Landscape Focus Stacking Tutorial

Landscape Photography  •  Photography Tips

Welcome to the world of focus stacking, where even the most blurry foregrounds can become crisp and in focus! In this video, photographer Mike Smith takes us through the process of focus stacking a landscape. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced photographer, this technique is sure to come in handy when you want to capture every detail of your scene. So grab your camera and let’s learn how to stack and blend multiple photos to create a single image with everything in focus:

Focus stacking is a technique used in photography to ensure that all parts of a photograph are in focus. It is often used in landscape and macro photography, where there may be a significant difference in distance between the closest and furthest subjects in the frame. The process involves taking multiple photos at different focus points, and then blending them together in post-processing to create a single image with everything in focus.

To do focus stacking in the field, start by focusing on the furthest point in the scene, then the midpoint, and finally the closest point. You can focus on more points if necessary, but keeping it to three points is a good starting point. It’s important to remember that focus stacking is not always necessary – if all the subjects in the frame are on the same plane and at a similar distance from the camera, you may not need to use this technique. Instead, you can try closing down the aperture to increase the depth of focus, which will bring more of the scene into focus.

When editing the photos, use software like Photoshop to stack and blend the images together. This can be done manually by aligning the photos and masking out the areas that should not be visible in the final image, or it can be done automatically using the stacking tools in the software.

Overall, focus stacking is a useful technique to have in your toolkit, particularly if you want to capture detailed, sharp images with everything in focus. With practice, you’ll be able to use it to create stunning landscape and macro photographs that showcase the beauty of your subject in all its detail.