Great results, Rick!

Wonderful... another thing to distract me from building scenery!  First it's JMRI, now this!  You guys keep coming up with things too cool to ignore!  

Of course, if I DON'T get crackin' on the scenery, all I'll be able to show you is perfectly focused fields of pink Styrofoam.  But you'll be able to read all of the DuPont fine print...!

Milt

WOW!

Thanks for this, Rick. The results look tremendous. I did not realize how simple it could be. I hope my Canon SD750 will allow me to properly adjust the focus for a series of shots. If not, well, guess I'll have to look for a new camera.

Lighting?

Hey, Rick... what did you use for lighting?

Milt

I'm a Helicon User and Fan

I'm in total agreement.

Many of the photos on my website of track and turnouts "end-on" are Helicon results.  It would almost impossible to take them at all otherwise.

Lighting for my pictures

Milt,

I took the pictures using my layout room lights, which are 65 watt incandescent flood bulbs flush mounted in  "can" light fixtures spaced approximately 4 feet on center.  I'm sure that I could have gotten better results with better lighting. 

Rick

Thanks, Milt

Milt,

It's my pleasure!  Hey, with better pictures you can submit better articles - so you can be further distracted with something else to do!

Rick

Should work if you have manual focus

UP,

If your camera has manual focus you should be able to use the technique.  Most cameras do have this ability.  I'm glad that you enjoyed the pictures.

Rick

A monster is created ...

Richlawn railroad officials reported a strange man claiming to be a company photographer has been harassing train crews, demanding they stop their trains so that he can shoot depth-of-field enhanced pictures of them. Railroad management is not pleased at the disruption to train schedules resulting from this unauthorized activity and vows to get to the bottom of this situation. Railroad police though are baffled so far. The only lead they have is the name Horace Fithers, however an Internet search returned only one hit on a person by that name. When they finally reached Horace at the South Jackson Tavern, Horace provided about 50 witnesses placing him in the Oregon Cascades during the disrupts on the Richlawn Railroad in Georgia sending the RR dicks back to square one.

Horace

The monster

You must not be southern....

Because what you typed is obviously a yankee thinking he's talking southern, Hee Haw and the Dukes of Hazzard aren't reality. (unless your in southern Ga) 

Seriously thanks for the Helicon example, just another part of the hobby I need to find time to do.

Depth of field shots

Hmmm...I wonder if there's a similar product that will work with video...

Freeware alternative?

no video for you

Focus stacking is impossible for motion cameras because they can only focus on one plane at a time and most objects will not cooperate and repeat their movements identically a dozen times so that the various focal planes can be recorded.  Motion control systems like used in Star Wars special effects could do that, but it's hardly a trivial process.

Just one real-life drawback . . .

Once you ripen to true maturity gracefully and need bi-focals, your layout scenes start to look more like the first photo than the second.

Geared - "Sort of Southern"

Geared,

I'm an old Louisville, KY  (pronounced "Lu-ville") boy and since Louisville is on the extreme Northern tip of Kentucky we can claim to by Southerners or Northerners.  When I went to school at WKU in Bowling Green, KY there were some students there from Eastern KY and many of them seemed to talk similar to ole' Buck and Loretta - but that could be my faulty memory as it was many years ago.

Rick

Nice!

Ever since Charlie mentioned this software I wanted to try it but got intimidated by it.  Glad you went first, Rick!  Did you use the Focus Lite?  And if you don't mind me asking, are you going to go with the year subscription or the lifetime license?  I'm really tempted to download it right now but I don't want to waste the 30 day free trial until I have something "camera ready."  Like somebody else pointed out, the price is a little steep but like any good tool--you get what you pay for.

One other note...now that you're perfecting your photography, does this mean Kevin should expect a delay on the completion of "Grandpa Sam's"? 

Free focus stacking software ...

Google is your friend. Type in "free focus stacking software" and see what pops up...

Charlie

Really?

