How to Focus Stack in Photoshop // Tutorial
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- This video is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Go to ow.ly/a74t30rxVq2 and start your free trial today.
Focus stacking should be one of the first things you learn in photoshop. Why? Because its one of the few things that cannot be done in camera and has a dramatic effect on the image quality of your images.
Nick,
You are gifted teacher who can present information in a clear and concise way for people to learn easily. I miss your tutorials and hope all is well. John
This is by far the best, most comprehensive, and simplest tutorial of the countless focus stacking videos out there. Bless you.
Great tutorial Nick, thanks. For anyone that is a Canon R5 or R6 owner use the Focus stacking tool, works amazing. It shoots the images so quickly you can focus stack and hand hold at same time. Doesn't seem to matter what settings you use either, camera just knows how many to take and where to focus for each image. Never seen it work so well on any camera until now.
Yes, Canon cameras focus stack very well. Too bad the Canon cameras don't do the final process in camera!
When a stack shows obvious focus breathing after the Auto-Align step, and you have Content Aware Fill checked, PS will be filling in the edges from a different, and likely out-of-focus, frame. It pays to closely inspect the edges of the final stack for sharpness, and crop as needed. In many cases, if you select the one frame showing the most breathing (with the widest empty border), and the visibility of the other frames in the stack off, the Image, Trim menu will eliminate this edge problem and give you the exact crop.
I always encounter blurry edges around the photo after focus stacking with PS. Do you simply just crop it out or are you explaining a method to eliminate it instead? (Also, if I were to just crop a little on each side will this affect m 35mm (full frame) aspect ratio when it comes to printing?)
@@lancebryson9013 In PS, I usually have only the bottom layer with visibility turned on (the eye icon on the layer). This will cause a white area around the image to show if focus breathing happens. (But for some lenses, focus breathing is reversed, so just the top layer made visible.) The TRIM command affects the whole stack so removes the edge blur. (And by-the-way, the Helicon Focus software does this automatically.) If you just want to use the crop tool to remove the edge blur, and also maintain the correct aspect ration, simply set the crop tool preset according to your image format.
66feet a
Good tip about copying images into a group. Too often I get a blob or smear when I auto blend.
Bro, english is not my first language and you speak so easy to understand. I loved this tutorial, you ROCK!
Great tutorial. I like they idea of putting the images in a separate file if the blend goes wrong, unfortunately it went okay. I would love to see a video/tutorial on how you would correct it with your copied folder if it did go wrong.
Hi Nick: I just discovered your teaching videos on photo stacking. Thanks for making it clear and understandable for us Photoshop newbies. I have listened to hundreds of RUclips videos and your's is one of the best.
Amazing lesson!! thank you - by far one of the best Photoshop videos
Yes, still using in 2024!
I was going through your Essential Photoshop practice files where we go through focus stacking and then this video showed up. Both are very well done. Thanks!
Been focus stacking using Photoshop for years so assumed I had it nailed. Then you threw in the tip about duplicating the layers as a back-up. Boom! I never thought of that. Thank you Nick. A valuable lesson.
Thanks Nick for this very clear explanation. As you say, “why wouldn’t you do it!”. 👍
Your videos have been invaluable for my reintroduction into landscape photography and editing. Picked up a wacom (where's it been all my life!?) and started applying more advanced luminosity masks adjustments and dodging/burning techniques. Now I'm taking focus stacking to the field. My confidence post-shoot has been roaring lately and the time in the digital darkroom is so enjoyable. Keep up the great work!
PERFECT video for anyone just wanting to bust this out and make it happen. The juice sprays right at 4:13 if anyone just want to dive right in. Thanks Nick!
Wow, I'm glad this video came up in my suggested videos (although I've been subscribed for a while). Focus stacking is so easy - I never did it because I did not know how to but after this why wouldn't I do it. Thanks Nick!
This was a HUGE help Nick. I love your teaching style. Thank you for all you do.
Excellent tutorial. Thank you. I was trying to photo stack my images in Lightroom rather than Photoshop and couldn't work out why they weren't merging. However, success in Photoshop after following your tutorial. PS : I am a fan if the Great Courses.
That's a bloody awesome video, presented with great articulation. Many thanks!
Thank you! A great tutorial and one of the best and most comprehensive I have seen on the subject.
What a fine video that breaks down each stone i this complicated task.
Was so stoked about this because it's so straightforward and well explained and you hinted at what to do if the auto blend doesn't work and you have to manually fix it. But then you never went there. :(
Another video hopefully? All the other ones I've seen here aren't that great. At all.
The best stacking info online-thanks Nick
Great video. Never considered photo stacking before, looking forward to trying it out.
Thank you Nick! I think this knowledge will make the biggest difference in my photos.
Great content man, you broke it down really simple and once I get off work tonight I shall try it out.
Thanks Nick - the fog has lifted for this Grandma! I will now give this a go as previously I was in a state of muddle but after watching this I think I can do it!
I was introduced to focus stacking through macro photography, using Zerene Stacker, a necessity when stacking dozens to hundreds of subs (or it’s counterpart Helicon). However I’ve only lately started applying focus stacking to landscapes when necessary, and your tutorial stands out from those I’ve viewed for all the reasons cited by those who have commented. I should have started here, and I know better:-).
