Thanks so much for watching everyone!!

@GertjanVanderKelen

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for teaching! Also, you've been putting a lot of effort in editing. It shows! I enjoyed the little icons and sounds here and there. Helped to really point out something.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Gertjan Van der Kelen Really happy to hear you enjoyed it!

@LukeZalvino

4 жыл бұрын

Hey mark I took a AEB photo of the moon recently and because of the different shape of the moon under different exposures I couldnt auto align it to hdr blend it. So annoying! Plus it was hard to figure out a way to manually align them.

@debadritamodak

4 жыл бұрын

Mark Denney Can we pls get a focus stack + hdr post-processing tutorial. Thanks

From my own experience, I've learned to compose with enough room around the edges to allow for cropping (because of focus breathing). Another thing I do is duplicate my layers, then just auto-blend the duplicates. That way if there are any inaccurate blends, which often happens with foliage, I can mask in the correct in-focus areas manually from the original layers.

I haven't played with focus stacking lately but I had to smile when you started talking about "focus stacking EVERYTHING" because I did that for a bit, but I find I often lean on using exposure stacking a lot. It definitely helps for a scene with HUGE dynamic range, but I've found it can be helpful for lower light and sometimes for product photography

Your exaggeration on the shutter button is absolutely hysterical! It reminds me of some awful "as seen on TV" commercial where it shifts to black and white and shows people failing miserably to open a cabinet or something. Thanks for the video as always.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Gaaahhhh I should have made that clip B&W - you’re right🤣🤣

My first attempt at focus stacking was yesterday. I now know that I made a lot of mistakes. Lol. You do a very good job of explaining your steps and thought processes and I appreciate that you follow up with a visual aid.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Many thanks Kim - glad you think so!

Your camera shake made me laugh!!

Excellent video! Thank you!

Thanks for the tips! No. 5 was very helpful.

Thanks for the tips and tricks!

Excellent video!!

Sir your lessons and experiences are priceless and I really appreciate the care and attention to detail in the tutorial

Thanks a lot for all these information

Amazing video Mark, thank you! :D

Well said, Mark

Very good video. Keep up the good work!

useful! thanks

Thanks Mark! Great advice and information. Thanks for sharing!!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching Patty!

very good !!

Amazing video again!!!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Really appreciate it!

Excellent video Mark. I am very grateful I found your channel. Your videos are of an exceptional quality, very easy to follow and very practical. I have learned a tremendous amount from watching your videos, even on topics I thought I was well versed in. Thank you :)

Great presentation and coverage, Mark. Well done. You may have already covered my following suggestions. You could add to your advice about camera stability to use the inbuilt camera timer of 2 or 10 seconds or a cable release for shutter activation. Although an extra burden, I also use a sand bag filled with pebbles ( no sand anywhere! ) that I suspend from the tripod. The 8kg bag makes the tripod really rock solid against wind and accidental bumping movement. If the location has pebbles they could be used in situ instead of carrying the 8kg bag. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. All the best.

Thank you very much! I have learned a lot... as I do from all of your videos!

Great stuff Mark. Have done FS before but some very good info there. Thanks a lot

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for checking out the video Warren!

Thanks for the Focus Sacking lesson. I find when I do that, I'm afraid that I'll miss something, so I take too many shots and end up with 5-6 images when most times 1 or 2 would work. The other thing is I'm always taking close up shots of mountains, and don't include the foreground items enough. I'm learning to back out on the cropping. Thanks.

wow! very detailed and informative. I learned a lot from this series of videos on focus stacking. subscribed!

Thank you Mark - lots of helpful information here!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching Lisa!

Great lesson!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Erich!

Thank you Mark, very clear as usual and you always have the perfect examples to help us understanding. Good learning, merci!

Very good video, thank you!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Patrick!

2nd mistake. I just realized I started focus stacking everything when I found out this particular technique. Thanks you so much for pointing this. Helps a lot

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Glad the video was helpful Robert!

Thanks for yet another simplified elaboration. “Bonus mistake” that’s a good one. As always loved your video. Keep up the good work.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Nafiz Mushabbir Hahaha! I was thinking the same thing when I said it!

Wonderful instruction. That I will put into practice. Thanks.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching John!

Great video Mark, I learned all of this hard way. Now I stick to focus stacking primarily for panorama, and anything else that requires a close subject also in focus (something interesting and adds to the image). I always shoot manual mode and hence, the other one was never a problem. The challenge is when it's windy and you need to stack. I have not figured that one yet - except returning to the location in a better weather condition.

