Rethinking High DOF or Focus Stacking

Geometric Shapes in Bedding

I find this rock shard interesting because it has the two kinds of material and contains geometric shapes.  I have become intrigued by "How the Earth was Made" and similar shows on the Science Channel.  I like to imagine how this shard was formed.  The white material might have been liquid and then crystallized.  The brown is granular and might have precipitated onto the white.

Geometric Shapes in Bedding

  I made this closeup capturing images focused on different depths.  This is necessary because DOF is extremely shallow at this magnification.  Those multiple captures are combined by software designed to select the sharply focused portions and create one sharply focused compilation.

Geometric Shapes in Bedding

I had just completed the first two images when I read an article, "Focus Stacking", by Dan Burkholder in the Nov./Dec. issue of "Photo Technique Magazine."  It discussed the issues related to producing high DOF images of small objects.  You might imagine that I read the article with relish.

In the article he considered the physics of making these kind of shots.  It caused me to take another look at my technique.  He used a mirrorless camera, Olympus OM-D.  I found his description of the process of the functioning of such a camera interesting.  As I understand his thoughts, it functions about like my Canon 7D functions in live view.  Dan says that there are vibrations inherent in the closing of the shutter before making the capture.  He seemed of the opinion that a DSLR with a mirror using mirror lockup mode has less in the way of vibration.

He also advocated using a focusing rail instead of adjusting the focus with the lens.  He thinks it is better to not change the distance of the lens elements from the sensor during multiple captures such as these.  

I decided to try what he suggested.  I dug out my focusing rail, dusted it off and mounted in on the tripod for these captures.  I used mirror lockup not live view.

I have used Helicon Focus for several years and was interested in his discussion of how to do it in Photoshop.  He used CS6 but I was able to accomplish the same result with CS5.  The above shot was completed in Photoshop.  I must confess that I did not know Photoshop would do this.

Geometric Shapes in Bedding

I did this one in Helicon Focus.  I think it is slightly better than the previous one but you may not notice any difference.  I noticed more artifacts when viewing the individual pixals in the one done in Photoshop.  I think that my computer likes Helicon Focus better.  It had serious problems doing it in Photoshop.  I wonder if CS6 is easier on the computer.  I had Photoshop go non responsive several times before I got it done.  

Take a look at Focus Stacking by Dan Burkholder if you care to.

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