1. Usual recommended routine is to manual focus on nearest edge of the object, take a shot, advance the focus a skootch, take a shot, repeat until you get to the far edge. Continuous shooting while slowly advancing the focus might work (I think Mark C has done this) but seems like it would add extra work in selecting the best frames to export for stacking. And the shutter flapping is going to prevent you from seeing where to start the series, when to stop. Not to mention the added camera vibration from this approach (which might degrade the sharpness you are after).
If your camera has Liveview, that can be a help in doing the successive small focus steps. 2. I have been stacking the original images (exported from Lightroom as full-size tiff files), then doing any adjustments later. Some do color balance adjustments, etc first, then stack. But you need to be sure that the same adjustments are applied to all images. 3. See website here: http://www.heliconsoft.com/helicon-focus-licenses-paypro/ The Lite version @ $30/yr or $115 unlimited license should have all the tools you need from what you describe. A 4-6 week free version is available; I don’t remember what limitations it imposes in terms of inserting an ugly watermark, preventing the option to Save your results, whatever. But it certainly gives you the freedom to try before you buy. 4. The version I have (6.x) integrates well with Lightroom, probably Photoshop as well. Exported files are discarded so they don’t add waste images to your disc, results are imported back into LR. stan On Aug 17, 2014, at 2:41 PM, Ann Sanfedele <[email protected]> wrote: > what I want to use the technique for is photographing items I'm selling on > ebay that are tiny. so I'm not looking to BLUR the background so much as > getting every tiny detail of an object nice and sharp. > > Could this work if I focused on the front, say, set continuing/rapid firing > on, and turn the focusing ring of my 50 macro very slowly (with camera on > tripod of course) to get several frames to stack and then > run them through the stacking software? > > Is there stacking software that is free or inexpensive and work > with or outside of photoshop elements 5.0? > > stan, I think the one you are using is pricey,yes? > > ann > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