Fantastic video!! I have watched a few new trying to learn how to do this and yours was by far the easiest to follow. I've subscribed and Im off to watch more from you. Thank you!
You know you are experienced when you say "Make a back up, because......" - thank you!
Agree - the Great Courses are wonderful.
To think I spent the last 30 years doing this manually... Just kill me now 🤣
I always learn something new ... thank you. Today, I learned about using the folders in Photoshop. I love using Nikon’s touch screen shutter release for landscape photo stacking and their “focus shift shooting” mode for automated shooting when doing macro photography. The toolkit is always improving!
Thank you sir, you convinced me to use stacking for landscapes.
Such a great video, and such a powerful process for creating amazing images! Thank you!
Well explained, well presented. Great video. Just have to go take a few photos .
I am completely new to your channel - Yesterday I completed a hike during which I tripoded 3 focusly different images, but I had not blended for some time and forgot - thank you for sharing - I have just subscribed and liked.
Nick, this JUST came up a coupke weeks ago. I was shooting blue ice formations at the Mackinac Bridge, and realized having the bridge in the background would look better in a focud stack, but....I had absolutely no idea hoe to do it. Luckily, I realized that I could try doing it if I shot the needed frames, so now, as effing sime as this is (how humiliating fot me!( Im going to go back to my desk, fire those up, stack em, and see how it comes out. Im still trying desperately to learn some of these tricks but its very hard sometimes. Thank you!!
I just wanted to say a quick thank you. This video helped me so much and I've finally managed to compose my first focus stacked image. I am so stoked right now! Thanks again!
Nick its great to see you back in the education saddle. Enjoyed this tutorial its simple, attainable, repeatable, and effective. Your winter camp vlog was timely as I had just returned home from my winter camp. Purpose was to camp, ski, and take photos. Winter had a different objective as the temperature dropped into the -30C area and the winds picked up into the 50-70 kph range. Had a blast keeping the fire going in my tent, but didn't take many photos. Your camping Vlog and now focus stacking renewed my ideas to head back to Abraham Lake and make more images. Thanks Nick.
Howard Koch
Great information and so well-explained. Thanks for sharing!
Best video that I have seen about focus stacking! This is must-see post.
I appreciate that thank you
You answered a key question for me in regards to why a certain number of images go into any given focus stack. Many thanks for taking the time to put this info together. Top shelf as always 🤘
Just wanted to say thanks for this. I've been putting PS off for a long time, and recently got into doing more landscape stuff. I learned about you and your channel after I got the F4 Roadtrip package (originally started watching Tom, then Gavin), and this was one of the suggested videos for me from your channel. Focus stacking was one of those things on the short list of things I wanted to learn, and your video was great. I now see everyone that's doing landscape has a focus stacking tutorial video lol, but you helped me, so I just wanted to say thank you.
Great video Nick, I see you are a member of the fab 4
Keep up the good work
I love your videos! You Are good teatcher and Master photographer! Keep it going!!! Your videos Are professionally made.
Thank you this was so helpful! Now I'm not so scared to try it!
Got to say Nick you explain things so well - really easy to follow - defo saved this vlog to my favs for future reference...
Absolutely stellar explanation. Comprehensive although easy to the ear.
Brilliantly articulated. Many thanks
Got this notification right as I was looking up how to focus stack. Thanks Nick!
Wow! Amazing video and instruction. My first try was very good! TY
I've focus stacked several images in PS without problems, but here lately things have started going bad. Out of focus areas next to sharp areas and weird artifacts. Don't know if this from the new camera and lens combo or subject. Still trying to get a handle on the shallower depth of field on a full frame. Snow covered rocks in a moving stream. It would be a great help if you could have shown an example of one that didn't go so well. Anyway thanks for all of the videos and tutorials.
Thank you so much you just popped my layering cherry 🤣 and you made it so easy I can't believe it 😃 thanks a million for you ace video!!
Thank you, Nick. You've made the photo stacking process so easy. I really appreciate it.
This is super helpful, Nick. Thanks so much for doing this. Seen a few other videos on it but yours is the simplest yet most detailed. Thank you.
Short, concise and incredibly useful. Thanks Nick!
Thanks for an absolutely brilliant guide to Focus Stacking. Wonderful stuff.
Thanks again for these videos and some short cuts.
Excellent tutorial Nick, very impressed with all your videos. Many thanks.
So thank you for this and for all you do Nick. Been digging your videos and process for years. Especially your style of a lot of atmospheric audio and 'setting the scene' for the beginning of videos, I often forget that you haven't even said a word for minutes at a time. Engaging stuff. Anyway, I seem to have decent success with stacking when there aren't too many complicated/busy layers, but sometimes it just doesn't seem to go right. I was recently shooting some tree trunks popping out of manzanita bushes in Bend, Oregon and at the edges of the first layer (foreground) where it meets the second layer (mid), there is an obvious 4 or 5 pixel border where it used the out of focus mid layer, from my foreground image, instead. It also didn't fill in some of the spaces between the manzanita leaves with the focused mid-layer, so there's blur between those leaves as well. Is that simply because I didn't have enough images to stack? I had 3 images (foreground, mid, background). I was using a Sony 24-70, about 18" or so from the front of my foreground. I'm not experienced enough to mess with the layer masks to try to fix it, but figured in case you needed an idea for another quarantine-studio-video, maybe you had some ideas on how to fine tune those types of edits if it's even at all possible. I'm happy to send you the files if that helps. (P.S. The Great Courses Plus is a goldmine!!! I shoot a lot of my jobs on my own, so I'm a podcast/audiobook sponge also, so thank you for that!!)
