Basic focus Stacking Techniques with Helicon Focus

Basic focus Stacking Techniques with Helicon Focus | Tip & Tricks

Рет қаралды 10,029

Күн бұрын

Focus stacking is a compelling method of getting maximum detail in your macro photography images. In this video, I'll show you the basic workflow for my focus stacking in Lightroom, Helicon Focus and Photoshop.
Software used:
Adobe Lightroom: www.adobe.com
Adobe Photoshop: www.adobe.com
Helicon Focus: store.payproglobal.com/r?u=ht...
Topaz Denoise: www.topazlabs.com/denoise-ai/...
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:15 Why do macro photographers focus stack?
01:27 Organizing your stacks in Lightroom
03:36 Applying a preset to your image
5:27 How to copy the settings to all of the images in a stack
6:01 Noise reduction using Topaz Denoise
9:50 Focus stacking with Helicon Focus
14:44 Clean up in Photoshop
Buy my new AI-powered Macro Presets V3: stewartwood.com/product/macro...
Get your macro shots critiqued: / macro_critique
//MY GEAR\\
For an up-to-date gear list click here: stewartwood.com/the-gear-i-use
MY MFT GEAR FOR INSECT MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY AND FOCUS STACKING:
📷 Olympus OM-D E-M1 mkII - (MPB): prf.hn/l/5548VvB (Amazon UK): amzn.to/49EimPb (Amazon US): amzn.to/3T40kjF
🔎 Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens - (MPB): prf.hn/l/gxLwGOj (Amazon UK): amzn.to/3G5dqoN (Amazon US): amzn.to/47i1QTr
🔎 Raynox DCR-250 Clip-on lens - (Amazon UK): amzn.to/3ugOB6F (Amazon US): amzn.to/47iqMKw
💥 Godox V350O - (Amazon UK): amzn.to/3ST6keC (Amazon US): amzn.to/3R4R4KD
⚪️ Cygnustech Diffuser - / cygnustech
MY FULL FRAME GEAR FOR MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY:
📷 Canon EOS R - (MPB): prf.hn/l/0eoN34b (Amazon UK): amzn.to/46m3t1d (Amazon US): amzn.to/3R5gZBZ
🔎 Laowa EF 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO - www.venuslens.net/product/lao...
💥 Godox MF-12 Twin Macro Flash - (Amazon UK): amzn.to/49IoQN2 (Amazon US): amzn.to/3sD9AAm
⚪️ Homemade diffuser
SOFTWARE I USE FOR EDITING MY MACRO IMAGES:
Adobe Lightroom: www.adobe.com
Adobe Photoshop: www.adobe.com
Helicon Focus: store.payproglobal.com/r?u=ht...
Topaz Denoise: www.topazlabs.com/denoise-ai/...
HOW I MAKE MY VIDEOS
📷 Canon EOS R - (MPB): prf.hn/l/0eoN34b (Amazon UK): amzn.to/46m3t1d (Amazon US): amzn.to/3R5gZBZ
🔭 Canon RF 24mm f1.8 Macro IS STM Lens - (MPB): prf.hn/l/aWdjOyX (Amazon UK): amzn.to/49Awl8N (Amazon US): amzn.to/40K7CL5
📷 iPhone 12 Pro (overhead & fieldwork) (Amazon UK): amzn.to/3SLKJET (Amazon US): amzn.to/3QFKJE1
🎤 Rode VideoMic NTG (studio work) (Amazon UK): amzn.to/3unwMTK (Amazon US): amzn.to/3QIe3K6 Zoom F2 field recorder - (Amazon UK): amzn.to/3sAPXcb (Amazon US): amzn.to/3QDBh3U
💡Weeylite Ninja 400 II - bit.ly/47zCrUY
💻 Apple MacBook M1 Max - (Amazon UK): amzn.to/49F20Ww (Amazon US): amzn.to/3QFKJE1
🖥️ LG 39.7" Curved UltraWide 5K2K Nano IPS Display Monitor - (Amazon UK): amzn.to/47iA2ye (Amazon US): amzn.to/47jTbj9
🎶 Epidemic Sound - www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
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//SUPPORT THE CHANNEL\\
🌐 My Website: www.stewartwood.com/
🎬 KZfaq Membership - linkshortner.net/hoLlo
My Lightroom Presets and background textures: www.stewartwood.com
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Have an idea or want to collab on a video, you can tell me all about it using this form: forms.gle/BrWDALUAneBeBJsr7
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For business relations please contact me at www.stewartwood.com/contact-me/
Follow me on Instagram @stewartwoodart for extra behind-the-scenes content and if you found value in this video, please take a moment to Thumbs-Up, Subscribe, turn on Notifications, and most importantly Tell a Friend about the channel.
[Social Media & Additional Connections]
🌐 My Website: www.stewartwood.com/
🎬 KZfaq - / stewartwoodart
🔖 Twitter - / stewartwoodart
👀 Instagram - / stewartwoodart
📖 Facebook - / stewartwoodart
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE:
DISCLAIMER: Some of these links may be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with these links, I may receive a small commission. All of this goes to support the creation of the content you see here.
#photography #macro #stewartwood

