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this leaf is 5.3 cm long. I used 10 frames at different focus points @ 1/4s@f10 and helicon focus to put together..... this is my first using this software and a lot to learn.....there is a slight gosting top left and right which I beleive can be part of the stacking process and has to be cloned out

I think that's inevitable. It's because on the frames where the background is more in focus, the leaf is out of focus - and an out-of-focus leaf is larger than an in-focus leaf, so there will be no frames with detail where the halo is.

Regards,
Murray

Looks very nice! It also sounds like lots of frustration though.

...and helicon focus

... Software to automatically combine a series of images taken at different points of focus (freeware, I think). The main limitation for me would be that you have to use JPGs. You can also do the same thing manually with layers.

Murray Foote wrote:... Software to automatically combine a series of images taken at different points of focus (freeware, I think). The main limitation for me would be that you have to use JPGs. You can also do the same thing manually with layers.

........You will find that the software has changed a lot ...... the above image was put together using RAW images....

http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html?purchase

What image? It seems Smugmug isn't serving the file up.
Your post is blank, but if I start a quoted reply I can see the URL you've tried to use. That URL just returns the text "smugmug.images.upload" which obviously isn't a JPEG and explains why it doesn't appear in your post.

DaveB wrote:What image? It seems Smugmug isn't serving the file up.

The image was here over the last few days, as well as earlier this morning.

Odd ....

No image here. If I right click and select "View Image" I get a bunch of XML errors.

Image is working now...

big pix wrote:

Murray Foote wrote:... Software to automatically combine a series of images taken at different points of focus (freeware, I think). The main limitation for me would be that you have to use JPGs. You can also do the same thing manually with layers.

........You will find that the software has changed a lot ...... the above image was put together using RAW images....
http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfocus.html?purchase

That does make it much more viable.

However I see it's not freeware (maybe my memory is defective and it never was). I've done it manually myself quite a few times and didn't find it greatly difficult or time-consuming, even on an image with a very complex focus pattern. Certainly you need to be comfortable with layers and masking for that and I imagine Helicon Focus is much quicker and easier.

It seems to me from looking at the site that you end up with an output file but not with all the layers that go to make it up. That might be a disadvantage where there is a foreground edge that is set well forward from the immediate background and you need to clone. (Edit - Maybe I guessed wrong about that. Since it saves TIFFs and PSDs, maybe it saves layers and masks as well).

I understand CS4 (which I don't have) has a similar capacity to Helicon Focus.

Regards,
Murray

Murray Foote wrote:I understand CS4 (which I don't have) has a similar capacity to Helicon Focus.

It was introduced in CS3. An example is shown in my latest post.

Ah, I was doing it the hard way - Load as layers, auto-align, then manually adjust for sharp elements, layer by layer. I didn't use the auto-blend. Thanks for the tip (details in the other thread, to be precise).

DaveB wrote:

Murray Foote wrote:I understand CS4 (which I don't have) has a similar capacity to Helicon Focus.

It was introduced in CS3. An example is shown in my latest post.

No, I tried it in CS3 with an image I had manually combined from 15 different exposures. Auto-blend in CS3 doesn't combine layers by focus. I removed all the layer masks and did an auto-blend. After that, the only active layer was the bottom one. My initial recollection must have been correct. Auto-blending for focus must be specific to CS4.

Regards,
Murray

Sorry, you're right. In CS3 the Blending is only for panoramas, whereas in CS4 it can also be used for stacked images.

Whoops!

DaveB wrote:Sorry, you're right. In CS3 the Blending is only for panoramas, whereas in CS4 it can also be used for stacked images.

Whoops!

....... dave thanks for the heads up re focus stacking on CS4...... here is the shell done with CS4.......