Competition winners will be announced in a video in 2 weeks time! Meanwhile, the books start shipping tomorrow - thanks so much for the support! www.jamespopsys.com/store/2019-book
Yesterday I managed to take a 20-exposure-picture of a blowball, free hand 😀 It took me two attempts, some luck and a camera with a fast burst (Olympus PEN-F)
In my opinion replacing the sky in a photograph removes the right to call it a photograph. It's "only" a composite. Why should you travel to distant places and countries when you could simply download some stock images, put them together and call that a photograph?
My take is that people enjoy music regardless of whether it was made by a live band or a computer. Nice stuff is nice, regardless of where it came from, in my opinion :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto maybe so, the viewer of the image will not bother how it was made, but imho it takes away the pleasure for the photographer of 'creating' that great photograph. Why bother going outdoors if you can 'fix' an image on the computer, and mark my words: soon will come the days that all popular 'landscape themes' will also be in a software library, so you only have to combine a nice landscape with an even nicer sky, and the software will match the light conditions in the landscape according to the sky chosen. I rather prefer being out there, making images, enjoying my time and with any luck, make an image I am pleased with from time to time ... but of course, I would also like Luminar or any other brand to sponsor my channel ;-)
Yeah because if you can replace the background, you might as well photoshop everything. If it's made clear it's edited than that's fine. But when you get people entering photo contests claiming it's legit when they just replaced the background. Then nobody will be inspired to compose a great shot naturally.
Isn’t that like telling Rembrandt he can’t paint a moody sky (which is his style) because it’s a bright sunny day? Masterpieces have been painted (OFTEN) because the artists haven’t had to wait for a “Photographically” perfect day s/he envisions for a specific composition s/he wishes to depict. The finished image the Photographer-Artist is exactly the same concept. Image in Camera + Image clean-up/Image changing (from cropping to further altering) as the P-A envisions is EXACTLY same thing … but in a few minutes, not a few months or years. isn’t it?
2:19 So what I heard you say is that you use focus stacking so your picture of a shower cap on top of a building would look realistic. I think we define that word differently.
I focus stack macro photos because of the thin depth of field. The biggest problem I have is focus breathing and my software not being able to scale the layers well enough to avoid ghosting. This leads to long sessions of panning over the photo cloning out the ghosted outlines.
I'm sure you know about these, but in case you don't, macro rails could be very helpful! I use one and I get much better results than when I was changing my focus from the focus ring. Even when I used the automated focus system in the PhaseOne XF body, I still couldn't get as good of results as I could using the macro rail
@@noregretsyet do you need particular lens for focus stacking? I wanted to buy Canon camera but on the website its mentioned that focus stacking works only with few lenses.
"Avoid Distractions", this has been my motto in photography. "What is not in a picture is as important as what's in it". Sure enough a totally focus photo can lessen the way the viewer will enter the image unless it has a composition with strong leading lines.
Until recently I have followed your view on simplicity in photography but I have recently discovered Gavin Hardcastle's videos featuring his landscapes on Vancouver Island (where I also live) and other locations. His philosophy is to avoid boring negative spaces and in my opinion he makes it work specatularly. He has inspired me to try some focus stacking and panoramas. In summary both philosophies can produce excellent photos. Focus stacking and panoramas involve extra post production work though.
Absolutely spot on. Having things in extreme foreground as sharp as something 4 kilometres or more away isn't natural. When you are stood in the landscape looking at a scene, if you are looking at a distant mountain, your eyes blur the rock in front of you - so focus stacking is not a natural thing experienced in real life. Having said that it can sometimes make an image more pleasing having sharpness throughout, but I think it is overplayed by many photographers.
I thought I was in for an oppositional moment when first viewing the video title but I must acknowledge you got it perfectly right in camera without any need for post processing. Simply, isolate and eliminate!
Thanks for this video James. Looking at other UA-camrs videos they seems obsessed with focus stacking landscape scenes. I agree with you not stacking leads to something more atmospheric, less distracting, easy to view. Cheers
I'm an old school photographer. My approach to photography is to create the picture the moment I press the trigger, not to use captured digital information to create a picture out of that at the computer. For me the latter is some form of digital design, not photography. Yes I know, that even in photography laboratories there were manipulations possible during the exposure and development process, but that is by far not comparable to what can be done (and is done) at the computer. Because of that I don't use RAW, but do all my pictures in jpg, since for me it is absolutely no fun to "develop" a picture at the computer. Luckily I found a camera, which is very good in calibrating its jpg-output (you can compare that with selecting the correct film in the old days) and can produce outstanding quality that way (Olympus Pen-F). I do not judge people who create pictures at the computer at all, the results can be truly stunning, it's just not my understanding of photography. And yes, I know that I'm old and somewhat outdated.
Welcome to the Luminar world! I just started any type of editing in January and found L4 to be very intuitive.... plus there are tons of tutorials. Love it!! -Elaine
I always look forward to your videos! And especially now since I'm kinda stuck here at the house most of the time, seeing your videos are really highlights of the week. Thanks James!
I agree with you. I ike focusstacking sometimes if the foreground is really close. However If it's further away it's also nice to see some blurry parts if done right.
I always respect the fact that you talk about how YOU like to do things... and not telling people what’s right and what’s wrong like so many UA-cam “experts” tend to do :-) Cheers 🍻
Talking of DoF, I remember years ago reading about a bloke who took a lens out of a TV camera (about 4mm or something) and built it into a lens body for a 35mm camera - focus from about 1cm to infinity!
Dear James, your opinion on focus stacking has some good points! Next time I take a photo, I will incorporate the idea of when and when not to focus stack in order to tell a story in my composition! All the best!
I think the #1 characteristic that produces a photo most loved by the audience is SYMMETRY. It seems that you can take a picture of anything and as long as there is symmetry in the photo, many people will like it. Its the reason we want our haircut to look neat, our clothes to be tucked in, our belt to be centered, our faces to be absent of any markings or debris, our beds to be made well and our floor tiles to line up perfectly, etc. The human brain loves symmetry.
I do focus stack when warranted but I totally get why one wouldn't. Sometimes when I shoot macros of flowers, I stack the bloom but leave the background de-focused. Not into sky replacement, largely because I've seen so many bad uses of it I'm just turned off. I might try this though just for spits and giggles and a chance at free stuff.