Пікірлер: 82

@BMadPhoto 4 ай бұрын

That grouping tip alone in lightroom is gold, thanks, that will save so much time (I always forget to do the blank shot between sets, now I don't have to worry about it!) - Happy shooting :)

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

It is a great tool for organising your images.

@samelogio7441 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for this. You have provided the best workflow overview that I have seen on stacking with Helicon Focus. I will be incorporating this into my workflow.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you, glad it was helpful.

@samelogio7441 4 ай бұрын

@@StewartWoodArt So helpful that I am watching it again.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

@samelogio7441 awesome!

@malaustwick5364 4 ай бұрын

Thank you Stewart. I'll shall be watching out for the future video's for sure 👍

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Awesome

@brynscott2997 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Stewart, I have just started using Helicon Focus and this has been a great help.

@Trish12303 4 ай бұрын

Thank you Stewart, that was very helpful!!

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Very welcome

@Walking-the-coast 2 ай бұрын

Thank you, great info.

@StewartWoodArt 2 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@jeffdavis7912 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing. This will help me a lot.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching.

@thomasriera2030 4 ай бұрын

Nice, clear, video. Thank you for sharing your workflow! Stacking the outputs was interesting. Helicon Focus is so great at handling large stacks. I tend to use the HF retouching to clean up backgrounds. You have a simple solid color for your example but, I'll often have out of focus plant bits that are more multi-colored and soft bokeh blobs. Through the focus stack those soft blobs can become less soft between the 1st and last frames. Once stacked, they can have harder or weirder edges in the final output. That's where I'll grab the 1st shot in the stack (with the softest background) and use the retouching tool to paint that background into my output.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

I have done that quite often my self.

@briankennerley5833 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Stewart very informative 👍🏻

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you

@nevertwenty 4 ай бұрын

putting that olympus to work boy!! beautiful shot.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@jhmnieuwenhuis 4 ай бұрын

Superb video, learned a lot already. Thanks !!

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@stephenstevenson1900 4 ай бұрын

Very informative video Stewart.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@williamhirsh9625 3 ай бұрын

Wow I am so impressed with you teaching it comes in layman's terms I have enjoyed and look forward to more to come.

@StewartWoodArt 3 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@gary.kenyon 4 ай бұрын

Very informative

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thanks

@mrwates 4 ай бұрын

Very well explained :) beautiful images

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you my friend.

@hanswi336 4 ай бұрын

I'm gonna watch this again and again till the day I can follow your English 🙂 and it helps the YT alghorithm

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Lmao, I do need to start speaking proper English. the only language I know is bad English lol

@hanswi336 4 ай бұрын

@@StewartWoodArt 🙂🙂🙂

@Pathe-tic086 4 ай бұрын

Have followed u , fantastic.super and practically videos, direct opinions, a inspiring ... can only give high five:-)

@marktaylor9579 2 ай бұрын

Really great video Stewart - now subbed👍👍👍. Love the grouping tip for Lightroom, that'll save me a lot of time! Just going to download the Helicon Focus 30 day trial and give that a whirl.

@StewartWoodArt 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the sub.

