Focus stacking

KEV145

KEV145

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Name
Kevin
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Hello all, am into focus stacking using my 100mm macro lens. All goes well until I come to the AUTO BLEND LAYERS. It processes it so far and then up comes a box saying----could not complete the auto blend layers as there is not enough ram.
Could anyone help on this, am using--
windows 7 64bit
4gb of ram
cs5 extended
canon 5d mk2
I was trying to blend 10 raw images, if 4gb of ram is not enough how much do I need as I would like to blend 10-20 if possable.
hope someone can help on this
kev
 
Open photoshop, go to edit, preferences, performance and choose to let photoshop use 60%...
 
Are you using the 64 bit or 32 bit Photoshop executable? Even though it is a 64 bit system,. CS5 installs both executables so you can have access to 3rd party filters that work only with the 32 bit version.
 
Thanks for the quick replys, yes I am using the 32bit version of cs5 and have checked how much ram photoshop uses and it says 95%.
kev
 
Do they have to be RAW to be processed? Bit of a palaver but maybe convert to JPEGs and then do the stacking?
 
yes considered doing it that way but was aiming at getting one final raw image for better quality final image. am sure in the tutorials I have viewed they process raw files, correct me if I am wrong.
 
KEV145 said:
Thanks for the quick replys, yes I am using the 32bit version of cs5 and have checked how much ram photoshop uses and it says 95%.
kev
Click to expand...
That is quite limited AFAIK - I think you are limited to using 2G of your 4G memory. Can you try the 64 bit version....
 
have been to the camera club tonight and a member has been down this very route, he said that trying to do it in raw is almost impossable as this method is so memory hungry, he converted to jpeg and had good results so will try this.
many thanks for the interest and advice.
kev
 
KEV145 said:
..... was aiming at getting one final raw image for better quality final image. am sure in the tutorials I have viewed they process raw files, correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...
You are labouring under two misconceptions here.

Firstly you can't create a RAW file as the output from the stacking process. Whatever you create would have to be saved as a JPEG, TIFF, PSD, or similar.

Secondly, although you might start with RAW files, you're not using them directly. You can't. A RAW file can't be displayed - it has to be converted first, and that's when the RAW processing settings (exposure, white balance, etc.) are applied.
 
Further to Stewart's post, my suggestion would be to use TIFF files rather than jpegs as the contain all the data from the raw file without being compressed.
 
Thanks for the replys, I converted images to jpeg to see if I could go down this route but still got the message "not enough ram etc". contacted the firm that built my system for me ( just over a year ago ) and they told me that the graphics card could only handle 4gb of ram and would have to upgrade in order to get more ram.starting to get expensive, about £220, so will have a go at stacking less images but would like to stack as many as poss. for good quality macro shots.
thanks for the input anyway.
 
You could try CombineZP, its a standalone freeware stacking program. I have never had any memory issues with it, but I have had the same messages from photoshop on my PC with 4Gb of RAM. You can get it from here
 
Craikeybaby said:
Further to Stewart's post, my suggestion would be to use TIFF files rather than jpegs as the contain all the data from the raw file without being compressed.
Click to expand...

KEV145 said:
Thanks for the replys, I converted images to jpeg to see if I could go down this route .....
Click to expand...

The advice regarding TIFF files is sound. They will give you better quality than JPEGs because there is no data compression.

You might think that a JPEG would use less memory because it's a smaller file, but that isn't the case. JPEGs are compressed so that they take up less disk space, can be transmitted over the internet more quickly, etc., but they have to be uncompressed before they can be viewed.

Your 5D Mk II produces images which are 21.1 megapixels. An 8-bit TIFF would require about 60 Mb of disk space and about 60 Mb of RAM when opened for viewing or editing. A JPEG might only require about 10 Mb of disk space, depending on how compressible the image is, but it will still occupy about 60 Mb of RAM when opened.

(For the ultimate quality you'd use 16-bit TIFFs and a 16-bit workflow. But they require about 120 Mb each so clearly won't be practical with your current system.)
 
Thanks again for your advice and interest, will now look at combine zp and also working with tiff files instead of jpeg.
 
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