I like your line of reasoning. The "everything in focus" trap is an easy one to fall into as a landscape photographer. Your examples are a nice reminder that sometimes out of focus elements enhance an image. Plus no need for a tripod.
I agree James. It's good to guide the person thru the image and look at what you want, but at the same time I use focus-stacking sometimes. I did that on a clock (as you gave as example). I think it's good for product shots etc. where you need to see the whole thing, but artistic, I think have some blur and direct the audience thru the image is good. I will try to remember to do that in my next photo. Make the forground blurry like on 7:32. it looks great! :-) When you are talking about Luminar, I like to make my pictures completely in-camera and I edit the colors, sharpnes, contrast etc. but I don't like to manipulate the image. Sky replacement looks really cool, but Idon't want to show a "fake" version of my images if I was on let's say a trip to the mountain. If the sky did not look like how I saw it, I think it's a bit weird to replace the sky. But for other things and if the client want another sky, I totaly respect that and if you are making art and the sky can help support that, but generally I don't manipulate my images. How about you James? But it's incredible how you can change a sky that simply.
ever used the 2 image focus stack Nigel Danson demonstrated in his 5 things he does in PS ? I tried it on a couple I had and it works pretty well... he didn't, but I did an align images before doing the gradient step...
I have the same aesthetics as you in that I like to blur what I don't want to be the primary interest. I mostly paint, but even there I'll blur the background by running a wet cloth across the background in a watercolour image and it makes what is not the subject less busy thus leading the eye to the real intended composition. Good luck with your contest, don't actually need the software, book or to win again, at least for another week or so.
I love the way you simplify your compositions. It’s one of the distinguishing characteristics of your work. I also really appreciate the way in which you simplify the photography process. Thanks for sharing your tips.
I’ve lost count of the number of landscape images that I shoot at f/1.4 or f/1.8. Allows me to shoot handheld and isolates the subject matter of the photo. I couldn’t agree more and the day I focus stack will be a dark day indeed. 😉👍🏼
I've been trying to process an image that I focus stacked. I've tried stacking it in Photoshop, Helicon and Zerene Stacker. None of these methods work, at least not without serious editing skills which I've yet to develop. The problems associated with this are several. Firstly I thought because I had a sharp f1.8 lens I could shoot fairly wide open. I shot a landscape with 30 or so images at f2.8. Despite not getting any movement I cannot stack it because the software cannot cope when there's something very close like criss crossing twigs and branches but with a mountain at infinity behind. I just get blurred edges all around the twigs. To try to correct this would likely be extremely difficult. I even shot the same scene at f8 yet I still cannot get it to stack. Perhaps I should have shot the foreground at f16 and the background at f5.6 using maybe 100th of a second for the f16 and the ff5.6 at around 1/6th of a second. BUT I was shooting at iso 64 so couldn't work out the exposure difference in my head at the time (isn't that awkward with Nikon). Some might suggest I shoot the scene at f18, but then I'd wonder why on earth I bought a fast lens if I'm going to be shooting with so much diffraction. Saying all this having watched the video I'm now going to have a try at processing it with the foreground out of focus. You images with the van and the white flowers that were OOF looked good. It'll be a shame if I can't get my image to look good, I flew 11,000km to take it.
With your eyes you do not see everything in focus (or should I say sharp), it's not natural. So I prefer to focus on the subject I want to photograph and put if necessary some contrast or extra light or saturation on that subject. In most cases that will assist the viewer to focus on the subject. The out of focus surroundings will become less distracting.
Thanks for bringing up the sharpest f-stop point on a lens and shooting at that and focus stacking for best overall sharpness. Few people take the time to really sort out their lenses to find that f-stop or 2 where it performs best. Shooting there will bring up image sharpness quite a bit overall even if stacking isn't the process. I never shoot one of my lenses at f16, 22 or 32 - it's always at f8 or f-14 - nowhere else - things just drop off noticeably. I learned this doing focus stacking about 7 years ago... good video and thoughts.
Thank you...i feel every time i watch a youtube on photography you have to focus stack, i cant anyway as i dont have a laptop, so this was a great reminder thats an individual decision, not a rule...cheers
Btw James, I suffered with nasal problems for 20 years. In Canada, we cant see the doctor when we want to, for we are putting on lengthy waiting lists. So, we have to often fix our own medical issues. Anyways, the best allergy treatment is to use a Neti Pot type of device, fill it with just under 1% salt in distilled water and rinse your nasal passages every 2 days. It does wonders for your allergies. Also helps with keeping colds to a shorter duration.
Just subscribed to your channel a few days ago and I am loving it. I have been watching your channel for a few months now and decided I needed to subscribe after watching this video. The reason being is that I find myself agreeing with your style and approach to shooting more than other UA-cam photogs. And I completely agree with much of what you say in this video. I've been shooting for many years and I am now retired and can now dedicate more of my time to this passion. So one point I would like to make regarding this video is your comment about making sure that when you choose to have something out focus make sure it is truly out of focus and not just a soft focus. Unfortunately, the state of being "out of focus" is a matter of degrees. In an image with great depth using an out of focus technique there will surely be content that is fully out of focus graduating to a soft focus, then to sharpness. This is especially true for landscapes. Any 2D representation of reality should mimic what the human eye and brain can achieve. This is my argument against focus stacking. Of course as an art form photography should not necessarily represent reality but should interpret it according to the artist's vision. My own vision requires something much closer to reality than a focused stacked image.
Luminar is great, sadly you couldn't upgrade from 3 to 4 which was quite a joke as the version 3 was only out for a year. Nethertheless, i'm still happy with my "old" version, because i never change the skies or use the AI a lot.
4 роки тому
I love sky replacement so much!! Luminar simply kicks ass imo. I am not that much of a Fan of using Skies of other Photographers but i simply shoot pictures of the sky with may camera or drone when i have the feeling that this kind of sky is awesome. And when i travel or i do a shoot the actual sky does not matter as much. That makes everything so much faster, and better.
