Focus stacking combines multiple photos taken at different focus points into one final image with far greater depth of field than any single exposure could achieve, especially useful in macro photography where depth of field is naturally very shallow.
What It Actually Means
Rather than relying on a narrow aperture alone, which can introduce diffraction, focus stacking captures a series of frames with the focus point shifted slightly between each one, covering the full depth of the subject. Software then blends the sharpest parts of each frame into a single composite image.
How to Focus Stack
- Mount the camera on a tripod to keep framing identical across all frames.
- Capture a series of images, shifting focus incrementally from the nearest to farthest point of the subject.
- Use a moderate aperture for each frame, since focus stacking removes the need for an extremely narrow aperture to gain depth of field.
- Import the full sequence into stacking software or a compatible editing program.
- Blend the frames and check the result for any misalignment or ghosting, especially around moving elements.
Common Mistakes
- Shooting handheld, which introduces slight framing shifts that complicate blending.
- Leaving too large a gap between focus points, resulting in visible unsharp bands in the final blend.
- Attempting to stack a scene with significant movement, such as wind-blown plants, which causes ghosting artifacts.
When a Single Frame Is Enough
For subjects where a narrow aperture alone achieves sufficient depth of field, or for moving subjects where multiple frames cannot align cleanly, a single well-focused exposure is more practical than attempting to stack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dedicated stacking software and some general photo editors both support blending focus-stacked frames, with varying levels of automatic alignment and blending quality.
It depends on the subject’s depth and your chosen aperture, ranging from just a few frames for a simple macro subject to dozens for a more complex scene.
It is difficult, since movement between frames causes misalignment and ghosting in the final blend, making focus stacking best suited to still subjects.