secure the camera body to the quick release. And of course I use
an L-bracket so that I can rotate the camera relatively quickly by 90
degrees.
Once all of this is done, I carry my tripod, camera and ball-head
attached, over my shoulder with the camera pointing down, lens
cap off and in my pocket. This method has worked well for me for
many years with no problems. Knock on wood. I carry my little
10x10 canvas kit bag using a shorter over-the-shoulder strap.
Anything gets heavy after a long enough time but this system works
well for me. You will find your most comfortable way to carry your
gear I am sure. How Long the Shoot?
I don’t tend to go on a shoot lasting more than a couple of hours
unless I travel to some special place and then I may spend three or
four hours. It is not so much that I get physically tired, although that
sure happens, as that my photography “eye” wears out and I am no
longer seeing (as much) the beauty all around me. When that
happens I might as well call it a day as any shots I take without that
“eye” will seldom be better than just average.
However, I often will go out for two or even three sessions a day. I
like to take some photos, come back and look at them, and perhaps
then go back out. Remember that with focus stacking, processing
the photo layers can take a lot of time and if you need to retouch
then that takes even longer. I find retouching too much of a hassle
in the middle of the day and tend to relegate that task to some
evening when I am in the mood and have already figured out which
photos are good enough to spend the time removing the artifacts.
Software You Will Need
I have made it a point to say that you can get decent results from
Zerene Stacker, Helicon Focus, and even from Photoshop (CS5),
so I am not going to try promote all stacking software equally. You
can find what works for you. What works for me and works best is
Zerene Stacker. I use it almost daily and for long periods of time at
that. It works beautifully and retouching on Zerene Stacker is miles
better than any other software I have seen. Also they have superb
support.