I now use a GFX camera James and occasionally I focus back but only very occasionally. I actually like the mountains in the background to be slightly soft and yes with GFX you're shooting at F1 16 anyway, so you get most of it in focus anyway and if you use the hyper focal method you get pretty much everything you need in focus you just need to be mindful of what you've got in the foreground and your focus Point stacking is a pain in the arse. It really is for the benefit is minimal. Yes, those images and you see in those galleries sometimes look amazing, but I almost think they look a little bit AI to be honest with the mountains in the background, Pin sharp, because that is not how the human eye sees itr, because that is not how the human eye sees it
Gave it try there this evening and it's very good and not slowing the machine like lightroom does. Goodbye Adobe, Hello Luminar. Cheers for the Offer Code, they took it on top of offers they already had too, so happy days. Have a good one. Kind regards, BG
i might be alone in this but my philosophy on photography is make as little edits as possible. for me, its about taking the "perfect" single shot. the edits i usually make is just exposure and lighting correction. i almost never even adjust the colors
Thank you for this video! I’ve never really tried focus stacking in the field! And your video has explained it simply why we don’t need too! I will continue to just focus on the main subject and use the out of focus parts to frame the main part 👍🏼
One place where focus stacking comes to be a real asset is in macro and close up photography. The shallow depth of field in these instances almost necessitates the use of focus stacking... Also, been using Luminar since Luminar 2018. Now of course I'm on Luminar 4...
ha! my luminar trial expired weeks ago.... to be fair (as a hobbyist) it looked a bit like lightroom for kids. some of the bizarre light effects. and some of the tools are named oddly like one of thems called "mystical" or something similar.... i did wonder if it was aimed at wizards.
I'm not using focus stacking but I can see the need if you are using an ultra-wide angle and filling the foreground with a motive. I had problem with this when using a 20mm/4 lens during mountain shots. Must be difficult in forest due to wind movement of twigs. I will try it with a short tele lens.
my biggest issues with focus stacking nature shots, wind. i still like grabbing some images to focus stack when I want to have fun playing around with it, but TBH, its so much of a headache trying to edit anything thats "ghosting" due to any sort of movement.
If you have a composition that has a point of interest that you want to draw the interest to then having a composition that has hyper detail from all-to-wall the whole thing is just to buzy.
Another informative video! I don't usually do this, but you have inspired me to be competetive, and I would love a copy of your book :-) So here goes.....! (Sound of me grabbing my camera and thinking of an idea for a sky enhancing shot)
Focus stacking. I’m still looking for the on/off switch. All I want to do is take a darn landscape photo. Oh, got Luminar AI. Love it but keeps crashing. 😞
Flips on YT, randomly picks this vid. Focus stacking...yadaya...ok ok....*throws up most influential pulitzer prize winning book I've ever read* WHOA! *follows up with one of the most iconic film scenes from favorite filmmaker*. WHOAx2. Pays rapt attention for rest of video :).
I only use focus stacking for macro photography. On all other cases should I wish for a huge depth of field, I do that either with a wide angle lens or small aperture.
Thank you James, I really enjoy watching your videos and love how you keep it real! BTW - highly recommend Claritin for your hay fever - I’m having same issues here in Toronto. Not sure I’m up for learning another photo editing program but will take a look!
I feel for you. I used to get the worst hayfever in the UK and... I've been away for nearly 20 years now and haven't had a summer of pain since I left. It appears I am only allergic to pollen in England. :-) Always enjoy your videos, looking forward to your take on Luminar 4. I am in two minds about buying it myself.
Recently watched a video by vox, if i remember correctly. They explained how the intensity of pollen is the result of the reforestation of only male trees in the past centuries due to missunderstood controll over biology. That might be the reason this is a local phenomenon for you too. Have a nice weekend.
Nice vblog, James. -Isn't it so that by using micro 3/4, allowing you to use a wider lens, also helps you to achieve a greater depth of field? A 28mm lens on a FF camera equals the field of view of a 14mm on the 3/4?
Great video. My normal approach would be if there is a composition that requires focus stacking to get everything in focus at midrange apertures.... take the necessary images anyway. That way you have the choice after the fact to focus stack or just pull the relevant "bokeh frame" out from the group of images. I always like to give myself choices afterwards because otherwise there would come a point where I make the wrong decision and regret it
I know im weird but i noticed you rocking an logitech z4 system on your desk, i have the same one using it since... gosh... thats 15 years give or take :-O And its still rock solid for a baseline single user audio expirience with a good bass ... i heard the more expensive options have quality issues with the knobs n such... never had that.. and i still use a wired headset so the plugin desk knob is a godsent
I don't do focus stacking. I have zero desire to spend that much time in front of a computer to get an image that is nothing like how we see with our eyes in the first place. Also, I take pictures with a camera, and prefer depth of field in some way to be present. There is a 'subject" in the photos on purpose; I want the focus on that.
Thanks for the video. I love your train of thought re focus stacking, best used in particular situations. I already have Luminar and really like it for quick adjustments
I personally have used luminar for about 4 months now, and i don't think it is particularly great. I bought it as a replacement for lightroom because i hate adobe's recurring purchase crap. luminar lacks many basic features that lightroom has, such as a normal contrast tool. you can have smart contrast or highlights, shadows etc contrast. there's no clarity tool, no good de-haze, no built-in hdr merge (that's a separate 100 quid program). the usability is nothing compared to lightroom, with far less information displayed to you. not to mention the recent update which causes the program to stay on the splash screen indefinitely, preventing you from even using it. i would only consider it worth-while for more casual, light-weight users who don't need as much control, or as a plugin for lightroom for the sky replacement.
Great point around 5:00 about the brain of the viewer not wanting to figure out what you're trying to say in your photos. The brain of the person viewing your photos relies on you to clearly express what you're trying to communicate, giving it a shortcut if you can, so it gets the message sooner. Basically, we should be able to tell straight away whether a photo is good or not -- if we have to sit there thinking about what the hell it is you're trying to say with a photo then it's probably not a very good one
The examples you show are lifestyle images which benefit from foreground blur. Landscape photos generally benefit from front to back sharpness for the exact issue you talk about: you don't want slightly unsharp rocks and grasses in the foreground. I think its not so much a personal preference thing so much as types of images needing different technique. You might say that a photographer that selectively uses focus stacking, or narrow depth of field has better versatility.
