attempts to push any of these approach as far as possible, which
brings us to “Focus Stacking.”
Focus stacking is a non-analog (digital) approach to taking photos
with increased sharpness and the appearance of greater depth-of-
field. Actually, focus stacking is a sampling technique similar in
approach to CDs and DVDS in that an analog (reality) source is
sampled with enough layers to approximate a desired result. With
CDs the desired result is music, with DVDs it is movies, and with
focus stacking it is a composite photo with enough samples to give
the impression of greater sharpness and depth of field.
Beginning with Focus Stacking
It has been many years now since I intensively began to work with
focus stacking to achieve better all-around focus and at least the
illusion of greater depth of field. For myself I have learned a lot
about this apparently simple but demanding technique. Focus
stacking originally arose as an in-studio technique where bellows
and incremental focusing rails were used to take hundreds of
micro-stop photos that were combined to create a single ultra-
close-up photo of something like the compound eye of a bee or
dragonfly or whatever. Since I already spend enough time indoors,
that approach was not all that appealing to me. Also, a couple of
dozen images of various compound insect eyes were plenty for me.
I got the idea.
I was more interested in how focus stacking might be applied to
outdoor nature photography using a much smaller series of photos
and doing away with the bellows, focusing rails, and what-not. I was
not so interested in ultra-close-ups of anything as I was in getting a
little more depth of field out of whatever I was photographing,
whether it was an insect, a flower, plant, and so on. I wanted more
of whatever I was photographing to be in focus. I like what I call
“mini- landscapes,” small worlds where everything is pristine and...
in focus. That was the intention.
I use Nikon systems and back then I happened to have the Nikon
105mm f/2.8 macro lens and that is where I began. Any lens can be
used to stack photos, but generally this technique excels at close-
up and macro ranges. You can stack landscape photos (and to
good effect) but of course at a distance even the tiniest of change
in the focus has a huge effect. In other words, once you get out