Focus stacking

Have seen many great shot's of insects and plants which have been, "focuse stacked"> S ordered a cheap focusing rail and downloaded CombineZM. This is the first image i got, a stacked 6 jpegs.

Hi. Have heard this talked about but need some guidance. Have all the macro kit. How do you proceed? That shot was just magic.

regards thoramay.

what shot ? where ? :

Hi Thoramay, sent me a message, telling me about this Focus stacked and then told me take a look at the photo, my word its marvellous I'm so glad that Thoramay told me to look. Thank you Cheers Trixie

Firstly you need one of these, your camera attaches to this via the tripod mount. With this set on the tripod, your ready to go. Now this is the technique I have used, if it is wrong then someone correct me. Set the camera to manual mode, and manual focusing. Then focus on the nearest point to the camera, the edge of thebut subject closest to the camera. Take a sample shot and then adjust the shutter speed and aperture, I used an aperture of F8 and then set the shutter speed for best exposure. I set F8 because that is usually the best aperture for most lenses. Set the self timer or use the cable/remote release for the shot. Now take the first shot, nlinkow rotate the control dial on the focusing rail so the camera moves forward thus changing the plane of focus, or moving the plane of focus forward. for the shot in this thread I took six shot's. But you can take upto a dozen or so.
I took the shots as jpeg's at maximum quality.
You then need to download a freeware program called "CombineZM" When installed, open and goto file. select all the files you shot and click open. when imported goto the macro tab and click "do macro" it takes a while to process, when its done, save the file to your pictures.

It can also be done by taking multiple shots without a focus rail, but altering the focus slightly between each pictures. You can also use Helicon focus to combine the pictures: http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html

Saw the other one first, but my comments apply to this image as well!

Lovely. Well taken.

(Sorry, but don't like the border.Let the beauty of the flower & your excellent work work their own wonder!)

Roger.

Thanks Snaphappy. I have the focusing rail but not the software to merge the pictures. Should be fun and if I can get anywhere near your results I shall be happy. Thanks for the time and explanation.

Hi Snappychappy.
Great picture - if I get anywhere near I'll be delighted.
I followed your ling to ebay and found two types of focusing rails - forward & backwards - another similar one that also moves side to side.

Are there any advantages of the latter that you know of


regards
Bernard

Those rails are done to help composing the pictures at large magnification ratio. When your subject is very close, trying to move the camera sideway just a "tad" is next to impossible on a tripod, so you use a rail that allows small, accurate moves sideways.

Very impressive shot and a good subject for stacking.

How good are those rails? I've been after a rail for a while. The Pentax ones are as rare as hen's teeth (I have only seen one on ebay in several years of looking). Are they rigid enough if you buy two to get both forward/back and sideways movement?

Thanks, Kris.

Kris, There are 4-Way versions - link to ebay 'Focusing Rails'

Womble asked
I'm also interested but if they're cheap and nasty; poor quality and flimsy, I'd rather not buy one of these.

Anyone have any comments on quality please

Bernard