I'm a little disappointed by your response, Charlie.  I'm not sure if the "Google is your friend" comment was directed at me or at Rich (rfbranch), but it doesn't really matter.  I've received a similar response from a question I posted: https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/another-tool-question-12188740 
We're asking because we'd like peoples' input and advice--people with experience.  It's not because we're lazy and didn't think to Google it.  The free version of Helicon I saw was free for 30 days, then you'd have to buy a license.  If there's a free Helicon version, how 'bout a link instead of a rather condescending response?

Are there free versions you've used?  
Are they as good as Helicon?  
Are there free versions to avoid?
Yes, we could Google these questions but we'd like the advice of people we look up to and trust.  You know--our other "friends".  The ones on the MRH forum.

If I'm out of line, please delete this.  If not, I hope you take my comments to heart.  "Google is you friend" doesn't really extend the welcome mat to other modelers looking for help.  I'd submit that it has a chilling effect on the participation level here.  Who wants to be dressed down by the editor of their favorite magazine?

Bill, I used Helicon

Bill,

I used the Helicon (Focus Lite) product with the free 30 days trial.  As far as Grandpa Sam's place, I was taking a break from it when I did the picture on this post.  I've got a VERY short attention span and like to work multiple projects at a time.  Grandpa's place is doing just fine - you can check out the progress at:

http://kevinkreaganhouse.blogspot.com/

Rick

Extreme depth of field in video...

Jurgen,

There actually is a lens available for video/film that can have objects focused from macro to infinity, so in a infect "focus stacking for video".  And it also has a 360 degree pan too.

It was invented by an Aussie Jim Frazier and the patent sold to Panavision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frazier_lens

http://www.beyondinfinity.com.au/series_1.html

One of the best test videos to prove his lens was of short video of a Ferrari, and a woman standing next the front of the car, then the women walks from the background to right next to the Ferrari showing that it was in fact a miniature model car, and the entire time everything is in focus...

I think that these lenses may be out of the reach of the average model railroader though...

Jas... 

Google may be your friend

In response to the questions:

Are there free versions you've used?  

Nope... I've only used Helicon Focus

Are they as good as Helicon?  

Dunno, see the previous answer. But for free how much room for complaint is there (as long as they don't include worms or other trojanware)

Are there free versions to avoid?

I would assume (at the risk to doing something to you and me) that searching on the program names might yield some "for goodness sake don't install this program on your computer" postings if there are significant problems.

Yes, we could Google these questions but we'd like the advice of people we look up to and trust.  You know--our other "friends".  The ones on the MRH forum.

Did you try plugging "focus stacking" or "focus stack" in the MRH search function?

Since I've not used any other focus stacking software I have no first hand experience. I do know that compared with the prices Adobe charges for their software Helicon is reasonably priced, has regular updates, and it seems to work well (most of the time). A place where I've seen some problems is if there is complex detail in focus at one end of the stack and in focus, but not complex areas at the other end of the stack. A little hard to explain. This can result in Helicon getting a bit confused regarding which image it should be using. It's also important to remember to keep the images in order from nearest to furthest to help with this issue.

Charlie

Free Alternative- CombineZM

Rich and Bill,

CombineZM is a free photo stacking alternative software. Here's a link to a tutorial on the program: http://www.wonderfulphotos.com/articles/macro/focus_stacking/. Do a search for CombineZM and you'll find links to download the software. I used it for the cover photo of the modifying a CV bridge in the November 2011 issue of MRH and the lead photo for the out-of-service train order signal article in the February 2012 issue of MRH.

The only issue I've had with the software is that the stacked photos have a small mirror image border on the top and right hand side. I haven't read through the tutorial, but perhaps it addresses this issue. It's easy enough to just crop that portion of the photo. 

Tom Patterson

Thanks Charlie & Tom

Thank you for the responses, guys.  Very helpful information and I appreciate you sharing it.  

Bill

I tried Combine ZP

Hallo all,

some impressions from the FREMO americaN layout at last weekends annual meeting can be seen here:

http://www.america-n.de/FocusStacking/FocusStacking.htm

My camera is a Canon G15.