You probably know by now that I enjoy infrared photography. While this post is shot with an infrared-converted camera, I’m sharing a technique to get everything in focus in your image. A super depth of field is achieved working this way.
Capture
Using a long lens to compress a scene can leave some of your images soft. I prefer to capture my photos with an aperture opened up a bit from fully stopped down. Using this technique, there is no worry that an area will be out of focus.
Best to set your camera on a tripod or steady surface. In this case, I used the Platypod camera support as I wanted a low angle close to the ground. I focused on the foreground, the desert plant and the background without moving the camera.
Post-production
Get started processing the images in Adobe Camera Raw for density, highlight and shadow. Click Done so the image settings are associated with the files.
Then, open the files using the Photoshop command in the Tools menu, Load Files into Photoshop Layers.
Once in Photoshop, highlight all three layers in the Layers palette. In the Edit menu, select Auto-Align Layers. Auto mode works well; there is a need to align layers.
When focus is changed there is a slight shift in the size of the images. This will correct for that. With images still highlighted, use the Edit menu to Auto-Blend Layers.
Check on Stack Images and Seamless Tones and Colors in the dialog box. Photoshop makes masks to blend all the sharp pixels together.
Increase the viewing size of your image and check that there are no errors with blurry spots. If there are you can make adjustments to the masks.
Done and done
Above is the final infrared image above after final processing. By the way, I use LifePixel Infrared for my infrared camera conversions.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
Not exactly done and done. You say you open up from fully stopped down to ensure more focus. Strange but when ypu open up you decreasing depth of field. ie 22 to 16 for example. Also not one mention of how most lenses breath so using a long lens for stacking can b a huge pain since there is almost always post issues not lining up. This making the done and done a real problem. Your work is good but come on stop making the stacking technique seem like a breeze. Its not and you know it.
HI Len, Thanks for your thoughts. Yes it is true that opening up the lens will give you a decreased DOF. BUT, at the far end of closing the lens completely you introduce diffraction which lowers the quality of the image even while increasing some DOF. Opening the lens up eliminates diffraction. While the individual images have a slightly less DOF individually when the three images are combined using the tools I’ve outlined it allows for complete DOF through the scene. Yes it’s a bit more work. After practicing with the technique a few times you’ll find it is easier… Read more »