@normansavigar Ай бұрын

Thanks for this video describing your workflow in more detail. I've followed you for a while and been doing some stacking work with both Topaz Photo AI and Helicon from LrC. I've decided to move across to Lr (desktop) in the last couple of weeks so seeing this video has given me some thoughts on an adjusted workflow that doesn't rely upon the options within LrC. I can get the files on my Local drive into Topaz via Photoshop from Lr but I have to load the files into Helicon directly from my Local drive for stacking. It's a bit more cumbersome but I'm now going to try your AB + C method to see if I can get it to work through Lr from the Local Drive. I look forward to the full implementation of Plug-ins in Lr as raised with Katrin on Sunday ...

@StewartWoodArt Ай бұрын

Thank you for watching.

@stevethompson8154 4 ай бұрын

Thanks I learned a better way to export the original files in to Helicon Focus. My old way I had to convert my Z8 NEF files to DNG. This works much better.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Glad it helped!

@youphototube 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Stewart. I will have to do some testing to compare. I have not found any probles stacking dng files. I will take a stack at a high ISO then compare denoise and sharpening before and after stacking in Helicon. I gess for a portfolio image it is worth the much longer process of individually AI denoise and sharpening if the end result is better. Oh, congratulations for making it to the top of Jared Polin's photo of the year.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Thank you, I’ll also do some testing just to be sure as Helicon Focus has had some updates since I last tried it. Remember, there is no right or wrong way of editing, just your preferred way of editing. Hit me up on an email if you want to chat some more.

@markattardo 4 ай бұрын

Awesome learning video! Interesting computer comment. I have maxbook desires with older, used and beaten M1 Air base model budget...well almost😂 For now, I'm happy my Windows desktop still chugs along.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

So long as it "chugs" along and don't crash your fine.

@robertbridgewater2959 4 ай бұрын

Hi Stewart, Thanks for your workflow and presets (I have all of them). I suggest you give Luminar Neo with the Focus Stack plugin a go as it doesn't produce the halos like Helicon does so doesn't require the extra "clean up time"😃

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Luminar Neo still produces artefacts, including halos just like Helicon. It all comes down to which one you perfer personally.

@MrKreweesti 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing this Stewart! I have Helicon focus as a trial at the moment. Normally I do stacking in Photoshop, but for large stacks it's very processing intensive. Helicon handels it much more lightly, but makes much more halo's in the end product. Photoshop does this much better, but it's very intensive process. How do you compare this, as you also have these halo's as seen in this tutorial. I also work with an EM1 mark II with the 60 macro. Thanks in advance.

@StewartWoodArt Ай бұрын

I perfer Helicon focus over photoshop. Try using the AB method to fix the halos.

@alexandercollyer2417 Ай бұрын

Q - why would you not do the stacking post color / exposure changes so that when you go into Denoise, it's only one TIFF produced?

@StewartWoodArt Ай бұрын

Your talking about the DNG RAW workflow - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ft-Zdc2a2s3ZkYE.html

@ChaitanyaShukla2503 4 ай бұрын

Stacking softwares are useful for landscapes as well apart from macro focus stacking shown here.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Very true!

@sergiyscheblykin2554 3 ай бұрын

What’s the highest resolution of photos that can be combined? I produce extremely high resolution ortho-images (up to 2,5Gpx). Will it be possible, for example, to combine 3 photos of 2,5Gpx? Thank you.

@StewartWoodArt 3 ай бұрын

I honestly haven’t looked into it, maybe contact the support team.

@youphototube 4 ай бұрын

I sometimes work with 300-500 stacks using the 90mm macro and 1.4 teleconverter. In that situation it is only practical to edit the one stacked dng file. To speed up stacking in Helicon and Topaz it is not a fast PC that is required but a fast GPU. My recent upgrade, Geforce RTX 4070, renders really fast in Helicon. I am not a gamer!

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Like i said, so long as it's stable your good.

@printrun5 9 күн бұрын

When I tried to render my photos in Helicon, it seemed that it rendered every 3rd / 4th picture? Something like that. In your video it goes one by one. In my case it looked like Helicon is skipping. And yes, I have them numbered correctly. Weird. Dont know what is going on.

@StewartWoodArt 3 күн бұрын

I’ve never encountered that, try contacting support.

