of the original picture goes into the stacked picture. But those tools can't do everything although it can do basic fixes are very quickly and it requires no particular skill. Then there are more powerful programs like Photoshop or Gimp (Gimp being free), which provide cloning and healing brushes that can do fancier corrections. Here is an example, taken from a few pictures by simply turning the focus ring. There were artifacts that remained, where parts of the wings did not line up. But those were corrected in Gimp by cutting and pasting them into alignment, and then using cloning and healing brushes to conceal my work.
Best to view in download.
From what I understand that you are trying to do, ... (
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I'm still pretty much of a newbie in the world of focus bracketing and stacking software, but the vast amount of help, suggestions, and encouragement on this site are great. Many thanks, and the image of the dragonfly is wonderful. We used to have those little white-bodied guys zipping around our pond when I lived on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. I loved watching them. Good memories.