Stacking query

[Culicoides]

Having never tried stacking, and having been amazed (yes, honestly) at the numerous photos on the forum, can I ask what is considered the best and easiest software for stacking? Any tips on proceedures would be greatly welcomed. Many thanks, John

[gekko]

Welcome to the forum. I am the last person to help with focus stacking, but you might want to look at the section on image processing: viewforum.php?f=27 . I am sure someone will give you some answers.

[billbillt]

Hello,

The two free ones I can quickly recall are Picolay and CombineZ... Either of these work..

BillT

[Johann]

Hi John, welcome! Zerene Stacker is also popular, not free but has a 30day trial.
I use Photoshop.

[KurtM]

Stacking software is required. There are a couple free programs:

CombineZP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CombineZ
Picolay: http://www.picolay.de/

Free ... I think...? Toupview: http://www.touptek.com/product/showprod ... =en&id=103

And those that cost money:

Helicon: http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft- ... con-focus/
Zerene: http://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker

And as mentioned, Photoshop is used by some. There may be others...?

To create a stacked image, one begins by taking a series of images of a subject starting with focus achieved at the top, and working your way down, focusing in steps as you go, until you reach bottom or desired depth. Load these images in the stacking program, pull the rope (may need to use the choke) to start, and out the other end comes the miracle of a fully focused imaged! Well not quite, there's usually some cleanup work to do, but that's the general drift. As mentioned, there is lots of discussion on this forum on the subject, most of it more knowledgeable than what you've seen so far.

I really need to "git after it" myself, and get good at it. The "best" and "easiest" way is to download CombineZP or Picolay and start stacking. Or try the 30 day free trial that Helicon or Zerene offers. Never forget Google! Search for tutorials on Youtube. Ask questions.

[JimT]

Culicoides, back in August of last year I did a compare of Combine ZP Vs. Picolay you might find useful. Here is the link:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1494

Of course like they say on TV, "Your results may vary."

JimT

[billbillt]

Thanks for the link, Jim..

BillT

[Rodney]

I would like to see the results from some others that seem to know a lot about the procedure but never post images.
Thanks,

Rodney

[ChrisR]

I think the site which shows/discusses stacked images most is photomacrography.net .
The guy who owns/runs it wrote Zerene Stacker, though a number of the regular members there use other stacker programs.

Most of the stacking programs are pretty good now, the only baddie was, and still may be, Photoshop! I'm told the latest version is better.
There IS a bit of a learning curve; with some subjects you will run into a couple of artefacts which are common to all the methods and need retouching.
Try the free programs but before you pay for anything check which give you retouching tools in the basic program, and whether it's a one-off or annual payment.

Techniques and detail of methods vary quite a bit, depending partly on how small you want to work.