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- #1
Now we have Phocus 3.7 it is possible to manually build focus stacks sing the focus controls in the capture sequencer to move the focus point from ones starting point to the furthest point you wish to reach. Obviously when the automated version arrives (presumably with the promised firmware upgrade) the capture part of the process will be smoother.
The shooting set up was relatively straight forward -- I was using the XCD 120/3.5 Macro on the X2D-100c mounted on a tripod and tethered to a Mac Studio Ultra (with lots of space on my working drive -- well before I started anyway) - twin profoto B10x plus strobes 3' octaboxes and the Connect Pro Trigger. The subject was held in a clamp 500-900 mm away (depending on the size and depth of the flower head) and I used a simple white backdrop at various distances with one strobe on the subject and the other on the backdrop.
Most images were taken using f/8, ISO 64 and f/160th. All images were captured in Phocus 3.7 where they are imported and converted to fff files. I chose to use Hasselblad L* RGB as ther working space. Each sequence white balance and exposure adjustments were made on test shots. Then the focus adjusted to closest focusing point and then advanced after each shot by 2 clicks on the > arrow. This seemed to provide the best results, but no doubt I could have saved time/ space by using 3 clicks. Depending on the "depth" of the subject each run took between 30 and 50 exposures. Once each run was completed exposure and white balance adjustments were reconfirmed and all files in the run were exported as 16-bit TIFF files using "source" colour space.
These were ingested into Helicon Focus Pro (the most recent edition for MAC) and rendered using default settings - except I chose to use Lanczos 8, the slowest and best interpolation algorithm, and gave the settings some latitude to fix horizontal, vertical and rotational shifts and to resize each image -- this latitude was needed to fix a focus breathing issue I had with the XCD 120 when starting the stack close to the minimum focussing distance. I subsequently moved the subject a little further away and the issue reduced.
As you will see - I chose a random selection of large headed flowers to shoot. I process the output in colour and black and white and have posted some vids of the 3-D renderings. The initial output from my tethered stacking can be seen HERE (including videos of the 3D maps for a few images)
Obviously the images are vast and the following are significantly downsampled/downsized, but they should provide an idea.
The shooting set up was relatively straight forward -- I was using the XCD 120/3.5 Macro on the X2D-100c mounted on a tripod and tethered to a Mac Studio Ultra (with lots of space on my working drive -- well before I started anyway) - twin profoto B10x plus strobes 3' octaboxes and the Connect Pro Trigger. The subject was held in a clamp 500-900 mm away (depending on the size and depth of the flower head) and I used a simple white backdrop at various distances with one strobe on the subject and the other on the backdrop.
Most images were taken using f/8, ISO 64 and f/160th. All images were captured in Phocus 3.7 where they are imported and converted to fff files. I chose to use Hasselblad L* RGB as ther working space. Each sequence white balance and exposure adjustments were made on test shots. Then the focus adjusted to closest focusing point and then advanced after each shot by 2 clicks on the > arrow. This seemed to provide the best results, but no doubt I could have saved time/ space by using 3 clicks. Depending on the "depth" of the subject each run took between 30 and 50 exposures. Once each run was completed exposure and white balance adjustments were reconfirmed and all files in the run were exported as 16-bit TIFF files using "source" colour space.
These were ingested into Helicon Focus Pro (the most recent edition for MAC) and rendered using default settings - except I chose to use Lanczos 8, the slowest and best interpolation algorithm, and gave the settings some latitude to fix horizontal, vertical and rotational shifts and to resize each image -- this latitude was needed to fix a focus breathing issue I had with the XCD 120 when starting the stack close to the minimum focussing distance. I subsequently moved the subject a little further away and the issue reduced.
As you will see - I chose a random selection of large headed flowers to shoot. I process the output in colour and black and white and have posted some vids of the 3-D renderings. The initial output from my tethered stacking can be seen HERE (including videos of the 3D maps for a few images)
Obviously the images are vast and the following are significantly downsampled/downsized, but they should provide an idea.
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