I know that those who photograph Apple products are in the second group and there was an article ( Erin Lodi, DPReview) a few year back about Peter Belanger who does exactly this. I guess there are two types of macro photography: the artistic type where parts of the image are intended to be out of focus, which highlights the parts that are focused and the combination of background and lighting and the industrial macro, which ensures that the product being photographed has a sharp back to front image.
A quick check online shows that Pixelmator Pro also has this feature and there is an online tutorial.Īlso worth mentioning in the light of surmounting barriers, is an item on macro photography that also came out recently, A Guide to Simple, Effective and Cheap Macro Photography ( Neil Kohl, Emulsive) that looks at ways to make this work with some counter-intuitive ideas, like turning the lens round and more. I found out recently that Affinity Photo has this capability too.
I used a trial version of Helicon Focus then, which is good stacking software. I tried stacking when I first bought the camera in April 2018 and I was working my way through the features. I have the Nikon D850 (the article uses a D810). The article refers to Adobe Photoshop which I do not use. This is when a camera is set up to take several photographs of the same subject each at a different focus (the difference is minimal) and then the whole group of photographs is combined, or stacked, into one image that is in focus back to front. While I was checking out that video, I also found that Fotodiox has a blog item on macro photography, and this brings in the idea of stacking. Hagen uses a D500 but the details, including menus are the same for the Nikon D850 Mike Hagen YouTube video that explains setting up the back button focus. This was the point that Terrel made several times in the videos.Īs I was watching there were several suggestions that I followed up as they were made, stopping the video to look at the camera, take a couple of photos and even watch a If I understand the physics correctly, they increase the focal length of a lens, so that the normal Focus point is extended and the resultant image is enlarged, but depth of field suffers greatly. They can be used independently, all three together, or any two at a time. The extensions tube I have came in a set of 3: 12 mm, 20 mm and 36 mm. I tried a couple of the lenses with limited success, but then remembered that I had extension tubes. Of course none of my lenses are macro lenses, so immediately there is a shortcoming. Instead of the one hour running time, I kept breaking off and trying things. It is broken up into several small lessons and Terrel has a really nice way of explaining things, while his love of the subject comes through quite clearly. The whole thing is well worth taking time over. I have tried this a couple of times with limited success, but when I saw that Nikon had put online its photography lessons, Nikon School Online, I headed for the site as I had seen Discovering Macro Photography, by Joey Terrel listed, and this interested me the most. It is no surprise therefore that in the last week or so I have seen several articles on macro photography. Instead though, those of us who enjoy photography are limited to walks in the immediate vicinity. We cannot go out and stalk the streets, or wander off into the hills. Photographers are finding that the usual subjects are forbidden right now. Rother than sticking to a specific schedule, I have a look as things catch my interest. I sometimes do my own writing, when the mood takes and time allows. Academics and graduate students are really not as good as they think they are. This may take several days, depending on the length of the paper and the number of errors. Rather than being quiet, several papers and a thesis have come my way for editing advice. Most of the time I am working in the apartment. I venture out only in emergencies, for example when I need food. Like many, I am locked away for the time being. Focus shift shooting with the Nikon D850 along with image stacking allows a better end to end focus of images when it works properly Locked away, I am trying new skills including a stab at macro photos with limited lens options. Focus Shift Shooting and Image Stacking: Learning in Lockdown