focus stacking part deux

Ok, I almost waited too long to do this as it was getting dark really quickly while I shot these. This is the next step in the evolution of my focus stacking education.

I shot this with the 5N and a Contax 85/1.4 @ f/1.4 from about 5 feet. DOFMaster says the dof at those settings is about 0.7 inches. I shot 8 shots working from near-to-far. I relied on focus peaking instead of magnification because the light was going fast. Next time I'll remember to get out there sooner.  

Here's the near shot:


Here's the far shot:


And here's the money shot with all 8 shots combined:


You can add/delete what is included in each frame in the stack using a layer mask and I still need to get better at determining what needs to be in focus and what needs to be out of focus in each layer. But all-in-all I'm pretty pleased that this works this well. Get the subject in focus and really defocus everything else and get killer large aperture bokeh. Except here because the background is really busy.  

 

Yeah, I think if I tweak the masks I can get the bokeh of the first shot in the final. As a point of contrast, DOFMaster says the dof for f/8 from this camera position is just a shade under 4 inches, so you'd have to move back to get the shot. But, if you're physically constrained from doing that focus stacking seems a viable alternative.

 

Thanks, they're much lighter in full light, almost washed out looking. They are at their best (as are most things) in the golden hour. But this was really pushing it.  

 

Ok, I went back and did a quicky reprocess of the stacked shot to see if you can select what you want in focus & it appears that you can.

Here's the original straight from CS5. The background was mostly from the 6,7 & 8 shots in the stack.


And here's the reprocessed shot with the background from the near shot replacing the original background. It's still a bit off because it's pretty complex, but it's proof of concept. At least this one doesn't have so much of that "sucking your eyeballs out" effect.  

 

Hey Paul, it is an interesting technique. I think it was originally used for macro shot where dof is razor thin, but it has other uses as well. Like lilacs.