Focus stacking

I have always found Close Up Photography , very fascinating but never been in inspired enough go an buy a Macro lenses. because of costs and weighing up how much use I might actually get out of it,

Focus Stacking I found to be a good introduction to close up and detail photography before outlaying a great deal of money first.

In this exercise many subjects were photographed but none made the grade as interesting subjects go until photographed the Watch, it been done so many times before but still am amazed at the amount of detail bought out by this procedure

When to Use Focus Stacking

When a photographer requires more depth of field, they typically just increase the f-stop setting of their camera lens. While this is a simple and effective technique, choosing a higher f-stop also has its disadvantages. It increases the necessary exposure time, and in extreme cases, it can also reduce image sharpness due to diffraction. Furthermore, one might desire a greater depth of field than a particular lens's maximum f-stop is able to provide. Specific example scenarios may include:

 In This case the watch was laid upon the background , Being a brown fabric Lounge, matching the gold in the watch madde nice composition,

A Tripod was set up to take image of the watch at different focus points one being very slightly different from the next,

Focus stacking works in three general stages:

1. Capture

 

2. Align

 

3. Merge

1. . 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. Otherwise Adobe Photoshop CS4+ or specialized software packages such as Helicon Focus, TuFuse or CombineZM are required.
2. 1. Several photos are taken by gradually incrementing the focusing distance across the subject. The number of separate photos ranges from a couple (for two distinct layers of subject matter) to as many as dozens (for expansive scenes). In general, moving subject matter should be avoided.
   2. These photos are then aligned so that their content is overlaid pixel by pixel. This step is necessary even when using a tripod, since changing the focusing distance always causes misalignment (more on this later).
   3. A composite image is then created based on the sharpest regions from each of these separate photos. 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. 
    I Began by taking Several photos gradually incrementing the focusing distance across the subject. The number of separate photos ranged from a couple (for two distinct layers of subject matter) to as many as dozens (for expansive scenes).  as I has learned In general, moving subject matter should be avoided.
   2.These photos were then aligned so that their content is overlaid pixel by pixel. This step is necessary even when using a tripod, since changing the focusing distance caused misalignment
   3.A composite image is then created based on the sharpest regions from each of these separate photos
3. The finished result

 

 

Some of the different focal plane that mad up the shot

 

 

Best Friend

The Best friend exercise, where I was first introduced to some Photoshop magic.

called Best Friend because our mission was to place  a self portrait and merge with the photo of a celebrity bringing the two image together to form one photo.

In this case, my friend was a photo of Iain Hewitson celebrity cook and a photo of myself with some kitchen props,

having to work ne my own , it took a while to get the best shot as was introduced by this project to the self timer and endless getting the shot I was happy. Lucky for me I have lots of patients here is the finished result 

 

This exercise was an introduction the  world of Photo Manipulation, to which as a result has given me an interest in furthering my career in this field, 

Mutiple Exposure

Multiple Exposure is like a lucky dip creating surprising special effects with the never ending possibilities, with the addition of Layers and masks with Blending Options that can be manipulated, wrapped between layers. theirs no limit to what you can create except your own imagination, the image below was manipulated using a Nikon D5100 and photos from Honeysuckle Newcastle,
I quite often find myself DOODLING with images coming up with endless kaleidoscopic results, The res no limit to the images that can be used for Album Covers , Book Covers.
I find With Multiple Exposures it is possible and quite a lot of fun to build a Self Portrait not necessarily with a photo of your self but by using Exposures Multiple Exposures describing yourself by the Effects it create , the color etc.

 

 This Multiple Exposure describes me as well a Photo being that I come from a Boilermaking Welder Background and favorite colors are Purple and Blues as they are Soothing cooling which i also love  use in in my paintings

This is the image from which a Multi Exposure Resulted

Ghostly Composition

This ghostly composition  gives great practice in understanding in the use of masking and layers

On practice can we gain a firm understanding of the use of Masking , Layers and even blending options and Opacity Changes can  take a rather dull photo into the world of of the super natural and could be straight from the cover of a Stephen King Novel, 

prctice makes perfect and this is a fun way to master the many uses of masking and layering , which in many cases when fully understood can enhance photos tremendously

The Vesper Layout

The Vesper Brief

Below is the completed layout of the photographic shoot of the Vespers

The placing  of the Vesper and the lighting played a critical important role in the design

of the completed page to which it is displayed.

Enough room at the top of the page allowed the required text, ( not shown) while leaving enough space at the bottom of the page to show detailed sections of f the vehicle,

When shooting for a client, placement, lighting, cleanliness, no footprints, Tyre marks of any description must be evident in the production as removing them in photo editing is time consuming and time m wasting,

It is always best to go ahead with a shoot with a clear plan of everything first before a sing photo graph is taken

This Layout of the main Photo and 3 detailed shots completed in Photoshop,  pretty much was shot as. Apart from the removal of the cardboard under the bike stand which one would never guess was there in the first place