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Focus Stacking and HDR Attempt

Dec 052012

Tonight’s photo is a bit of an experiment, with a questionable level of success, and I’m going to tell you how I produced my first focus stacked HDR landscape image. I had an image in mind of the grapes hanging on their vines in front of the dome off in the distance. This required some careful lining up as in order to make the dome large enough in the frame I had to use my 300mm lens and stand a fair distance from the grapes. I also had the problem that there was a bit of breeze and the leaves were moving about. As a result I needed a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the leaves motion. However, I wanted to take bracketed exposures to produce an HDR image. As the HDR process creates a lot of noise in the image I was reluctant to increase my ISO to get the shutter speed up. This meant I had to increase my aperture to the point where I couldn’t get the depth of field I needed to keep the grapes and the dome in focus.

I had the term “focus stacking” in my mind. I wasn’t sure where I’d heard it but assumed it was some method for combining a number of images focused at different points into one fully focused image. With this in mind I set about taking bracketed images adjusting the focus from the front of the image all the way through to the back. It resulted in me taking the following 21 images (My gallery import isn’t working, you can see them here until I figure it out):

[pydsmugmugslider albumid=”26919787″ albumkey=”NX5MQ6″ albumtype=”tab” imagesize=”ThumbURL” imagelink=”0″ ]

Naturally, this was a daunting task. I did some reading on how to focus stack and discovered it was relatively easy. You simply upload the images to Photoshop and click on the following:

File >>Scripts>>Load Files into Stack
Edit>>Auto-Align Layers
Edit>>Auto-Blend Layers

Then, like magic you have a tack sharp image from front to back. Well, at least that’s what the articles I read led me to believe. I set about to try this, with my regularly exposed images. After clicking Auto-Blend Layers Photoshop whirred away and did come out with a pretty magical result. I have no idea how it does it. It was good but it wasn’t perfect.

I had a number of areas that were still blurry and assumed I must have missed focusing on certain areas. I wasn’t sure how I could have done this as I adjusted the focus by such small increments. That was a few months ago and I had actually given up on this image. Tonight, I asked my travel partner what she thought I should work up tonight. I do that when I need some inspiration. Naturally, she always picks one of the places she visited with me. Tonight she said Italy. I’ve actually processed all of the Italy photos I expected to process, but then I remembered this one and decided to try again.

I did the same thing I did last time, started by attempting to focus stack the regularly exposed images. I got the same result, blurry around the edges and with a few areas of the photo out of focus. Then I had an epiphany. I use Photomatix to produce HDR images, but I don’t trust the program to get it right, I go in and fix problem areas. I could do the same with this focus stacking stuff.

So, after combining the seven images that would become my one regularly exposed image I layered the result on top of the original 7 images and searched for in focus areas to replace the out of focus portions of the image. Once I found them, I masked through to the original photo to sharpen up the blurry areas. This worked pretty well, though I did still have some areas that I just failed to focus on – I did say it was an experiment, the results aren’t perfect.

Once I got this technique down I decided that I could do the same with the 7 underexposed and 7 overexposed images to produce the three different exposures I needed to create my HDR image. This went well and I was left with three images bracketed from -2 to +2. Once I had these three images I was able to process them in Photomatix and Photoshop as usual.

Read about how I do that in my Free HDR Tutorial.

I don’t think that I can really call this photo a success except for the fact that Iv’e got a few thoughts to take away from it. The biggest issue I had was the movement of the leaves. As you can see in the result, the areas that are still blurred are surrounding the leaves. This is due to the fact that in the photo where those areas were in focus, the leaves were blocking the view. I cuold have taken a similar approach to removing people from Charles Bridge and shot multiple shots at teh same exposures and focus. This would have increased my chances of catching all the areas of the final image in focus.

Another option would have been to make note of the spot and wait for a time when it was less windy. However, when travelling with limited time this could likely result in just giving up.

I also wish I had shot this at a higher ISO, to see if I could control the noise in post-processing. As it turns out, carrying out so many steps has resulted in a lot of noise in the final image anyway. I could have bracketed the images and, rather than using Photomatix to combine them simply masked the correctly exposed dome onto the correctly exposed vines.

That being said, I’ve enjoyed the process and think I’ll keep exploring the possiblities available with focus stacking. I do really like watching the magic of Photoshop as it combines the variously focused images into one.

Iceland’s Westfjords and the Midnight Sun

Europe, Iceland, Travel No Responses »

Dec 012012

Here’s another shot of the Westfjords under the midnight sun in June 2012. One day, I’ll make it back there. It’s a truly incredible country.

Dinner in Acqui Terme

Europe, Italy, Travel 8 Responses »

Nov 302012

Coordinating dinner and taking photos is often a pretty tricky task as dinner time so often coincides with the two hours either side of sunset. In this case, it wasn’t such a problem. If you look closely at the pizzeria to the right you can see my family and English relatives at the large table under the left awning.

Acqui Terme is named for this spring in a very interesting, pretty square. When I got there it was totally overcast, except for a small patch of blue sky a long way away. I decided to wait for it.

Time ticked away and I was thinking I may have to pack it in to go to dinner. Fortunately, everyone decided to eat in the pizzeria in the same square. I stayed with my camera, waiting for the blue sky to appear where I wanted it. I was very hungry and wanted to order but didn’t want to pack up my camera to do it. Just as I was about to give in to the hunger, and pack up, my very conscientious travel partner appeared with menu in hand. I ordered a pizza diavola and continued waiting. Once my window of blue sky arrived I moved quickly through three points I’d previously decided to take photos from. This was the last of them.

I arrived at the table just as my beer did… perfect!

