Digitial photography software

[Tom_Curtin]

A couple of times in the past year or so there has been mention in MR of a software package that is used to do the following (I may not be quoting this fully accurately but those who are into digital photography will get what I mean):

You use your digital camera to take a series of photos of the same scene at different focal lengths, or focusing on different locations in the scene (or something like that). Obviously you have to have the camera on a tripod to do this. Then you use this software to “stack” the series of photos and produce a final photo of much greater depth of field.

What’s the name of this package?

Tom

[Scarpia]

I know the one you’re thinking of, as I remember the MR article that mentioned it a few times. I’m not at home, so I can’t look it up. (Helicon Focus Pro or CombineZM?) But…

If you have photoshop (at least CS or higher, I think ) than you can do the same thing with the panorama feature (plug in)

There is also a program called Image in Focus that has a free trial, which is designed for that (Windows only)

[PMeyer]

Phottshop CS4 will do it.

[danmerkel]

Then you use this software to “stack” the series of photos and produce a final photo of much greater depth of field.

What’s the name of this package?

Tom,

You should be able to do this yourself. Most photo editing software allows you to work in layers. As you mentioned, all you would need to do would be to take the photos then stack them in layers. Then, using the Erase tool, simply go in to each layer and delete the part that isn’t sharp. When you are done, combine all of the layers and you should have an image with much greater depth of field.

dlm

[Dallas_Model_Works]

Then you use this software to “stack” the series of photos and produce a final photo of much greater depth of field.

What’s the name of this package?

Tom,

You should be able to do this yourself. Most photo editing software allows you to work in layers. As you mentioned, all you would need to do would be to take the photos then stack them in layers. Then, using the Erase tool, simply go in to each layer and delete the part that isn’t sharp. When you are done, combine all of the layers and you should have an image with much greater depth of field.

dlm

A creative approach, indeed!

Have you actually tried doing it this way? If so, can you post the results? I’d love to see them.

With regard to earlier posts, Photoshop CS4 has this functionality, CS2 did not nor, I’m pretty sure, did CS3.

Of course PShop is a pretty pricey way to go if that’s all you need!

[danmerkel]

A creative approach, indeed!

Have you actually tried doing it this way?

No, but like the designers of the Titanic said, “It should work…”

For my photo work, I use a program called Paint Shop Pro. It has about 75% of the functionality of PhotoShop at about 25% of the price. It is also very handy for doing decal design work for those of you who print your own decals.

dlm