Hey man. Thanks again for the advice on my photo that I shared on your fb page.
I totally knew where I had went wrong but I needed to here it from someone who’s work I admire and respect artistically.
As usual Nick your videos are easy to follow with great tips. Good job.
History Nerd=Awesomeness. Loved the folder for copy idea. I'll road test your instructions. Loved the Alabama Hills image. Journeyed the 44 miles there recently and dang there were so many people out there! Such a buzz kill. We did find solitude on Tuttle Creek Road, thankfully. Lack of people is one of the best parts of the East Side.
Thank you.. focus stacking replicates the way we see nature!
Thank you for sharing, showing, and explaining this simple and easy process!!
Thanks Nick, I now know what I was doing wrong when stacking and stitching. Very well explained.
Successfully ding your first focus stack is one of those "Wow, I'm a Landscape Photographer" moments
agreed
Hahaha, Soooooo True I honestly remember that moment for me.
Nick, you mentioned in the first image that the f stop was 16. Did you take your focus stack images at f16 or did you reduce the aperture to f8 to maximize the overall sharpness of the results?
I shot them at f16.. anytime depth of field is already an issue you're fighting.. i find f16 to be a decent blend of depth of field and decent sharpness (depending on the lens) If a person is shooting with a crop sensor, or a low quality lens.. I would suggest something more like f14 because diffraction will be more present and a bigger problem.
@@NickPage I think of this as DOF stacking. For best results, use the lens' sweet spot. Yes, more frames required, but sharpest outcome.
@@robertstonephoto yes , an f8 or f11 will be that tiniest bit sharper, but realistically, when your in the field, changing compositions with changing light, that sharpness difference is going to be unable to be noticed to most.. but not getting the shot at all because you had to take so many frames for the focus stack would be. Like everything, there has to be a balance. And I wont take on any technical challenge that will cause me to miss the moment and miss the shot for the sake of 5% more sharpness
Great snappy tutorial again Nick..👍🏻 Great delivery! And to top it, I’m a history (early British) nerd too..Result!
Thanks Nick.............this really HELPED
Thanks Nick great tutorial
Thanks Nick. You make it easy!
Thanks for the followable tutorial. I'm just learning PS, but have wondered how to perfect sharpness in my images. Thanks so much!
You are a very good communication Nick... many thanks for that. I'm going to have to retrace every landscape shot I've ever done now!! Might have to get a new camera for the occasion!!
Nick - many thanks - great tutorial
Excellent presentation!
Outstanding pace and detail! Thank you. Now, I need a good complete course on Photoshop.
Do you always shoot at the same aperture, or do you change it based on what your trying to take a picture of? Also which one is best for focus stacking?
Thank you so much!! I’ve been frightened to even try you made this look so easy I’m willing to try now!
Awesome trick this will improve my photography
Thank you very much for the video.. With this information I will definitely try it.
This was no exaggeration. This is literally the first photoshop video you should watch!
Very informative video, Nick! You are easy to follow and it makes sense!
Nice easy how to
Great video I never realized focus stacking was so easy.
Great video again Nick. East to understand and well explained. Top man.
Great tutorial! Finally got it!
Awe, I'm mentally chastising myself for forgetting about the auto-blend in Photoshop. Thanks for the reminder Nick!
Such a powerful tool!
Thank you for your help Nick ..excellent..x
You're awesome! this video helps me so much! thank you for sharing!
You make this very easy to digest... thank you for another awesome video!
THANK YOU! Nice Simple to the point + EXCELLENT AUDIO!
Love this video. What a great tutorial. Thanks Nick!
Fantastic. I had no idea about auto-blend. Game-changer!
Fantastic Nick, thank you; I have been focus stacking using masks , this way is so much simpler!
How about a follow-up for those cases where PhotoShop seems to get confused? I mostly seem to run into that when I try to focus-stack a macro image and it seems PS will randomly select blurry bits for a few random parts of the image. Then I'll look at those 6 or 7 layer masks, and get confused. :)
Yeah when it comes to macro Photoshop typically is not up to the task. Most serious macro photographers use helicon focus
@@NickPage Pretty sure I don't qualify as "serious" -- just a dabbler -- but I'll give that a look. Thanks.
I was having the same problem. Check out Expressive photography’s video on how to deal with this. Super helpful.
Very useful and easy to follow video Nick, thanks!
That was very interesting! I'll try it very soon!
Thank you for sharing this Nick. It will really help me going forward.
Great video Nick! You make it sound so easy.
Great Video. Very Informative. Thanks!!