Hotpot at Geysir, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 1 Response »

Nov 212012

This picture is the result of intense sleep deprivation and hunger. The sleep deprivation was the cumulative results of night after night out shooting followed by a few hours before moving to a new location. The hunger was due to a lack of planning.

Earlier, we’d enjoyed the incredible experience of swimming in the rift between the North American and European tectonic plates. The water was a crisp 2 degrees centigrade and tasted delicious. I spent most of the snorkel drinking the glacial melt water, which enters the rift via a spring after being purified by trickling through volcanic rock for years. This did result in my near drowning on a few occasions when I confused breathing through the snorkel, and drinking the water, however.

After this experience a good, hot, filling meal is, naturally, on the cards. However, we made a near fatal mistake. Rather than just getting crappy food at the visitors center we asked for directions to another restaurant. It was our last night in Iceland and we wanted to have a proper dinner. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the restaurant, 45 minutes later, it was closed. At this point, the visitors center would also be closed.

This is when it happened. My travel partner went from a happy-go-lucky, cheerful soul to a grumpy, sarcastic hunger machine. We bounced from one restaurant to the next, desperate for a scrap of food. Unfortunately there was none to be had. Fortunately, for me, I found the grumpy, sarcastic hunger machine hilarious.

My spirits buoyed, by the hilarity of the melt-down occurring next to me, we pushed on with just a small supply of 2 day old gummy candies we found under the seat to hold us over. We visited what are probably the two most popular tourist sites in Iceland for any kind of tours. For the first time in our trip, we actually saw people in these locations after midnight. We were used to being totally alone.

Today’s photo is from a seismically active area called Geysir. The name gives it away, but the area is pockmarked by geysers, large and small. Today’s photo is one of the smaller ones that just perpetually churned away, spitting out hot steam.

After our visit here we made a visit to Godafoss, an incredible waterfall, before making the 2 hour drive back to Reykjavik where the leftovers of our Thai dinner the night before were waiting. I passed out immediately, without eating. My travel mate finally got to feed.

Inside the Turf Church, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 7 Responses »

Nov 182012

I’ve uploaded a photo of this little church before. It’s constructed with a traditional turf roof. After poking my head inside I decided it could be cool to get a shot of the altar looking up from the ground. I sat down right next to the door and started trying to take a picture from the ground. I had to go lower than my tripod would allow so I was hand holding my camera and trying to line up the pews and the floorboards symmetrically. It was pretty tricky and I was in a pretty awkward position. At one point the door opened and someone came in. I was pretty embarrassed to be caught by a stranger in this odd position on a church floor. I was relieved when the person who came in to join me was my travel buddy who was used to me being in odd positions by then.

Flowers in the Wind, a Lighthouse, and a Boat on Land in Gardur, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 2 Responses »

Nov 172012

On my first night in Iceland I stayed out, excited by the lack of darkness, until I got too cold to go any further. On my way back to our guesthouse I decided to stop and take some more photos of the flowers moving around in the biting wind. I wanted to show the flowers’ movement so I stuck with a small aperture to let them blur and fired off 7 exposures ranging from -3 to +3.

I’ve been trying to avoid posting images from the same place day after day. However, I’ve realised that I’ve got far more pictures from Iceland than anywhere else, and I won’t get to do anymore traveling until the New Year. So you’ll be seeing a lot of Iceland photos for the next couple of months.

On the Road in Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel 2 Responses »

Nov 152012

This is a photo I had to take in Iceland. Our trusty jeep that could take us wherever we wanted to go. We were either in this jeep or stood nearby the vast majority of the hours we spent in Iceland. I really don’t know how we got through with so little sleep. You can see my trusty driver sat waiting as I hopped out to take some photos in the crux of a Fjord in the East Fjord region of Iceland.

Pro-tip: When renting a car in Iceland, think about fuel usage, not just rental cost. You’re going to be doing a lot of driving and it won’t even feel like it. We got a good deal on the week’s long rental, but the fuel costs were astronomical!! Next time I may be on the bus!

Ristorante Barchetta, Lake Como, Italy

Europe, Italy, Travel 2 Responses »

Nov 142012

I wish I could say I’ve named this photo after a great experience in Ristorante Barchetta, but I didn’t hop off the ferry in this village. It looks like a nice spot for a bite though, or an afternoon beer. From the ferry I saw this lady in the green dress on her phone, while the rest of the world rushed by her. I wondered if it was an important call or if she was just having a a chat. What do you think?

Getting to the Bottom of Svartifoss, Iceland

Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall 28 Responses »

Nov 132012

After teetering on the edge of collapsing into the river along with my camera gear and my travel buddy (aka my umbrella holder), I scrambled back onto the bank and decided to further my attempt to fall in by crossing the rope barrier to get a closer look at the incredible Svartifoss.

It was raining and gloomy. We’d walked for about an hour to get here, but when we arrived, we forgot about how cold, damp and miserable the hike had been. This waterfall is beautiful. I’d decided I wanted to capture the thin veil of water that tumbled onto the jagged rocks at its base. I was able to climb an outcrop and set my camera up with tripod on the lowest level, to snap this shot.

I tried processing this through Photomatix as I normally do to produce HDR images but eventually decided it wasn’t necessary. I just used one exposure and tweaked the contrast and saturation in Photoshop then boosted the detail a bit using Topaz Adjust.

Dark Gates

Europe, Italy, Travel 15 Responses »

Nov 122012

There was something kind of creepy about these run down unkempt gates in Piedmont. I tried to capture it here by setting the camera down low in the brambles across the road. I paid a price for this one as the thorny vines took hold of my leg causing me to jerk away. Probably the wost reaction as it just dug the thorns deeper in.

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