Thank you for this wonderfully informative video. I'm just now trying focus shift shooting so these tips are very helpful

Very helpful thank you sir. Greetings from the Netherlands.

Super interesting! I really like the calm an methodical way in which you explain all the steps and what mistakes to avoid! Great video Mark!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you Janne! Great to hear you enjoyed it.

Nice video Mark.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thank ya Carlos!

Great video, thanks. I’ve spent the afternoon with my camera and manual trying to sort a couple of things and am keen to give this a go now

This is a very very well made video. Thanks for sharing.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you think so!

Awesome ! Thanks Mark ! slowly getting ready for my Canadian Rockies trip this summer with the kids, will definitely use your tips & tricks for focus staking.

Thank you for the good advise Mark. I've just started to experiment with focus stacking and I really appreciate your sharing your knowledge. Since I mostly shoot in aperture priority I never considered how different the lighting can be in different areas of the same scene and how the camera reacts to those changes. I also didn't consider just how fast it can change between the first and last shots. Thank you again for sharing.

Thank you Mark as usual for this video!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for checking it out Andrea!

@andreaceresara7204

4 жыл бұрын

You and others photographers helped me to switch from Canon to Fuji! Actually I didn’t switched yet but I will do next days...greetings from Italy!

Something new to practice!!

Thanks Mark. it's so easy to mess up focus stacking, especially when you have a small window of 'special light' to work within. Focus stack panic sets in (a bad case of acute FSP). The cure is to get the composition figured out ahead of time, make sure you know the focus spots and when the light hits, turn your phone off and get down to business. Easier said than done!

@ekevanderzee9538

4 жыл бұрын

Time to get an im camera setti g for this, like bracketing. Especially with mirrorless and communication with the lens, the camera can determine the distances involved in the frame.

Thanks for this. what I usually find as a good rule of thumb for myself especially when shooting landscape and stacking is I put the focal point into the center of each square of the thirds grid so I generally wind up with nine shots for each stack with each square having a center focal point which generally sharpens that entire section of the photo between f8-11. I shoot with the A7R4 now so I am learning that more not then often, I don’t need to actually stack photos as often. But it’s a fun process.

I also watched your previous video on Focus staking And like any other video this video is must be filled with tones of amazing informations thanks you.......

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much Sayan🙏

Haha, I wish I saw this last year. Its wild to think about how much valuable content we will never know existed.

There is an app for that, even if you camera doesn't support focus stacking. Helicon Focus and Helicon Remote. Haven't used it for years. Best I remember, with Remote you take the near and far photos and it takes those in between. Focus does the stacking, though there are other options for that, too. It's marketed for macro photography as it takes the stack without the photographer having to touch and accidentally move things. Yeah, it involves being tethered. Thanks for your great videos.

Loved the demo on the example of camera shake. Brilliant

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Hahha! Thanks!

Thank you for sharing so much, especially your mistakes. I am tempted to try photo stacking myself on the near future again. My last attempt was a complete failure!

Hi Mark. Once again you give us good information and what to avoid. The teacher comes through once again. I love focus stacking. Thanks to you I'll be getting better. Bill.

Greta tips!!

Hey Mark, very good and informative video, truthfully speaking I was watching your work space for first 5 min., how intricately and beautifully you have arranged things back there, multiple source of lights and its shadows on things, everything is placed perfectly and its coming together to add more beauty to the place. I had to rewind the video multiple time to catch up with you 😀 Love the experience you have shared, it takes a lot to bring it together and sum it up in 15 min, Hats off...

Good stuff and cool t-shirt

Thank you, Mark. This video is really helpful, and you explained it very well as per usual!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Great to hear you enjoyed it Nigel!

Thank you Mark

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching Ann!

@leto_len

4 жыл бұрын

@@MarkDenneyPhoto Always worth watching

Excellent video, Mark! As a landscape and product photographer, I've used "manual" focus stacking with great success with my small product photography. However, using the Nikon Z7's in-camera "Focus Shift Shooting" mode, (with camera on a solid tripod, using AF, of course, manual exposure and in AF-S mode, and the ultra-sharp Nikkor S 50 f/1.8 at f/8), when I set the first exposure's focus point on the nearest point of the subject (or bottom, if a vertical subject like a beer bottle) and set it for 25 or 35 shots, with a Focus Step Width of 5, Interval until next shot of 3, First frame exposure lock ON, Peaking Stack image OFF, Silent Photography ON (unless using flash), and Start. I find that the focus point did not travel "up" or through the subject as expected, thus invariably resulting in areas of unsharpness! Not sure what I'm missing here, but I would think that in a controlled studio environment, this function should work as well as my manual focus stacking does! Thanks, and be safe!

