Focus stacking is a very easy way to produce an image with the maximum depth of field and doesn't require anything more than a copy of Photoshop.
First you need to set your camera up on a tripod and turn off auto-focus (and VR, if you have it). Now using the manual focus, bring the closest part of your subject into focus and release the shutter. Now gently move the focus ever so slightly forward and release the shutter again. (*Note - if you're doing this technique with a landscape photo you will not need to take as many individual photos as you will a macro stacking like the one I'm doing). Continue doing this process until you reach the furthest portion of your subject that you want to be in focus.
I use Lightroom and so I'm going to load my images from Lightroom to Photoshop, however, you can load these directly to Photoshop, if you prefer.
Starting with your photos in Lightroom, export them to Photoshop by highlighting the photos as shown below and into Photoshop
Now that you're in Photoshop and all your photos that you want to blend together are present, go to Edit and pull down to Scripts and then to Load Files Into Stack...
That will bring up a window that looks like this and choose the option Add Open Files
Now you will see all your files listed in the window. *Be sure to check the option "Attempt to Auto Align Source Images" and then click Okay
It will then churn through your images and you'll see something like this below as it's working through your photos
In the end you'll have all the images in one file. Note that all your images can be seen on the right hand window.
Now highlight all the image layers on the right so they're all grayed as shown below
Then with the layers highlighted go under Edit and pull down to "Auto-Blend Layers..." option
When you choose the "Auto-Blend Layers..." option it will bring up a window like this one below
Choose "Stack Images" and press "Okay". It will blend the images together while masking portions that are not in focus. Giving you something like this below
Now to convert your layers into a single image go to "Layers" and pull down to "Merge Layers" as shown below
And now you have a single image file of all your blended images in one place as shown below
And Viola! You have a single image with a very large depth of field. Pretty easy, huh?
First you need to set your camera up on a tripod and turn off auto-focus (and VR, if you have it). Now using the manual focus, bring the closest part of your subject into focus and release the shutter. Now gently move the focus ever so slightly forward and release the shutter again. (*Note - if you're doing this technique with a landscape photo you will not need to take as many individual photos as you will a macro stacking like the one I'm doing). Continue doing this process until you reach the furthest portion of your subject that you want to be in focus.
I use Lightroom and so I'm going to load my images from Lightroom to Photoshop, however, you can load these directly to Photoshop, if you prefer.
Starting with your photos in Lightroom, export them to Photoshop by highlighting the photos as shown below and into Photoshop
Now that you're in Photoshop and all your photos that you want to blend together are present, go to Edit and pull down to Scripts and then to Load Files Into Stack...
That will bring up a window that looks like this and choose the option Add Open Files
Now you will see all your files listed in the window. *Be sure to check the option "Attempt to Auto Align Source Images" and then click Okay
It will then churn through your images and you'll see something like this below as it's working through your photos
In the end you'll have all the images in one file. Note that all your images can be seen on the right hand window.
Now highlight all the image layers on the right so they're all grayed as shown below
Then with the layers highlighted go under Edit and pull down to "Auto-Blend Layers..." option
When you choose the "Auto-Blend Layers..." option it will bring up a window like this one below
Choose "Stack Images" and press "Okay". It will blend the images together while masking portions that are not in focus. Giving you something like this below
Now to convert your layers into a single image go to "Layers" and pull down to "Merge Layers" as shown below
And now you have a single image file of all your blended images in one place as shown below
And Viola! You have a single image with a very large depth of field. Pretty easy, huh?