FOCUS STACKING
Select your image set
Initiating a focus merge in Affinity Photo is
very easy. Simply open Affinity then go to
File>New Focus Merge. Click Add in the
dialog box and then navigate to your set of
focus-stacked photos. Click-drag over the
files to highlight them all, then hit Open to
bring them into the New Merge.
Find sharper details
Click the Source Preview icon at the bottom
left of the Sources panel to toggle it on. Now
the view changes to allow you to click on
each individual image that makes up the
merge. Click through to determine if a
sharper area exists than the one on the
merged image. Here the bottom image
offers a slightly sharper edge to the plant.
Clone the edges
Highlight the photograph in the Sources
panel that contains the sharper area, then
click the Source Preview icon again to
return to the merged view. Next, grab the
Clone tool and set Opacity to 100, then
paint over the blurry area to fix it by cloning
from the other image in the Sources panel.
Sharpen the details
Go to the Layers panel (View>Studio>Layers),
then hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate the bottom
layer. Go to Filter>Sharpen>High Pass. Set the
Radius to about 2.5px, then go to the Layers
panel and set the blend mode to Overlay. Make
any other changes to finish off the image.Start the merge
Once you’ve chosen your images, hit Merge- this may take a few moments. First the
images are aligned to correct for changes in
subject size between each focus shift. Next
a depth map is created to seek out the
sharp parts in each frame, Finally, the sharp
parts are merged together into one image.
Quick Tip
In general, an object with
smooth curved edges like
this results in a better
merges than one with lots of
sharp-edged or furry details.Check for issues
Once the merge is complete you’ll see the
Sources panel appear. You can use this to
manually fix any blurry areas if the merge
has been unsuccessful. Zoom in close to
check for problems. In this case some of
the details in the plant aren’t as sharp as
they could be.12
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