Thank you Mark! I haven't yet had the chance to try out focus stacking but watching your videos on the subject will help me feel in control and informed when that chance comes around!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

You'll be surprised just how easy it is once you try it and it'll unlock loads of new creative options for you as well! Thanks for watching Jackie!

I definitely need more practice with focus stacking because I really struggle with it. At that point, you hope there will be a video like this🙏 The way of explanation is so clear and makes me more confident. Thankyou Mark!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear the video was helpful Alex!

Mark, Thomas and Anthony. My three favorite photographers on youtube. Keep up the great work Mark.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Much appreciated- thank you!

Thanks for the info and tips. You always put something in that I didn’t think about. I hadn’t thought about the light moving so quickly when stacking.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to do it and thanks for checking it out!

Great tips Mark! I haven’t practiced photo stacking yet and your videos are fantastic, you really have a way of explaining these tips very well. Thanks for sharing and keep these videos coming!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much Tina - I sure will!

Thanks for this one Mark. I hadn't thought to use manual mode when focus stacking. I would have expected that to be a mistake. This isn't like panoramas where an automatic setting would result in changing exposures even when the ambient light isn't changing. Here an auto setting should only change the exposure to try to compensate for a change in ambient lighting (e.g., sun goes behind a cloud for on of the exposures). On manual, if there is a change in ambient light, won't the stacked picture look weird? Maybe stacking is just a bad option no matter what if ambient lighting is fluctuating quickly, or one needs to time exposure so that they are all made when ambient light is similiar? Also, I have a big issue with focus breathing when shooting macro photos (Canon L series macro lens). Auto align doesn't cure the issue. I purchased a rail so that I could shift focus by moving the camera 1 mm at a time, rather than refocusing. That avoids focus breathing but the change in perspective from moving even one mm at a time between each photo in a series of shots of a macro subject is still so big as to screw up alignment of the photos when stacking. Any suggestions?

Another great video, Mark. Always enjoy your simple, no-nonsense, straight to the point delivery on a range of topics.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Many thanks Kelen!

@kelencamehl

4 жыл бұрын

@@MarkDenneyPhoto I'm curious, casting aside the additional time required, potential focus gaps, and impact on exposure, do you think you end up with a sharper focused stacked image using, for example, 10 or more shots at a wider aperture versus 2 or 3 at a narrow aperture? In other words, do you think you can achieve a better in focus image using more of the sum of its parts vs. less. My guess is the differences, if even distinguishable, are trivial at most. Just curious if you've considered this at all?

A hyperfocal Calculator can also help decide if you need to focus stack. Hopefully your lens doesn't suffer from too much focus breathing. Wind can also move foliage around in between shots...

I'm really impressed with how you explain, just keep working the channel is brutally good!!!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much!

The stairs image is a great example of where not to focus stack. I think having the scene recede conveys depth.

Great Video Mark, using Manual exposure is a great tip. Look forward to watching more of your videos. 😄

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Many thanks Steve!

Great reminders here, Mark, especially the one about taking too many stacking shots is better than not enough. A little breeze here and there can certainly cause issues if you don't have a way to account for it. '

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Robert! Glad to hear the video was useful!

Good video Mark. Movement in the subjects is also a common problem for my part. Leaves/grass moving can result in a bad stitch/stack afterwards.

Excellent information...slowly getting addicted to your video..

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much!!

very useful. just imagine one person somewhere a remote location of INDIA did tried to do focus stacking and left out with FOCUS GAP today and frustration culminated in....thanks for solution.

Great video Mark. I seem to have the best success manually blending my focus stacks. I always seem to choose a comp with a gently moving flower or fern. Then I struggle layering my shots together. Fun times.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Haha! Indeed - PS really struggles with auto blending water so I end up manually blending as well!

Over the past few weeks I have been practicing focus stacking and now getting the hang go it. Your tips in this video will help me improve my focus stacking technique. Thanks

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it Grahame!

Good rule of thumb to help focus. The object you focus on is going to have 1/3rd focus in foreground and 2/3 in background of the object you focus on. So you could focus around 1/3 in and see if you have full focus to determine if you need to focus stack

Great advice once again and presented in an easy to understand way. You actually addressed my question I asked you a few months ago. Exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you Mark. A few light bulb moments there.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear the video was helpful Johan!

I prefer to do a hundred stressful layers in Photoshop...just to keep my hair thinning. Thins out nice and evenly!

Thanks for this great video. Is very useful because I've tried focus stack only with some macro, but now I want to use it on landscape photos.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for checking it out Riccardo!

