38 DigitalSLR PhotographyOctober 2019
Focus stacking
1
COMPOSEYOURSHOTFindthecompositionyou’dlike;donotbeafraid
togetcloserthanusualandcomposetheforegroundinterestlarge
andprominentin theframe–solongasit fallswithinthelens’sminimal
focusingdistance.Outsideof thisandnomatterwhattechniqueyou
use,theforegroundwillbesoft.Usea tripodtoensurealltheframes
you take are perfectly aligned to make post-production easier.2
EXPOSURESetyourcameratomanualmodeoraperture-priority
modeanddialin yourlens’s‘sweetspot’forsharpness– thisis
usuallybetweenf/11-f/16– fortheZeiss18mmit’sf/13.Seta lowISO
tomaintaingreatimagequalityandthenecessaryshutterspeedforan
accurateexposure.YoumayneedtoaddanNDGradtoholdbackthe
sky if it’s too bright in relation to the land – I’ve used a 0.6 soft ND grad.3
FOCUSINGFocusonthesubjectclosesttothecameraor,in thiscase,
furthestaway– youcandothismanuallyorbyusingsingle-point
autofocus.I usemanualfocuswithmylensfocusedtoinfinityand
incrementallymovethefocusingringbackthroughtheframe– it
allowsmetobeveryprecise.Youcanuseautofocustoobymoving
the focal point further into the scene with each shot you take.4
REFOCUSTHELENSHowmanyframesyouneedtotakedependson
thedepthof thescene;it couldbeasfewasthreeframesorasmany
as12,butI usuallytakemorethanneededtomakesureI havecovered
everyarea.Onceyoutakeyourfirstimage,keepingthecameralocked
in positiononthetripod,carefullymovethelens in steps using the
focus ring and the distance-scale markers.W
HILEOUREYES constantlyadjust
focusbetweenforegroundand
backgrounddetail,achievingthis
levelofsharpnessthroughouta sceneusing
a camerais morechallenging.Addin larger
pixelcounts,whichmeansout-of-focus
areaslookmoreobvious,widerlensesanda
loveoflargeforegroundinterest,achieving
front-to-backfocuscanbemorecomplex
thanusinga smallaperturewithhyperfocal
distance.Onscreenthissoftnessis
negligible,butthelargeryouprintthemore
you’llwishyoulearnthowtomasterthis
powerful pro technique: focus stacking.Focusstackingis whenyoublendimages,
shotat varyingfocalpoints,andis most
commonlyappliedtomacroimagetoextend
theinherentlyshallowdepth-of-fieldthat
comesevenat smallapertures.However,
withlandscapephotographersabletoprint
imageslargerthanever,focusstackingis
becominga mainstaytechniqueformany
professionallandscapephotographers.
Noteveryscenecallsforfocusstacking,
however.Oftena mid-apertureof f/8tof/16
andhyperfocaldistancingis sufficientfor
front-to-backsharpness.However,when
using an ultra wide-angle lens close toforegroundinterestorwhenthere’sgreat
distancebetweentheforegroundand
background,focusstackingis aninvaluable
skilltohavein yourback-pocket.It maysound
complexbutit takesa smallamountof extra
workduringcaptureanda littletimeediting,
whichwe’llexplainmoreaboutonpage40.
Aslongasthein-cameratechniqueis solid,
thelattershouldbesimple.Youneedto
capturea seriesofimagesat differentfocus
positionsthroughoutthescene,overlapping
thefocusareastoextenddepth-of-fieldand
ensureedge-to-edgesharpness– perfectfor
large prints. Here’s exactly how to do it...