{"id":8376,"date":"2024-02-22T18:20:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T18:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=8376"},"modified":"2024-02-22T18:20:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T18:20:41","slug":"focus-stacking-comparisons-a-technical-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/?p=8376","title":{"rendered":"Focus stacking comparisons – a technical post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have tried using 4 different pieces of focus stacking software using the same 30-image stack, namely: Photoshop, Photoshop Elements with the Elements+ plug-in, Affinity 2, and Helicon Focus. With Helicon Focus (the only one with different settings) I have used the 3 different stacking methods each using 2 different settings giving a total of 9 software combination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has proved to be quite insightful and to show the differences I am showing 2 different crops of the resultant stacked image (which is the same butterfly image mentioned in the previous post – a dead one found in the garden shed). The caption identifies the software used and for Helicon the settings used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here are the first 9 resultant images of the ‘head’ crop. Note the amount of blur of the background around the hairs on the head:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photoshop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Photoshop Elements with Elements+<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Affinity 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method A settings 8,4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method A settings 1,1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method B settings 8,4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method B settings 1,1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method C settings -,4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method C settings -,1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here are the resultant 9 crops of the body:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photoshop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Photoshop Elements with Elements+<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Affinity 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method A settings 8,4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method A settings 1,1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method B settings 8,4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method B settings 1,1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method C settings -,4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Helicon Method C settings -,1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here is a slider comparison between Photoshop (left) and Helicon Method C setting -,1 for the head shot:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

And below this slider comparison is between Photoshop Elements+ (left) and Helicon Method C setting -,1 for the body shot:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have tried using 4 different pieces of focus stacking software using the same 30-image stack, namely: Photoshop, Photoshop Elements with the Elements+ plug-in, Affinity 2, and Helicon Focus. With Helicon Focus (the only one with different settings) I have used the 3 different stacking methods each using 2 different settings giving a total of … Continue reading “Focus stacking comparisons – a technical post”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,86,22,3,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-before-after","category-focus-stacking","category-macro","category-photography","category-technical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8376"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8401,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8376\/revisions\/8401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pmstudios.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}