64 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
The Mission
Merge a set of focus
stack images in
Affinity PhotoTime needed
1 5 minutesSkill level
BeginnerKit needed
Affinity PhotoDownloaD projecT fileS
To your compuTer from:
http://downloads.
photoplusmag.com/pp155.zip
hen shooting
close-up macro
subjects the depth
of field (DoF) will be
very shallow, and the plane
of sharpness may only
stretch a few millimetres
across the subject, even
when using narrower
apertures. So it can be a
struggle to record a sharp
close-up from front-to-back.
If you need total sharpness,then try focus stacking. This
involves taking a series of shots
using a tripod-mounted camera,
adjusting the focus ring after each
frame so that a different part of
the scene is in focus.
Once done, the sharp parts
can be merged into one super-
detailed macro photo. Affinity
Photo offers a powerful focus
stacking tool called Focus Merge.
Not only is it easy to use, it also
produces excellent results most ofthe time. However, no focus-
stacking software is perfect so- depending on the intricacy of
the image – you might see
messy blurred areas once
the merge is complete.
If this occurs, fixing the
problem involves looking back
through each image that makes
up the composite and tweaking
the blend so that a sharper area is
targeted instead. In this project
we’ll explain how it’s done.
W
how to Focus Merge
with Affinity Photo
James Paterson demonstrates how to use Affinity Photo’s
focus stacking command for detail-rich macro photographs