Digital SLR Photography - UK (2019-10)

Adobe Photoshop CC

Build your focusstack

WITHSOMANYSIMILARSHOTS,FOCUSSTACKINGCANGETCONFUSING,S0

WE’VESIMPLEAPPROACHESTOMAKEYOURCOMPOSITEASEASYASPOSSIBLE

Y

OU’VETAKENYOURtripod-mounted

framesthatperfectlyoverlapas youstep

downthefocusthroughthescene.You

mayhavealsotakenmultipleexposuresfor

eachof theseframesandarenowwondering

whatto dowiththemall.Thankfully,as longas

you’veuseda tripodandtakentheimages

systematically,organisingandblendingthe

framesshouldbestraightforward– nomatter

if you'refacedwithanample 12 or

overwhelmingnumberof exposures.

Certaincamerasandsoftwareoptionsoffer

highly-effectiveautomatedfunctionsfor

exposureblendingandfocusstacking,which

domostoftheworkforyou.Sayingthis,

however,if youraimis forprofessional-grade

qualityyoumaywanttoconsiderthemore

lengthyanddetailedprocessofmanually

blendingyourimagestoensureanarea

doesn'tgetmissed,whichwedetailin Step4.

As thisimageofTrebethericknearRock,

Padstow,is shotat sunrisewiththesun

directlyin theframe,we’llneedtoblendthe

exposuresbeforewestartthefocusstacking.

Oftenstackingalltheimagesat oncemeans

Photoshopaveragesouttheexposureand

youlosethebenefitsof bracketing.Asthese

twotechniquesdoneedtobeapplied

separatelyforbestresults,jumptothesection

in thetutorialthat’smostapplicabletoyou.

ORIGINAL

1

EXPOSURE BLENDAsthesunis in theframe,

fourexposuresweretakenwhilefocused

onthefarthestpointin thescene,which

needtobecombinedfirst.Youcandothis

in Lightroombeforesendingtheimagesto

PhotoshopbyclickingPhoto>PhotoMerge>

HDRoropendirectlyin Photoshopandgoto

File>Automate>MergetoHDRPro.Addyour

exposuresbyclickingBrowseandtheOK.

4

AUTOMATICSTACKINGToletPhotoshop’s

automaticblendingdothework,goto

Edit>Auto-BlendLayersandselectStack

ImagesandclickOK. Wesuggestyouturnoff

ContentAwareFillTransparentAreasif you’ve

shottheimagescorrectlyasyoushouldn't

needit.Onceit’scompleteyoucanapply

anyfinalcrops,tonal,colourandsharpening

tweakstoyourimageandsaveasa JPEG.

2

FLATTENYOURFILESOnceyou’veblended

yourHDR image,gotoFile>SaveAsand

flattentheimagefroma PSDtoa JPEGsoit

canbecomepartof thefocusstack.If you’ve

donemultipleHDR images,oneforeach

framethatyouwanttolaterstack,you’ll

needtosaveeachHDR imageasa JPEGfile.

RetainthePSDfilesin caseyouwanttodo

adjustmentstotheblendsin thefuture.

5

MANUALSTACKINGForthosewhodon’tlike

toleaveanythingtochance,youmay

prefertomanuallyblendyourimages.When

youhaveallyourimagesalignedin theLayers

palette(asperStep3),addLayerMaskstoall

thelayers(Layer>LayerMask>HideAll).Using

theBrushToolsettoWhite, meticulously

brushoverthesharpestareasin thesceneas

youworkyourwaybackthroughtheimage.

3

ALIGNYOURLAYERSGotoFile>Scripts>Load

FilesintoStack. Selectyourfilesandcheck

AttempttoAutomaticallyAlignLayersand

clickOK. If theoptiontoalignisn’tavailablein

yourversion,you'llneedtoalignthelayersby

selectingeachlayerin theLayerspalettewhile

holdingShiftkeyandchooseEdit>Auto-Align

Layers. LeaveAutoselectedandclickOK.

NowchooseeitherStep4 or5.

HE

LEN

DIXON

40 Digital SLR Photography October 2019

Somecameras,suchastheNikonD850used

here,offeranin-camerafocus-stackingfacility,in

theD850it'scalledFocusShift.It can only work in

conjunction with autofocus and autofocus lenses.

Onceyourcamerahascapturedalltheframes

havingfocusedfronttoback,it blendsthem

automatically.It's easy to use but it does mean

leaving all decision-making to the camera.

STACK IN-CAMERA