Focus stacking are mandatory for commercial photography not a personal preference. I would love to shoot shallow depth of field but my clients need details not fine art photos.
great video as always. yep focus stacking has its place. i have used it many times for product photography and extreme macro photography but other than that never really use it normally
I’m of the same opinion as you regarding focus points in landscape images. Luminar does look impressive. It’s mental how advanced digital editing is really. Excited about getting the new book too, thanks for putting it together for us 👍🏻
An interesting (nay fascinating) discovery about Luminar 4 (using the Free Trial - Stand Alone version) and RAW files: I use Apple Photos as my main/initial photo editing tool (I also have Infinity Photo) and I initially selected an edited RAW image (taken on my GH4 a while back) and clicked ‘Edit with’ - Luminar which imported a JPEG of about 6MB (meh!) I then took some new images (on the G9) and copied them to Desktop and then selected ‘Open with’ - Luminar which imported a RAW image of about 24MB (that’s better) Finally I loaded the new images into Apple Photos but left them as unedited RAW files and ‘Edit with’ - Luminar which then imported a TIFF of about 161MB (holy moly). So the ultimate test was to select a previous (GH4) edited RAW file (in Apple Photos) but first select ‘Revert to Original’ and then ‘Edit with’ - Luminar which again imported a TIFF of about 113MB. I know right??
Never used focus stacking before recently .. I got my brain not around some insanely sharp landscape shots. So I wanted to try that. More later on. But I think you should have mentioned hyper focal distance is a good way to get the whole scene as sharp as possible depending on the lens at hand. I have used this years ago and not playing around with focus stacking :) Back to my tries. Well I thought ... how hard it can be found some scene which nicely might fit for focus stacking. I tried to shot handheld this was the first issue... out of that i got pretty unaligned images and lost big parts of the scene to fix the alignment shooting vertically this can hurt with a non wide angle lens. 2nd thing which really caught me off guard: The control display of the image after each shot. I shot 1st image, kept my eyes throw the viewfinder (got a D200 :D no live view :D) wanted to change the focus by the cursor keys ... but damn it bloody didn't move :D because i started to scroll through my taken images. That let me struggle around with my camera each shot :D so the alignment was in the end completely off :D so much that I could use only 2 images of the planned 3 :D So there is that to that easy technique of focus stacking :D about the issues with not using photoshop and trying to get other tools and plugins doing the stack merge automatically I do not even start here :D It cost me a lot of nerves and a lot of time... ending doing it completely manually with the layer masking technique :D Nice video. Let me quite consider the simplicity of focus stacking plus my little experience with from a different perspective :) and the thought: "damn is it worth it."
Hi Mr Popsys it's me. I want to ask is Lumina really that good I have just bought Raya Pro. I hear it's the dogs so could be worth an investment if it makes processing easier dont like to spend to long on images. I do love your style unique matey
It’s ironic that I came across this video today. I focus stacked for the first time just yesterday, and my results are great. In my case, I’ve taken macro shots into a carbon bike frame to show the quality of the layup. F/30 wouldn’t get it all in focus. With about 20 stacked shots at f/8, the results are fantastic - and the background is still fully blurred. I could never achieve this without stacking. But I only plan to do this for macro shots. My rule of thumb would be to only use it to get the object of interest in focus. If there are 2+ objects, let the secondary items blur.
I've used Luminar from it's beginning, and love it! I refuse to layer, so that rules out the way too complicated Photoshop. Yuk! I get the results I want with Luminar... and Topaz... and Photoscape... and Aurora. lol! I've preordered the new version of Luminar scheduled to come out in around December - complete AI! WOW! I can hardly wait. BTW, I love your videos. You are one of my favorite UA-cam photographers. Your humor and teaching are first rate!
Focus stacking is good for macro. But once again preference. Also I like the challenge of non focus stacking handheld macro. When you get the shot it’s very rewarding.
I only use focus stack on macros/close-ups. In landscapes I think it's a lot of hassle, tried it a couple of times and never really liked the end result.
Competition winners will be announced in a video in 2 weeks time!
Meanwhile, the books start shipping tomorrow - thanks so much for the support!
www.jamespopsys.com/store/2019-book
James Popsys Dang, I could use something like Luminar. Just don’t know if my Dinausor 2012 Mac Mini will handle it.
I was here to comment about the books, but no need after all. Excited to receive it
Pumped for a copy of the book
That's great news, almost running out of toilet paper😉
Submitted my photos.... I have Luminar and been using it along Lightroom for a few months. Soooooo.... Your book would be lovely.... (hint, hint) 😂😂
I thought you were going to say you don't use focus stacking because you don't like tripods! ;-)
And that! :)
No it’s obviously due to the hassle of making each individual sheep in focus...yea you try that 25 times!
Yesterday I managed to take a 20-exposure-picture of a blowball, free hand 😀 It took me two attempts, some luck and a camera with a fast burst (Olympus PEN-F)
I do hand held focus stacking and panos all the time in the right light. only an issue in really long exposure situations.
In my opinion replacing the sky in a photograph removes the right to call it a photograph. It's "only" a composite. Why should you travel to distant places and countries when you could simply download some stock images, put them together and call that a photograph?
Absolutely. No satisfaction and no challenge.
My take is that people enjoy music regardless of whether it was made by a live band or a computer. Nice stuff is nice, regardless of where it came from, in my opinion :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto maybe so, the viewer of the image will not bother how it was made, but imho it takes away the pleasure for the photographer of 'creating' that great photograph. Why bother going outdoors if you can 'fix' an image on the computer, and mark my words: soon will come the days that all popular 'landscape themes' will also be in a software library, so you only have to combine a nice landscape with an even nicer sky, and the software will match the light conditions in the landscape according to the sky chosen. I rather prefer being out there, making images, enjoying my time and with any luck, make an image I am pleased with from time to time ... but of course, I would also like Luminar or any other brand to sponsor my channel ;-)
Yeah because if you can replace the background, you might as well photoshop everything. If it's made clear it's edited than that's fine. But when you get people entering photo contests claiming it's legit when they just replaced the background. Then nobody will be inspired to compose a great shot naturally.
