Focus stacking

[villain1973uk]

when taking photos of landscapes do you always focus stack?, I've just learnt how to do it and was wondering if you do it on all landscapes to make them pin sharp all through the picture or for a certain kind of picture, if so what kind of picture will need it and what kind don't?

Cheers.

 

[Orangecroc]

Short focal length, deep focus point and apertures around f/8 would create the massive depth of field you're asking about. I'm sure if I'm wrong a more experienced landscape photographer will correct me.

 

[GrahamT]

I know of some photographers that focus stack on certain landscape shots where getting very close foreground and background sharp. However, none of them that I know do it on a lot of shots, just on the odd few that need it.

Personally I only use it when taking pictures of models I have built.

 

[Craig_85]

I only do it when required.

I am a bit fussy about diffraction so will not stop down beyond a certain point. When you reach that limit and your foreground to background is not sharp you need to focus stack.

Once I've decided I'm going to the hassle I will normally open the lens up again to the absolute sweet spot of f/5.6 To create the stack. Sometimes I don't want to do too many exposures due to changing light so I will use f/8.0-f/11.0.

Some people literally find relevant near focus and creep their way to infinity with very small movements of the focus ring.

Personally I do a bit of work first in live view using the depth of field preview button to work out where in the image I need to focus for the 2, 3 or 4 shots. Then when making the exposures I just zoom straight into those points and focus, (without dof preview to make it more obvious that I'm focussed where I need to be).

Surprisingly the times you need to focus stack landscapes are far more often with wide lenses actually. Getting very close to the foreground (lower takes you even closer which you often do when going ultra wide) and having an expansive scene require it the most in my experience.

There is software that automates the stacking but I tend to use PS. There is a focus area selection tool that you can export to a mask and tweak to suit that works quite well.