Flowers (hand-held in-camera focus stacking)

[Stephen]

Camera : Canon EOS R7 with EF 100mm f/2.8 macro IS

Aperture Priority (Av), ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/1000s

Hand-held, CRaw, in-camera focus bracketing with depth composite enabled

No. of shots : 10, Step : 4

Post-process :

Canon DPP (focus stack), Topaz denoise AI (sharpening, optional), copy EXIF information to the stacked photo


Results I want
A blurred background, DOF is enough to cover the whole flower while the lower layer of the petals get a little bit out of focus

For a single shot, if I use a small f-stop (e.g. f/11), the background would be more visible, so I prefer to use a larger f-stop, f/5.6. However, the DOF is not enough to cover the whole flower.

It is difficult to get a satisfying result, but it is easy to obtain the effect by using hand-held in-camera focus stacking function.



Single shot using f/5.6 (cropped, not enough DOF, background OK)

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 200

in-camera depth composite jpg photo, uncropped and without post-processed, 10 shots
(lower layer of petals are too clear, so I decided to use fewer photos for focus stacking)

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 200

Final focus stacked photo
(8 photos, cropped, focus stacked by DPP, sharpened by Denoise AI)

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 200

Some more flower photos (focus stacked)

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 250

 

[Archibald]

The focus stacking looks good!

 

[Stephen]

The focus stacking looks good!

If there is no wind, then focus stacking is extremely simple and easy. The stacked photos are ready to use.

in-camera generated depth composite jpg photos (10 shots), hand-held, without any editing.

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/400 sec
• ISO 250

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/3.5
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 100

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/250 sec
• ISO 100

But if there is a gusty wind, the more time you spend on taking the sequence, the more artifacts will appear on the stacked photo.

The in-camera generated depth composite for the purple-white flower as shown in #1

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 250

Final photo after edited by DPP

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• 100.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/1250 sec
• ISO 250

 

[Archibald]

Right, if there is no wind.

That second one is really neat.

I have tried this before but only rarely. Gotta do more in the coming season!