@fromclicktoclickbeautifulp473 4 ай бұрын

Hi Stewart, first off thanks again for one amazing video very much appreciated. My question is do I need this DNG converter it keeps asking me to get. Thanks and have a nice day.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

What is asking you for it?

@fromclicktoclickbeautifulp473 4 ай бұрын

@@StewartWoodArt Hi Stewart, no prob all fixed , I downloaded helicon focus and it Kept prompting me to get DNG converter just to change settings. Sorry for the confusion. Ps your settings by the way are bang on, thank you so much. In addition witch is best focus stacking with slider or focusing ring. Thanks again much appreciated.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

@fromclicktoclickbeautifulp473 I prefer focus stacking with the focus ring.

@fromclicktoclickbeautifulp473 4 ай бұрын

@@StewartWoodArt Very much appreciated on that.

@mat__cht 4 ай бұрын

Do you import photos directly into lightroom or do you save them in a folder and then transfer them into lightroom? i'm recently having problrems with this since microsoft photos auto enhances pictuees and so it doesn't allow me to see the original picture

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

I import directly into Lightroom.

@mat__cht 4 ай бұрын

@@StewartWoodArt lots of things i still don't know you can do on lightroom. Another thing though, when i try to export the photos to helicon focus it says "helicon focus didn't return a result" any idea what might cause that?

@desireearthoceans1797 4 ай бұрын

Thank you, great explanations! In Helicon preferences, which "Use OpenCL hardware acceleration" setting do you set for your Mi Pro? The "M1 Pro" or the "No OpenCL acceleration" setting ? I have an M1 and if I leave it on the "M1 Pro" setting, every time I open Helicon I get an error message "Failed to initialise Open CL ..." What am I doing wrong? Helicon Focus help - not much help and is outdated.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

In this video it was set to "Use OpenCL" but I have tested the "M1 Pro" and it works fine. are you using the most upto date version of Helicon Focus?

@desireearthoceans1797 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Stewart. Yes, I think so. I bought a Pro licence late last year. I did "check for updates" and was told that my version is the latest version. 8.2.7 Pro.@@StewartWoodArt

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

My version is 8.2.12, also check your disk cache settings and your OS.

@desireearthoceans1797 4 ай бұрын

Thanks again. In the Helicon preferences, the "Memory cache limit" is set to 50%. @@StewartWoodArt

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

@desireearthoceans1797 send me an email I show you my settings.

@PeterSmith-pg7oi 4 ай бұрын

'Promosm' 🌺

@youphototube 4 ай бұрын

Hi Sewart, I love your channel. But you are doing too many steps to stack and edit in Helicon. You shoukd send your unedited files to Helicon in dng format and save the Helicon result as a dng to Lightroom. Then you only need to denoise, sharpen and edit the one stacked raw file. That is assuming you have the full version of Helicon which will stack raw images and export the raw result. Note if sending dng files to Helicon it will only accept the original raw files and will ignore any Lightroom edits that have been done to them. Is there a reason that you do not work with dng files in Helicon?

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

I started to see Helicon Focus "stacking" the noise together if I send the DNG files over before applying denoise to them and no denoise software could fix that mess. I apply denoise first to avoid that.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

That why I use a tiff when editing so it carry’s all my edits over to helicon or photoshop.

@youphototube 4 ай бұрын

You have this wrong Stewart and are causing yourself too much work and wasting time for no benefit. I can show you a 500 stack image all done with Helicon using dng files and the results are fantastic. Using this technique it is only necessary to do your edits on the one stacked immage as opposed to the 500 unstacked images. It makes no scene to stack any other way if you own the full version of Helicon and have access to dng stacking. The only instance you may benit from editing the unstacked files may be if you are shooting with high ISO although I have not tested the before and after results with high ISO files.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

I believe you mean you do it differently not wrong, there is NO wrong or right way in anyone’s workflow. As I said, this is my preferred workflow to get the best out of the files I work with. I’ve tested stacking before noise reduction and in most cases the results are not as good.

@StewartWoodArt 4 ай бұрын

Let’s chat about this in email as KZfaq sucks for this type of conversation. I’d be interested in what camera you’re using as maybe the results are different because of different cameras?