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This is influenced by the following factors: The most important decision with focus stacking is choosing how many photos to take.
HELICON FOCUS VS PHOTOSHOP SOFTWARE
Otherwise Adobe Photoshop CS4+ or specialized software packages such as Helicon Focus, TuFuse or CombineZM are required. If the subject is composed of only a few distinct layers (such as the sphere example above), then this can be performed manually using layer masks.
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What's the solution? To combine several separate images (aka "image stacking"). Alternatively, one may wish to freeze motion in part of their image (such as with a moving subject), but also to preserve an expansive depth of field in other parts of the photo (without resorting to using a flash).
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Low-light photography: one may want to avoid a prohibitively long exposure time.Macro photography: one may wish to achieve a greater depth of field than otherwise obtainable using the lens's maximum f-stop (often f/22 or f/32 with SLR cameras).This can enable a much larger and sharper print than otherwise possible. Landscape photography: one may wish to obtain a vast depth of field, while also avoiding softness at the focal plane due to diffraction.
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