One of the questions I get asked fairly regularly is how do I get so much in focus (or so great a depth of field) in some of my flower photos that I take in my studio? People realize that since my camera is so close to my subject that it can be hard (if not impossible) to get everything the sharp focus.
The way I do it is to use a technique called focus stacking. Basically, I take multiple images of the same scene using a different focal point for each image, and then merge the images in software to create one image with a greater depth of field than I can get in a single capture. I used to use a program called Helicon Focus from Helicon Soft for focus stacking. These days I usually use Photoshop, with Helicon Focus as an alternate if I’m not happy with what I get in Photoshop.
Here are a few of my focus-stacked images with information on how many photographs I combined to create my final image
I combined 9 images to create this photograph of a purple poppy anemone.
Purple Poppy Anemone © 2017 Patty Hankins
I combined 10 images to create this photograph of a pink and white tulip.
Pink & White Tulip Petals © 2019 Patty Hankins
I combined 10 images to create this photograph of a purple zinnia.
Purple Zinnia © 2017 Patty Hankins
I combined 11 images to create this photograph of a Peaches and Dreams dahlia.
Petals of a Peaches & Dreams Dahlia © 2018 Patty Hankins
I combined 13 images to create this photograph of the Tulip Petal Wave
I combined 19 images to create this photograph of a Teddy Bear Gerbera Daisy
Teddy Bear Gerbera Daisy © 2017 Patty Hankins
And finally, I combined 25 images to create this photograph of Babe spray roses.
Babe Spray Roses © 2016 Patty Hankins
If you’d like to learn more about focus-stacking and how I take the different images that I then stack to create the final image, join me on July 27 for my Photographing Local Flowers in the Studio Workshop. We’ll spend some time talking about and working on focus stacking during the workshop. More information about the workshop including registration information is available at https://beautifulflowerpictures.com/store/local-flowers-workshop-july-2019/
If you’d like a sneak peek at how I create my focus-stacked images before the workshop, I’ve put some slides from a talk about focus stacking on my blog at http://www.beautifulflowerpictures.com/blog/focus-stacking-step-by-step-instructions/