When this Covid-19 thing started to restrict us, I needed to find some things to do and created a list of topics and tasks that would keep me busy for a while. One of them was to try to develop my skills in Focus Stacking, this being a technique where you photograph an object gradually moving the focus point into the subject then merge them in software. This requires two principle stages, firstly in camera and then in Photoshop or another software package. Below is the simple set-up that I used to capture the still images consisting of the camera with macro lens on a tripod, two remotely triggered Speedlights and a printed backdrop.

The images were then processed using the Merge functions in Photoshop where the 12 images are combined into 1 with the sharpest parts of each image being used. This is a fairly straightforward task if you follow the basic steps but as with all things it’s the little tips and tricks that you learn that make a difference – practice makes perfect!

I have added an article in the tutorials section that shows my steps in more detail. Click here to see it.