Posted by Dan Roberts on December 27, 2012 at 1:17 AM
Who's using what? What are meaningful features? My use will be for landscape and possibly florals. Recommendations?
Posted by Hali Sowle on December 27, 2012 at 8:44 AM
I have used Helicon Focus with good results. It takes a bit of getting used to and (to me) the interface at first was a bit daunting but there was a lot I could do with it.
Posted by John Clulow on December 27, 2012 at 12:07 PM
"Image Stacking" could mean several things; i.e., focus stacking, dynamic range stacking...
You have some options in photoshop through File>Automate>Photomerge. If you have photshop, check that out as it may be adequate for your needs. I like Photomatix 64 bit for HDR and Zerene for focus stacking due to the retouch software iincluded. You can have a free trial of both; watermarks for Photomatix, full free version without watermarks for Zerene 30 days.
Posted by Lance Warley on December 27, 2012 at 1:13 PM
I do mine in Photoshop. Usually, I do it by manually blending different photos with different focus points (eg., fg and bg) of the same shot. I also do it manually for greater dynamic range. As John mentions, Photomerge is also very useful.
In addition to liking the CS6 functionality for doing this, it also means I don't have to buy additional sw.
I have used both Zerene and Helicon for focus stacking. I like both, with reservation. Right now, I have found PS (CS6) to be head and shoulders above both. My processing workflow is:
1. Edit and crop in LR. Synch all to the same crop and editing.
2. Open as layers in PS
3. Select the layers
4. Auto align (Edit>Auto Align Layers, click Auto radio button)
5. Auto Blend (Edit>Auto Blend Layers, click stack images, check seamless tones and colors)
6. Merge/flatten and crop out the blank edges.
THIS IS NOT PHOTOMERGE, BUT WHAT PHOTOMERGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN, IF IT HAD BEEN DESIGNED PROPERLY!
All the above works really well if you have been careful selecting your focus points and there has been no or little camera or subject movement. It doesn't seem to make any difference if you have gone back and picked up some focus areas you aren't sure of, which does mess up Helicon and Zerene.
Posted by Dan Roberts on December 27, 2012 at 3:55 PM
Thanks for the comments folks. Yes I should have been clear that I meant focus stacking. I don't currently use full PS so have mainly been contemplating the standalones. Doesn't sound like there is a strong argument for one over the other from what I've gatheredd so far.
Posted by Mark Seaver on December 28, 2012 at 11:00 AM
Dan, I've done a lot of focus stacking for flowers and macros with both Helicon Focus and PS5. They each have strong strengths and weaknesses. The Helicon depth map method often does a better job of getting the sharp parts right but almost always creates lots of artifact blobs in the oof areas. Sometimes you can get the background right in Helicon using the weighted averaging method and then combine the two with layers and masking in photoshop. (You can probably do that with retouching in Helicon if you pay for the full blown package, but I was cheap...) Photoshop does a much better job at getting the oof background right the first time, so I usually use it when the frame edges are soft. PS creates terrible edge artifacts if you have edge-to-edge sharpness in your stack that can take a long time to clean up. If you don't already own PS, then I'd suggest going with the full blown Helicon Focus or a thorough test drive of Zerene. I tried Zerene briefly when I first started stacking and found the work flow to be a problem. On my Mac, I had to export the files from Lightroom as Tiffs and then import them into Zerene. Then when I was done with the stacking, the result had to be reimported into LR and all of the intermediate files deleted manually. Currently with Helicon, the LR plug in automates the file transfer and clean up. All that I have to do is import the Helicon result file back into LR.
Posted by Dan Roberts on December 28, 2012 at 12:21 PM
Thanks, Mark. Very useful information. I think they all offer free trials and it sounds like there are enough nuances to compare before making a decision. As you point nowadays there are many ways to achieve (nearly) the same result but the journey may be significantly different. As it stands today, there is little I could do to make my workflow much worse than it already is
Discussion
7 repliesYou have some options in photoshop through File>Automate>Photomerge. If you have photshop, check that out as it may be adequate for your needs. I like Photomatix 64 bit for HDR and Zerene for focus stacking due to the retouch software iincluded. You can have a free trial of both; watermarks for Photomatix, full free version without watermarks for Zerene 30 days.
In addition to liking the CS6 functionality for doing this, it also means I don't have to buy additional sw.
P.S. Thanks for the Neil Young quote, John.
1. Edit and crop in LR. Synch all to the same crop and editing.
2. Open as layers in PS
3. Select the layers
4. Auto align (Edit>Auto Align Layers, click Auto radio button)
5. Auto Blend (Edit>Auto Blend Layers, click stack images, check seamless tones and colors)
6. Merge/flatten and crop out the blank edges.
THIS IS NOT PHOTOMERGE, BUT WHAT PHOTOMERGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN, IF IT HAD BEEN DESIGNED PROPERLY!
All the above works really well if you have been careful selecting your focus points and there has been no or little camera or subject movement. It doesn't seem to make any difference if you have gone back and picked up some focus areas you aren't sure of, which does mess up Helicon and Zerene.