you get this close, you really do need a focusing rail, studio, lights,
and all of that. You can get great shots using a rail and micro-
stepping the focus, but for me this is a whole other kind of
photography than that being presented here. It really is a science
and not so much an art, although art is involved there too.
Not for Micro Work
For example, shooting a very tiny flower: Being so close to a
subject shows not only any weakness in the lens but also
weakness in the technique of short- stack focus photography. By
not covering every millimeter of that scene we are opening
ourselves up to tiny movements of wind and simply extremes of
perspective within the subject matter itself. The result is that
artifacts are more visible up close than when we stand back, just
like some of the French Impressionist painters like Monet or
Pissarro, which are best viewed from a few feet back, rather than
right up close. The artifacts or artifice is absorbed at a distance but
obvious when you get too close. The same goes for focus stacking
that is not rail mounted and studio bound.
I find this out by trial and error. Sometimes I can get away with a lot
and at other times the technique itself shows its flaws. The take
away is there are limits to what short-stack focusing will allow. As
you get closer and closer, going from close-up photography to
macro photography or even closer to micro photography, you need
more precise control, preferably in exact micro increments to get
results. Impressionist focus sampling as we are discussing here
doesn’t cut it. We would need to be more exact than that.
As mentioned, the science of stepped-rail focusing does not
interest me, so I refer you to Google where you can find any
number of tutorials on rail stacks – requiring both science and art.
Striking photographs, yes, but sometimes a little too ‘clinical’ for my
taste.
Looking Close
If you look very closely at any stacked photo, you can find its flaws,
however minute. This is the nature of the beast and just part of the
deal when you use short stacks. Most such flaws are usually
embraced by the overall enhanced sharpness of the stacked photo
and don’t stand out. Some are glaring and cause the photo to be
rejected. Still others can be fixed in Photoshop easily, if they are