Isn’t that like telling Rembrandt he can’t paint a moody sky (which is his style) because it’s a bright sunny day? Masterpieces have been painted (OFTEN) because the artists haven’t had to wait for a “Photographically” perfect day s/he envisions for a specific composition s/he wishes to depict. The finished image the Photographer-Artist is exactly the same concept. Image in Camera + Image clean-up/Image changing (from cropping to further altering) as the P-A envisions is EXACTLY same thing … but in a few minutes, not a few months or years. isn’t it?
2:19 So what I heard you say is that you use focus stacking so your picture of a shower cap on top of a building would look realistic. I think we define that word differently.
I focus stack macro photos because of the thin depth of field. The biggest problem I have is focus breathing and my software not being able to scale the layers well enough to avoid ghosting. This leads to long sessions of panning over the photo cloning out the ghosted outlines.
I'm sure you know about these, but in case you don't, macro rails could be very helpful! I use one and I get much better results than when I was changing my focus from the focus ring. Even when I used the automated focus system in the PhaseOne XF body, I still couldn't get as good of results as I could using the macro rail
The Nikon D850 has stacking built-in and it works swimmingly.
Try a parafocal lens
@@noregretsyet do you need particular lens for focus stacking? I wanted to buy Canon camera but on the website its mentioned that focus stacking works only with few lenses.
@@paulinap-k8409 focus stacking is a technique and not specific to a brand. The Nikon D850 just makes it easier as it is built into the software.
"Avoid Distractions", this has been my motto in photography. "What is not in a picture is as important as what's in it". Sure enough a totally focus photo can lessen the way the viewer will enter the image unless it has a composition with strong leading lines.
Focus stacking is for macro, and I'm happy my Canon R6 has this feature - it produces fantastic results.
Until recently I have followed your view on simplicity in photography but I have recently discovered Gavin Hardcastle's videos featuring his landscapes on Vancouver Island (where I also live) and other locations. His philosophy is to avoid boring negative spaces and in my opinion he makes it work specatularly. He has inspired me to try some focus stacking and panoramas. In summary both philosophies can produce excellent photos. Focus stacking and panoramas involve extra post production work though.
Recently found your channel...really appreciate your content. You've helped out a lot with learning how to best utilize my Lumix G9! Thank you
I used to tell people that I didn't get allergies, then I spent isolation in the UK with the Hay...
Haha, we're in this together buddy! And I'll follow you around the world every may from now on...
I was looking for focus stacking tutorials in luminar for the last two days! good timing, mate!
...aaaand now I don't wanna FS more :-D
Absolutely spot on. Having things in extreme foreground as sharp as something 4 kilometres or more away isn't natural. When you are stood in the landscape looking at a scene, if you are looking at a distant mountain, your eyes blur the rock in front of you - so focus stacking is not a natural thing experienced in real life. Having said that it can sometimes make an image more pleasing having sharpness throughout, but I think it is overplayed by many photographers.
I thought I was in for an oppositional moment when first viewing the video title but I must acknowledge you got it perfectly right in camera without any need for post processing. Simply, isolate and eliminate!
Thank you for such a clear explanation of how you consider, compose and create your photographs
Thanks for this video James. Looking at other UA-camrs videos they seems obsessed with focus stacking landscape scenes. I agree with you not stacking leads to something more atmospheric, less distracting, easy to view. Cheers
100K subs so close now James, you might not focus stack but you're stacking up those subs!!!
haha, cheers mate! :)
I'm an old school photographer. My approach to photography is to create the picture the moment I press the trigger, not to use captured digital information to create a picture out of that at the computer. For me the latter is some form of digital design, not photography. Yes I know, that even in photography laboratories there were manipulations possible during the exposure and development process, but that is by far not comparable to what can be done (and is done) at the computer. Because of that I don't use RAW, but do all my pictures in jpg, since for me it is absolutely no fun to "develop" a picture at the computer. Luckily I found a camera, which is very good in calibrating its jpg-output (you can compare that with selecting the correct film in the old days) and can produce outstanding quality that way (Olympus Pen-F).
I do not judge people who create pictures at the computer at all, the results can be truly stunning, it's just not my understanding of photography. And yes, I know that I'm old and somewhat outdated.
Old and outdated ? No. Absolutely right. Photography should be photography. Not distortion of reality. Anyone can do that.
Everyone has their own processes which is great :)
Welcome to the Luminar world! I just started any type of editing in January and found L4 to be very intuitive.... plus there are tons of tutorials. Love it!! -Elaine
I always look forward to your videos! And especially now since I'm kinda stuck here at the house most of the time, seeing your videos are really highlights of the week. Thanks James!
I agree with you. I ike focusstacking sometimes if the foreground is really close. However If it's further away it's also nice to see some blurry parts if done right.
I always respect the fact that you talk about how YOU like to do things... and not telling people what’s right and what’s wrong like so many UA-cam “experts” tend to do :-)
Cheers 🍻
Talking of DoF, I remember years ago reading about a bloke who took a lens out of a TV camera (about 4mm or something) and built it into a lens body for a 35mm camera - focus from about 1cm to infinity!
Dear James, your opinion on focus stacking has some good points! Next time I take a photo, I will incorporate the idea of when and when not to focus stack in order to tell a story in my composition! All the best!
I think the #1 characteristic that produces a photo most loved by the audience is SYMMETRY. It seems that you can take a picture of anything and as long as there is symmetry in the photo, many people will like it. Its the reason we want our haircut to look neat, our clothes to be tucked in, our belt to be centered, our faces to be absent of any markings or debris, our beds to be made well and our floor tiles to line up perfectly, etc. The human brain loves symmetry.
I do focus stack when warranted but I totally get why one wouldn't. Sometimes when I shoot macros of flowers, I stack the bloom but leave the background de-focused.
Not into sky replacement, largely because I've seen so many bad uses of it I'm just turned off. I might try this though just for spits and giggles and a chance at free stuff.
I like your line of reasoning. The "everything in focus" trap is an easy one to fall into as a landscape photographer. Your examples are a nice reminder that sometimes out of focus elements enhance an image. Plus no need for a tripod.
