A Dead Fly & Focus Stacking

[Holger14]

The original shots with different focus points.

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Result of the focus stacking.

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I stacked the originals in Photoshop and simply masked out the blurry areas of every layer.
I must admit that I really like the illustration-like, drawn look of the result.
How do you like the effect?

[genielamb]

that is amazing, what did you use to stack them photoshop layers and masking? or did you use an different program?

[Holger14]

I added a brief explanation to the first post.

[dlaf]

My question will certainly show my lack of photographic knowledge, but why not take the photograph with a smaller aperature (or whatever it takes) to get the entire thing in focus the first time?

[Holger14]

Originally Posted by dlaf

My question will certainly show my lack of photographic knowledge, but why not take the photograph with a smaller aperature (or whatever it takes) to get the entire thing in focus the first time?

Macro lenses have very little depth of field. Even with tiny aperture. Very small aperture also tends to soften the image due to the diffraction.
So depending on the size of the subject, it's almost never possible to get the whole subject in focus.

Focus stacking

[dlaf]

Very interesting, Holger14 - thank you for the mini-education and link. Another reason why this site and it's members are great!

[Scatterbrain]

Amazing, it gives such a three dimentional feel to the photograph. Well worth experimenting with.

[Holger14]

Originally Posted by dlaf

Very interesting, Holger14 - thank you for the mini-education and link. Another reason why this site and it's members are great!

You are very welcome, dlaf!

[genielamb]

Originally Posted by Holger14

I added a brief explanation to the first post.

Thank you. Always interesting to not only see the result but also how the effect was created

[pbdweeeebie]

Cool result and interesting enough to try.

Thanks for sharing.