lsupremo Loc: Palm Desert, CA

After taking 4 slightly refocused images of a flower and transferring all 4 of them from lightroom to Layers in Photoshop, then Aligning and then Blending them I get the blended group that seems to have a wide kind of empty area all around the flower.

WHY?

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Photoshop does not work perfectly with stack focus, and sometimes simply does not work well with a particular stack. Using lenses that change the subject size while focusing are especially challenging. The greater the focus range of near to far, the more likely you are to have problems.

Over the years more recent editions do better than the first CS4 and CS5 versions.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Try Helicon or Xerene stacker. You will also need many more than 4 images, possible hundreds more depending on distance from subject, distance to be in focus and your lens.

CaptainPhoto

Why would you need hundreds of photos to focus stack? I have an Olympus MK III and can focus stack in-camera with 8 images and get great results. The camera takes the 8 RAW files and after processing them (in camera) creates a JPG version. I have taken the 8 RAW and used both Photoshop and Helicon to post-process them -focus stacking.
I can't really see a great difference. I would say that Helicon did do a little better.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

From my experience, when doing macro photography, you need more images than in landscape photography. The smaller the target and the closer you are to the image, the more shots you need. You’re dealing in microns, not meters.

lsupremo Loc: Palm Desert, CA

Thanks for your help,but I’m not sure what CS4 and CS5 mean.

lsupremo Loc: Palm Desert, CA

Thanks for your help I’ll look into those stacking options, and also how my lenses deal with image size

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I am assuming you used a tripod with remote release and did not move the camera when slightly adjusting focus. The problem might be focus breathing. If that's the case, when using autoblend, make sure that both "seemless tones" and "content aware fill transparent areas" are both clicked.

If that doesn't work, you might try manually aligning. Sometimes the auto align feature in PS doesn't work the way you want it to. Open as layers and turn off viewing the upper layers only looking at the bottom 2. Select the layer up from the bottom and set opacity to about 50% then use your arrow keys to align the parts of the image you want in perfect register. When you're happy, set opacity back to 100%, turn off that layer and turn the one above it on and repeat until all are aligned. Then stack them.


Good luck!

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

I cannot help with your problem, but I am interested in possible solutions. I sometimes get the same sort of problem with Helicon, although the "empty" areas are smaller than in your sample.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I agree that 4 shots probably isn’t by enough. What f stop were you shooting at? 4 is enough shooting a landscape at f/8 but not for close work. I’ve used in camera stacking with the Olympus for some things but if I’m using focus bracketing on either my Olympus or Nikon and then stacking in PS I use a lot more images. For macro work I’m usually shooting at least 200. I might not use all in the final stack but usually I use most.

Nickaroo

You have to Select Subject and then bring it in to the Petals of Your Flowers or whatever and then tighten it up. I did the same thing as You about 20yrs. ago, so I taught myself on how to improve on selections about 12 years Later.

Nickaroo

I do the same process and was able to learn from doing an Insects and Flowers. Of course I used my Macro-Slider with a solid Aperture of F/16-F/22 at times.

lsupremo Loc: Palm Desert, CA

what did you mean by Select Subject, and tighten it up? In Lightroom?

Nickaroo

Okay, Select the Subjects which means to totally protect them in a Mask. If you were in Photoshop then you could do it there and bring the Halo-Like areas in by bringing the Smooth Edge into the equation to make your selections exactly where they should be. In other words, You would bring everything just to Your Floral Subjects and You could make Your Background look very consistent. You did a Good Job with Your Images, but I think that it would make Your Floral Stand out from the Background. I'am not being Hyper-Critical, I believe that You took the time to shoot and Photograph everything right, so now with a Few Minor tweaks maybe you can show the smooth and flow of Your work. Please do not be offended as I was not trying to make you feel like you failed. You succeeded, so now go the extra mile. Also, it helps when you use a Tripod with a rail system to take a number of shots from the same distance, aperture, and shutter speed. I may shoot this image to my BenQ Monitor and see if I can help You so It won't seem like I'am sitting here telling You what to do. Helicon really does help, but I have turned out some decent stacking in Photoshop 2022 as well. We have to help each other out. There are nights that I will Edit an Image and come back the next morning and wondered how an Alien took my Computer and messed everything up.

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

You have to remember that in order for focus stacking to blend smoothly the depth of field covering the subject of one image needs to overlap with the depth of field of the next image. As you know, the depth of field varies with aperture and distance. Your photo appears to occupy a depth of about 2 to 3 ft. At close up distances 4 images would likely not be enough to cover the depth of a single flower. Think of each image being an in focus slice of the scene. When those slices don't overlap the stacking software needs to connect/blend the images in between without having the detail. More overlap is better. I've used 50 images for a single flower. or a tiny piece of jewelry.

Landscape stacking is a whole other matter. Typically the depth of field is huge compared to close up work. 4 to 6 images may be sufficient for a landscape scene.