I agree James. It's good to guide the person thru the image and look at what you want, but at the same time I use focus-stacking sometimes. I did that on a clock (as you gave as example). I think it's good for product shots etc. where you need to see the whole thing, but artistic, I think have some blur and direct the audience thru the image is good. I will try to remember to do that in my next photo. Make the forground blurry like on 7:32. it looks great! :-)
When you are talking about Luminar, I like to make my pictures completely in-camera and I edit the colors, sharpnes, contrast etc. but I don't like to manipulate the image. Sky replacement looks really cool, but Idon't want to show a "fake" version of my images if I was on let's say a trip to the mountain. If the sky did not look like how I saw it, I think it's a bit weird to replace the sky. But for other things and if the client want another sky, I totaly respect that and if you are making art and the sky can help support that, but generally I don't manipulate my images. How about you James? But it's incredible how you can change a sky that simply.
Pritty much nailed it! Not using this technic makes you think of what exactly is the thing you want to show.
I totally agree. Even in my macro photography I love shallow depth of field. Shallow depth of field creates mystery.
ever used the 2 image focus stack Nigel Danson demonstrated in his 5 things he does in PS ? I tried it on a couple I had and it works pretty well... he didn't, but I did an align images before doing the gradient step...
I have the same aesthetics as you in that I like to blur what I don't want to be the primary interest. I mostly paint, but even there I'll blur the background by running a wet cloth across the background in a watercolour image and it makes what is not the subject less busy thus leading the eye to the real intended composition.
Good luck with your contest, don't actually need the software, book or to win again, at least for another week or so.
Fantastic reminder to be mindful of focusing your viewer’s attention. Brilliant explanation. Thank you!
I love the way you simplify your compositions. It’s one of the distinguishing characteristics of your work. I also really appreciate the way in which you simplify the photography process. Thanks for sharing your tips.
Thanks so much :)
excellent counter agrument to the fetsh of stacking.....well said sir!!
Use the right tool for the job. Use your own skies so it is your own art. Well done!
As a wedding photographer, I find using bokeh to highlight the subject incredibly useful! It's the same principle - telling the viewer where to look.
I’ve lost count of the number of landscape images that I shoot at f/1.4 or f/1.8. Allows me to shoot handheld and isolates the subject matter of the photo. I couldn’t agree more and the day I focus stack will be a dark day indeed. 😉👍🏼
Gotta say James, im impressed...the shelves are still holding up. Oh and the sky replacement and structure tools seem pretty cool.
I really loved this explanation because it also explained why I like (some) focused stacked images and dislike others.
I find your explanation and demonstration very good.
I've been trying to process an image that I focus stacked. I've tried stacking it in Photoshop, Helicon and Zerene Stacker. None of these methods work, at least not without serious editing skills which I've yet to develop. The problems associated with this are several. Firstly I thought because I had a sharp f1.8 lens I could shoot fairly wide open. I shot a landscape with 30 or so images at f2.8. Despite not getting any movement I cannot stack it because the software cannot cope when there's something very close like criss crossing twigs and branches but with a mountain at infinity behind. I just get blurred edges all around the twigs. To try to correct this would likely be extremely difficult. I even shot the same scene at f8 yet I still cannot get it to stack. Perhaps I should have shot the foreground at f16 and the background at f5.6 using maybe 100th of a second for the f16 and the ff5.6 at around 1/6th of a second. BUT I was shooting at iso 64 so couldn't work out the exposure difference in my head at the time (isn't that awkward with Nikon). Some might suggest I shoot the scene at f18, but then I'd wonder why on earth I bought a fast lens if I'm going to be shooting with so much diffraction. Saying all this having watched the video I'm now going to have a try at processing it with the foreground out of focus. You images with the van and the white flowers that were OOF looked good. It'll be a shame if I can't get my image to look good, I flew 11,000km to take it.
No focus stacking, no full frame, no tripod.... I love you! 💕😘
With your eyes you do not see everything in focus (or should I say sharp), it's not natural.
So I prefer to focus on the subject I want to photograph and put if necessary some contrast or extra light or saturation on that subject.
In most cases that will assist the viewer to focus on the subject. The out of focus surroundings will become less distracting.
Thanks for bringing up the sharpest f-stop point on a lens and shooting at that and focus stacking for best overall sharpness. Few people take the time to really sort out their lenses to find that f-stop or 2 where it performs best. Shooting there will bring up image sharpness quite a bit overall even if stacking isn't the process. I never shoot one of my lenses at f16, 22 or 32 - it's always at f8 or f-14 - nowhere else - things just drop off noticeably. I learned this doing focus stacking about 7 years ago... good video and thoughts.
I enjoyed this one. All of your various thoughts were good food for thought.
Thank you...i feel every time i watch a youtube on photography you have to focus stack, i cant anyway as i dont have a laptop, so this was a great reminder thats an individual decision, not a rule...cheers
Btw James, I suffered with nasal problems for 20 years. In Canada, we cant see the doctor when we want to, for we are putting on lengthy waiting lists. So, we have to often fix our own medical issues. Anyways, the best allergy treatment is to use a Neti Pot type of device, fill it with just under 1% salt in distilled water and rinse your nasal passages every 2 days. It does wonders for your allergies. Also helps with keeping colds to a shorter duration.
I've always wanted to try out Luminar and with lockdown, this is perfect timing, nice one James!
What camera did you use to take the picture of the church on the island that's on the LG TV slideshow? I was guessing Sony a7r2
Just subscribed to your channel a few days ago and I am loving it. I have been watching your channel for a few months now and decided I needed to subscribe after watching this video. The reason being is that I find myself agreeing with your style and approach to shooting more than other UA-cam photogs. And I completely agree with much of what you say in this video. I've been shooting for many years and I am now retired and can now dedicate more of my time to this passion. So one point I would like to make regarding this video is your comment about making sure that when you choose to have something out focus make sure it is truly out of focus and not just a soft focus. Unfortunately, the state of being "out of focus" is a matter of degrees. In an image with great depth using an out of focus technique there will surely be content that is fully out of focus graduating to a soft focus, then to sharpness. This is especially true for landscapes. Any 2D representation of reality should mimic what the human eye and brain can achieve. This is my argument against focus stacking. Of course as an art form photography should not necessarily represent reality but should interpret it according to the artist's vision. My own vision requires something much closer to reality than a focused stacked image.
