Posted by Doug Koepsel on September 30, 2012 at 9:45 PM
After Bill P's presentation at the Moab event in late spring, I decided to get Zerene Stacker for dof blending (thanks Bill). I finally purchased the program today and used it on this image from yesterday. This is comprised of 4 images, each shot at 35mm f/6.7
(Image needs a slight WB warming)
Please see larger image
Posted by Ken Henke on October 1, 2012 at 12:03 AM
As one who has used Zerene extensively, I can appreciate your effort on this image. Clearly, it give a 3-D look! Unfortunately, I can't tell from this resolution, if the leaves are sharp or not. Although Zerene can resolve some movement, it can only be a very small amount. Fortunately, with Zerene's touch-up tool, one can correct problems by cloning from one of the original images.
Killer image Doug. I just love these aspen forrest scenes, and the stack clearly defines depth of field and how you the artist intended DOF. Your edges may be too sharpened ?
Posted by Doug Koepsel on October 1, 2012 at 9:45 AM
Ken, I did not see any guide or tutorial, so had to wade through it by trial and error. What are the differences/advantages between Dmap and Pmax methods?
Kane, thank you for your comments. I will.look again at the sharpening of final full-sized image. I had resized it to 1200pix and did a 50/0.5/0 sharpen for web.
Posted by Anne K. Rusk on October 1, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Great image, Doug! I love Zerene! I think there are a couple video tutorials on their website as well as on YouTube. I highly recommend them.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on October 1, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Doug,
As Anne indicated, there are tutorials on the Zerene website. The videos are well worth watching. The basic difference between DMap and PMax is
PMax is a good at finding and preserving detail. But PMax tends to increase noise and contrast, and it can alter colors a bit.
DMap does a better job keeping the original smoothness and colors, but it's not as good at finding and preserving detail. Folks who do the bug stacks typically start with PMax as their base image to capture the extreme detail. As you probably have noted, you can run both functions and pick the best image after closely looking at them zoomed in. Pay particular attention to area with no details (like skies) to determine if noise has been introduced. Typically, I only have those issues with macro images and then having to retouch between PMax or DMap. With the landscape images I have worked with, PMax has worked just fine. However, every image is different and it is worth running both techniques until you feel comfortable with the potential results. Also, don't be afraid to use the retouching function. It doesn't take much time to learn and it can be the difference maker. For instance, if the leaves in your image were not sharp due to movement, you could use the retouching function and "clone" from one of you original images to either your DMap or PMax created image. Also, one huge advantage of using Zerene is support. The software developer will normally answer questions within a day.
Posted by Jack Brauer on October 1, 2012 at 9:35 PM
Sweet shot, and it looks like the focus stacking worked. My only nit is that the oversharpening makes my head hurt!
Discussion
8 replies(Image needs a slight WB warming)
Please see larger image
Kane, thank you for your comments. I will.look again at the sharpening of final full-sized image. I had resized it to 1200pix and did a 50/0.5/0 sharpen for web.
As Anne indicated, there are tutorials on the Zerene website. The videos are well worth watching. The basic difference between DMap and PMax is
PMax is a good at finding and preserving detail. But PMax tends to increase noise and contrast, and it can alter colors a bit.
DMap does a better job keeping the original smoothness and colors, but it's not as good at finding and preserving detail. Folks who do the bug stacks typically start with PMax as their base image to capture the extreme detail. As you probably have noted, you can run both functions and pick the best image after closely looking at them zoomed in. Pay particular attention to area with no details (like skies) to determine if noise has been introduced. Typically, I only have those issues with macro images and then having to retouch between PMax or DMap. With the landscape images I have worked with, PMax has worked just fine. However, every image is different and it is worth running both techniques until you feel comfortable with the potential results. Also, don't be afraid to use the retouching function. It doesn't take much time to learn and it can be the difference maker. For instance, if the leaves in your image were not sharp due to movement, you could use the retouching function and "clone" from one of you original images to either your DMap or PMax created image. Also, one huge advantage of using Zerene is support. The software developer will normally answer questions within a day.