Your photo convinced me to buy the software Helicon Focus. I have 3 months to decide if I want a lifetime subscription. So far, it has improved my photo stacking capabilities. Now I need to improve my technique. Thanks for letting us know about this software.This is me venturing again (more or less successfully) into the realm of extreme macrophotography: those are grains of uncooked basmati rice shot at about 8:1 reproduction ratio with the bellows. For this one, I took 36 focus-stacked exposures which I had to set manually using the focusing rail. The bellows does transmit exposure information but the automatic focus-stacking function does not work with it. I processed the stack as usual with Helicon Focus, method A. I figured that, if the photo came out actually OK, I would do it again with a more artsy-fartsy setup and better lighting, but I never got around to it. Shame on me.
Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head with Novoflex BALPRO T/S bellows. Natural light.
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I had to do some serious market research and hands-on testing when I convinced myself that focus-stacking was a must for what I was trying to achieve. The fact that the D850 (which was the camera I used at the time) had a built-in stacking function, carried the decision. Since then, I learned to stack focus manually, but at the beginning I wasn’t too sure of my ability to do that. So, I looked around and first went with Zerene Stacker, which is also quite good. However, I was not entirely satisfied with it and re-touching took hours for unconvincing results. Maybe it was just me being clumsy. Anyway, it was then that I tried Helicon, and I must say I never looked back. I hope you will enjoy it too. Focus stacking is a very specific business that a program like Photoshop, for example, doesn't handle well (if it even does at all, which I do not recall at the moment: I never use it to do that).Your photo convinced me to buy the software Helicon Focus. I have 3 months to decide if I want a lifetime subscription. So far, it has improved my photo stacking capabilities. Now I need to improve my technique. Thanks for letting us know about this software.
I bought the one year subscription and will probably buy the lifetime subscription but I will wait awhile. I found a video of a man named, Stewart Wood, he goes over his process using Lightroom, Denoise, Helicon Focus and photoshop to stack his photos. I found his video very helpful and I already had everything but Helicon Focus and now I have all of them. It is much easier than trying to stack in photoshop alone. He had a lot of good tips. In case anyone is interested here is the link to his video, Stewart Wood video.I had to do some serious market research and hands-on testing when I convinced myself that focus-stacking was a must for what I was trying to achieve. The fact that the D850 (which was the camera I used at the time) had a built-in stacking function, carried the decision. Since then, I learned to stack focus manually, but at the beginning I wasn’t too sure of my ability to do that. So, I looked around and first went with Zerene Stacker, which is also quite good. However, I was not entirely satisfied with it and re-touching took hours for unconvincing results. Maybe it was just me being clumsy. Anyway, it was then that I tried Helicon, and I must say I never looked back. I hope you will enjoy it too. Focus stacking is a very specific business that a program like Photoshop, for example, doesn't handle well (if it even does at all, which I do not recall at the moment: I never use it to do that).
Photoshop is excellent for stitching panoramas, sometimes even better than dedicated software like PTGui, but focus-stacking must be a different ball game entirely.
Anyway, keep us posted and make the most of your trial period.
Thanks a lot, I will watch that video. I’m sure I still have tons to learn about Helicon and focus stacking.I bought the one year subscription and will probably buy the lifetime subscription but I will wait awhile. I found a video of a man named, Stewart Wood, he goes over his process using Lightroom, Denoise, Helicon Focus and photoshop to stack his photos. I found his video very helpful and I already had everything but Helicon Focus and now I have all of them. It is much easier than trying to stack in photoshop alone. He had a lot of good tips. In case anyone is interested here is the link to his video, Stewart Wood video.
Correction: I tried watching and soon gave up. Too many spiders for my taste!Thanks a lot, I will watch that video. I’m sure I still have tons to learn about Helicon and focus stacking.