Luminar is great, sadly you couldn't upgrade from 3 to 4 which was quite a joke as the version 3 was only out for a year. Nethertheless, i'm still happy with my "old" version, because i never change the skies or use the AI a lot.
I love sky replacement so much!! Luminar simply kicks ass imo. I am not that much of a Fan of using Skies of other Photographers but i simply shoot pictures of the sky with may camera or drone when i have the feeling that this kind of sky is awesome. And when i travel or i do a shoot the actual sky does not matter as much. That makes everything so much faster, and better.
I now use a GFX camera James and occasionally I focus back but only very occasionally. I actually like the mountains in the background to be slightly soft and yes with GFX you're shooting at F1 16 anyway, so you get most of it in focus anyway and if you use the hyper focal method you get pretty much everything you need in focus you just need to be mindful of what you've got in the foreground and your focus Point stacking is a pain in the arse. It really is for the benefit is minimal. Yes, those images and you see in those galleries sometimes look amazing, but I almost think they look a little bit AI to be honest with the mountains in the background, Pin sharp, because that is not how the human eye sees itr, because that is not how the human eye sees it
Gave it try there this evening and it's very good and not slowing the machine like lightroom does. Goodbye Adobe, Hello Luminar. Cheers for the Offer Code, they took it on top of offers they already had too, so happy days. Have a good one. Kind regards, BG
Perfect. I thought I was a bit weird not liking focus stacking :) Photo depth and focus on the object is great!
i might be alone in this but my philosophy on photography is make as little edits as possible. for me, its about taking the "perfect" single shot. the edits i usually make is just exposure and lighting correction. i almost never even adjust the colors
Thank you for this video! I’ve never really tried focus stacking in the field! And your video has explained it simply why we don’t need too! I will continue to just focus on the main subject and use the out of focus parts to frame the main part 👍🏼
One place where focus stacking comes to be a real asset is in macro and close up photography. The shallow depth of field in these instances almost necessitates the use of focus stacking... Also, been using Luminar since Luminar 2018. Now of course I'm on Luminar 4...
ha! my luminar trial expired weeks ago.... to be fair (as a hobbyist) it looked a bit like lightroom for kids. some of the bizarre light effects. and some of the tools are named oddly like one of thems called "mystical" or something similar.... i did wonder if it was aimed at wizards.
Thinking fast and slow, so good man!
Got excited to try Luminar. But it keeps crashing before I can do anything. On MacBook Pro. Any ideas?
Which telephoto lens you used for your all landscape photography
Excellent insights! Thank you.
I'm not using focus stacking but I can see the need if you are using an ultra-wide angle and filling the foreground with a motive. I had problem with this when using a 20mm/4 lens during mountain shots. Must be difficult in forest due to wind movement of twigs. I will try it with a short tele lens.
I'm using Perspective control Lenses for sharp foreground
my biggest issues with focus stacking nature shots, wind. i still like grabbing some images to focus stack when I want to have fun playing around with it, but TBH, its so much of a headache trying to edit anything thats "ghosting" due to any sort of movement.
If you have a composition that has a point of interest that you want to draw the interest to then having a composition that has hyper detail from all-to-wall the whole thing is just to buzy.
Another informative video! I don't usually do this, but you have inspired me to be competetive, and I would love a copy of your book :-) So here goes.....! (Sound of me grabbing my camera and thinking of an idea for a sky enhancing shot)
Focus stacking. I’m still looking for the on/off switch. All I want to do is take a darn landscape photo. Oh, got Luminar AI. Love it but keeps crashing. 😞
Done and done! With some practice, I could see some benefit, but this could be a little addictive. Especially with so much time at home.
Flips on YT, randomly picks this vid. Focus stacking...yadaya...ok ok....*throws up most influential pulitzer prize winning book I've ever read* WHOA! *follows up with one of the most iconic film scenes from favorite filmmaker*. WHOAx2. Pays rapt attention for rest of video :).
haha, thanks! :)
I only use focus stacking for macro photography. On all other cases should I wish for a huge depth of field, I do that either with a wide angle lens or small aperture.
A great example of using experience instead of rigid rules. Good job.
Thank you James, I really enjoy watching your videos and love how you keep it real! BTW - highly recommend Claritin for your hay fever - I’m having same issues here in Toronto. Not sure I’m up for learning another photo editing program but will take a look!
I never have done focus stacking mainly because of the reasons you stated. Thanks for video.
Thanks but just watching today so I’m too late to win luminar?
I feel for you. I used to get the worst hayfever in the UK and... I've been away for nearly 20 years now and haven't had a summer of pain since I left. It appears I am only allergic to pollen in England. :-)
Always enjoy your videos, looking forward to your take on Luminar 4. I am in two minds about buying it myself.
Recently watched a video by vox, if i remember correctly. They explained how the intensity of pollen is the result of the reforestation of only male trees in the past centuries due to missunderstood controll over biology.
That might be the reason this is a local phenomenon for you too.
Have a nice weekend.
Ahh, I'm radiating jealousy, and snot! :)
I finally found a reasonable elucidation about this issue. Thank you, James. 👏🙏
#simplicity
Nice vblog, James. -Isn't it so that by using micro 3/4, allowing you to use a wider lens, also helps you to achieve a greater depth of field? A 28mm lens on a FF camera equals the field of view of a 14mm on the 3/4?
I"m feeling too lazy to really write anything so. . . 🐑
Everyone's allowed a day off :)
Great video. My normal approach would be if there is a composition that requires focus stacking to get everything in focus at midrange apertures.... take the necessary images anyway. That way you have the choice after the fact to focus stack or just pull the relevant "bokeh frame" out from the group of images. I always like to give myself choices afterwards because otherwise there would come a point where I make the wrong decision and regret it
Me too a lot of the time, cheers David :)
I know im weird but i noticed you rocking an logitech z4 system on your desk, i have the same one using it since... gosh... thats 15 years give or take :-O And its still rock solid for a baseline single user audio expirience with a good bass ... i heard the more expensive options have quality issues with the knobs n such... never had that.. and i still use a wired headset so the plugin desk knob is a godsent
Wow! That sky was so cool, loved it. it amazes me what you can achieve in post processing. Thanks James for another good video 🙂
I don't do focus stacking. I have zero desire to spend that much time in front of a computer to get an image that is nothing like how we see with our eyes in the first place. Also, I take pictures with a camera, and prefer depth of field in some way to be present. There is a 'subject" in the photos on purpose; I want the focus on that.