Thanks for posting these videos they have been very helpful. One thing I struggle with is "Metering Mode" and "Focusing Mode". I'm a Canon user and for Metering Mode I have 4 choices, Evaluative Metering, Partial Metering, Spot Metering and Center Weighted Metering. For Focusing Mode I have the following choices; 1 AF Point, Zone AF, Large Zone AF and 45 point AF. With regards to shooting several frames for later Stacking what setting should I be using. Thanks in Advance, C.

Since I started watching your videos I found my photography is getting pretty much better thanks for all the tricks and tips helped me a lot wheather I'm out in the feild or behind the mac.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

This is awesome to hear - appreciate you letting me know!

I use focus stacking with HDR interleaving.

Mark, As usual; a very informative and educational video. Presented in a way to easily understand. Well done.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Ralph!

The Olympus OM-D system has a built in Focus Stacking and a Focus Bracketing function. Sounds like that system would work better to resolve many of these issues. The only issue I have found with those is what focus differential to select.

Very useful Mark, Many Thanks. I spotted mistakes I make sometimes as though I always shoot panos in manual unless it's in blue hour I have mostly shot Focus Stacked images in Aperture priority. guess if you have one of the fancy new mirrorless cameras that automatically do focus stacking it's simples!!

Granted, on the first one, you could use two different exposure times to brighten shadows and make more dramatic skies like in a mountain scenery when the sky and ground are at different exposures naturally to manually enhance dynamic range.

You're always filming at exactly 1:22pm. ;) Thanks for the video and tips!

the Camera shake clips cracked me up. lol.

nice!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Great points to avoid Mark and definetely will make me more confident . Thank you and have a wonderful weekend. You always "Rock!", Mark.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Much appreciated Anuja! Enjoy your weekend as well!

@anujasharma9677

4 жыл бұрын

@@MarkDenneyPhoto Thank you Mark.

As usual amazing video again ,make a video on hyper focal distance .

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks! That’s a good idea👍

About the last (non-bonus) one, one feature that I really like about the Fuji X-T3 is the automatic focus bracket mode. You can set how many images to take, how large of a step there is between images, and even how long between each image is taken. You still have to process that many individual images, but when you're out there it really helps with speed and not having to potentially move your camera out of place ever so slightly.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

I’ve had the xt3 for over a year now and still haven’t experimented with that. I need to change that soon - thanks for the reminder👍

@ewoutgsa

4 жыл бұрын

Works great with macro shots on my X-T4!

Great presentation as always. Have always wondered whether there's an easy way to combine HDR and focus stacking without having hundreds of images?

Great advice Mark and the bonus advice for focal stacking came at the best time for me as I'm going to try my first time at focus stacking this weekend as my 10-24mm fujifilm lens arrived today 😁 Once again your videos are truly appreciated mate 👍

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Many thanks Shane! Enjoy the new lens - its a beaut!!

Hi Mark As usual this is a great video that you created on focus stacking. I’m going to go ahead and try out some of your techniques. Thank you. Pat Hogarty from El Dorado hills California.

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear you enjoyed it Pat!

Great video and tips! First, I'd love to see a video explaining how to use hyperfocal distance with modern lenses (if you can use it). really, that should guide us in determining how many shots we need in a stack. Second, a question on your last bit about manually checking your stack. I saw when you clicked off your first image, that some patches of sky showed as part of the mask. Why did you let PS pick a spot in the back of the picture to include in the mask for the part of the stack where you focused in the very front?

"A bonus mistake" Classic!

@MarkDenneyPhoto

4 жыл бұрын

Hahha! I thought the same thing

Searching KZread for Focus Stacking shows at least 4 videos of yours that have it in the title :)

Thanks again Mark! Would it be a mistake to use the camera's focus bracketing instead of choosing focus points manually? Also, no one seems to know: on my Panasonic camera, the focus bracketing setting asks how many "steps" per image (between 1 and 10 I think), what is this number measured in? I know that a higher number varies the focus more per image, but what is this number measured in? Meters, feet, stops, percent, etc?

Thanks Mark. This was definitely helpful and, as always, well-explained. My question is, how do you decide what Fstop to use when focus stacking? What factor(s) play into your decision? Thanks again.

Focus breathing is a characteristic of most lenses, whereby the actual focal length of the lens changes with the focal distance. Focus breathing can be a real problem in macro photography. Some lenses are much worse than others; I have a 105mm macro lens that has terrible focus breathing: Try blending a 103mm image with a 107mm image!

@mikepierce9667

4 жыл бұрын

Praying