Thanks for the video. I love your train of thought re focus stacking, best used in particular situations. I already have Luminar and really like it for quick adjustments
I personally have used luminar for about 4 months now, and i don't think it is particularly great. I bought it as a replacement for lightroom because i hate adobe's recurring purchase crap. luminar lacks many basic features that lightroom has, such as a normal contrast tool. you can have smart contrast or highlights, shadows etc contrast. there's no clarity tool, no good de-haze, no built-in hdr merge (that's a separate 100 quid program). the usability is nothing compared to lightroom, with far less information displayed to you. not to mention the recent update which causes the program to stay on the splash screen indefinitely, preventing you from even using it. i would only consider it worth-while for more casual, light-weight users who don't need as much control, or as a plugin for lightroom for the sky replacement.
Great point around 5:00 about the brain of the viewer not wanting to figure out what you're trying to say in your photos. The brain of the person viewing your photos relies on you to clearly express what you're trying to communicate, giving it a shortcut if you can, so it gets the message sooner. Basically, we should be able to tell straight away whether a photo is good or not -- if we have to sit there thinking about what the hell it is you're trying to say with a photo then it's probably not a very good one
The examples you show are lifestyle images which benefit from foreground blur. Landscape photos generally benefit from front to back sharpness for the exact issue you talk about: you don't want slightly unsharp rocks and grasses in the foreground. I think its not so much a personal preference thing so much as types of images needing different technique. You might say that a photographer that selectively uses focus stacking, or narrow depth of field has better versatility.
And who gets to decide which types of images require which technique?
Focus stacking are mandatory for commercial photography not a personal preference. I would love to shoot shallow depth of field but my clients need details not fine art photos.
great video as always. yep focus stacking has its place. i have used it many times for product photography and extreme macro photography but other than that never really use it normally
Stuart James Photography agree, I use it in macro sometimes
I totally agree with your non-focus stacking ideology. Simplicity is key. Though it does have its moments, though rare they may be.
I’m of the same opinion as you regarding focus points in landscape images. Luminar does look impressive. It’s mental how advanced digital editing is really. Excited about getting the new book too, thanks for putting it together for us 👍🏻
We knew you'd have a good reason. Rock on!
An interesting (nay fascinating) discovery about Luminar 4 (using the Free Trial - Stand Alone version) and RAW files:
I use Apple Photos as my main/initial photo editing tool (I also have Infinity Photo) and I initially selected an edited RAW image (taken on my GH4 a while back) and clicked ‘Edit with’ - Luminar which imported a JPEG of about 6MB (meh!)
I then took some new images (on the G9) and copied them to Desktop and then selected ‘Open with’ - Luminar which imported a RAW image of about 24MB (that’s better)
Finally I loaded the new images into Apple Photos but left them as unedited RAW files and ‘Edit with’ - Luminar which then imported a TIFF of about 161MB (holy moly).
So the ultimate test was to select a previous (GH4) edited RAW file (in Apple Photos) but first select ‘Revert to Original’ and then ‘Edit with’ - Luminar which again imported a TIFF of about 113MB.
I know right??
Never used focus stacking before recently .. I got my brain not around some insanely sharp landscape shots. So I wanted to try that. More later on.
But I think you should have mentioned hyper focal distance is a good way to get the whole scene as sharp as possible depending on the lens at hand.
I have used this years ago and not playing around with focus stacking :)
Back to my tries. Well I thought ... how hard it can be found some scene which nicely might fit for focus stacking. I tried to shot handheld this was the first issue... out of that i got pretty unaligned images and lost big parts of the scene to fix the alignment shooting vertically this can hurt with a non wide angle lens.
2nd thing which really caught me off guard: The control display of the image after each shot.
I shot 1st image, kept my eyes throw the viewfinder (got a D200 :D no live view :D) wanted to change the focus by the cursor keys ... but damn it bloody didn't move :D because i started to scroll through my taken images. That let me struggle around with my camera each shot :D so the alignment was in the end completely off :D so much that I could use only 2 images of the planned 3 :D
So there is that to that easy technique of focus stacking :D about the issues with not using photoshop and trying to get other tools and plugins doing the stack merge automatically I do not even start here :D It cost me a lot of nerves and a lot of time... ending doing it completely manually with the layer masking technique :D
Nice video. Let me quite consider the simplicity of focus stacking plus my little experience with from a different perspective :) and the thought: "damn is it worth it."
Hi Mr Popsys it's me. I want to ask is Lumina really that good I have just bought Raya Pro. I hear it's the dogs so could be worth an investment if it makes processing easier dont like to spend to long on images. I do love your style unique matey
I've never used Raya unfortunately so I couldn't compare, but I've been super impressed. Maybe give the free trial a try :)
It’s ironic that I came across this video today. I focus stacked for the first time just yesterday, and my results are great. In my case, I’ve taken macro shots into a carbon bike frame to show the quality of the layup. F/30 wouldn’t get it all in focus. With about 20 stacked shots at f/8, the results are fantastic - and the background is still fully blurred. I could never achieve this without stacking.
But I only plan to do this for macro shots. My rule of thumb would be to only use it to get the object of interest in focus. If there are 2+ objects, let the secondary items blur.
I've used Luminar from it's beginning, and love it! I refuse to layer, so that rules out the way too complicated Photoshop. Yuk! I get the results I want with Luminar... and Topaz... and Photoscape... and Aurora. lol! I've preordered the new version of Luminar scheduled to come out in around December - complete AI! WOW! I can hardly wait.
BTW, I love your videos. You are one of my favorite UA-cam photographers. Your humor and teaching are first rate!
Focus stacking is good for macro. But once again preference. Also I like the challenge of non focus stacking handheld macro. When you get the shot it’s very rewarding.
So focus on the focus... Thanks!
I only use focus stack on macros/close-ups. In landscapes I think it's a lot of hassle, tried it a couple of times and never really liked the end result.