Photoshop CS3 cant do this, but you might want to look into this little gem from Max Lyons: <
http://www.tawbaware.com/tufuse.htm>, there are other software available as well, search for ‘focus blending’.
Are positive CS3 can’t do this? I think it can. What is the difference if you are merging photos to fix a turned head or an object is out of focus?
Take a look at File>automate>photomerge or Edit>auto align layers and Edit>auto blend layers.
Note photomerge combines both auto align and auto blend in one step. I think if all photo are identical except the focus, you can get away with just auto align and use layer masks like John mentions.
I do not know the recommended software, but have been doing this in PS since version 3. When Layer Masks were added (John Joslin’s suggestion), it became far easier, as there was less destructive editing.
The one minor concern will be the shift in subject size, as the focus is shifted. Ctrl-t (Free Transform) can handle this re-sizing).
Start with your chosen "base image," i.e. Background Layer, and then use the requisite pieces of the product. Place each on its own Layer, and apply a Layer Mask to eliminate all aspects that one does not want. Take care with the Layer Masks, so that they blend the edges. I’d start fairly rough with the Lasso, then move to a Paintbrush to finish each Layer Mask. Not at all difficult, though one should be prepared to do some hand-work on the Layer Masks, and be open to using various techniques to achieve what they need. Maybe the recommended software can take some of the handwork out of the equation, but if you’ve got PS above version 4 (wasn’t that when Layer Masks were added?), it can be done and done perfectly.
Back in the analog days, we’d have to do this in the darkroom, when even our tilts and swings and f/64 didn’t get everything in focus. Way back then, we were limited with A-B lith masks, so we had to find "hard edges," or edges that could be "hidden" in the composite.
BTW, what is the product?
Hunt
Nowadays there are specialized software just for this one application. For this reason, I would not recommend the OP to manually blend the seams via Layer Masks. but to each his own, and certainly its possible to do it this way, should one want to.
And just to add a nice little touch of "you-should-have-done-it-another way-to-begin-with":
If it’s a close close-up, the shift in scale and viewpoint as you refocus is easily the biggest problem, and the most tricky to get around. Transform will do it, but it’s very time-consuming with, say, five or six layers.
Ideally, this should be done with a focusing rail, so that refocusing is done by moving the camera body rather than the lens elements. That will keep the scale consistent, and you’d only have to worry about masking the out-of focus parts.
I think it depends if it’s a one-off exercise or something that has to be done a lot.
Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I’ll give those a shot and see if they work enough. If it looks like it’ll take too long right now, I’ll just try to find a better angle where I can get it "good enough" as I have many more pictures I need to take of cables and wires.
Super fun.
To answer some of the questions posed to me:
I looked at photomerge, but that looked to me like more of a way to make panaramic (sp?) pictures from multiple shots. I may tinker with that a bit though as it’s something I’d like to use for other things as well.
I don’t need this very often so this would not be a common practice, but if I knew how to do it, that would open some more options for me and I’d likely do it more often but still not regularly.
It’s not a super closeup, though I’ve had need of this operation on those in the past; wound up just shooting differently and settling for second or third best.
I don’t use what anyone would call a photo studio. It’s a 4×8′ piece of styrene tacked to the wall and a fold-up 6′ table in a room with flourescent lighting (please try to restrain your laughter). The company’s camera, while decent, is very old: Sony DSC-D770. This is why I bought my own Sony DSC-F828 2-3 years ago. Not the best but much better (the tiny-to-sometimes-larger purple haze around most edges is what bugs me the most). And my setup is just my camera on a tripod. I’m not fooling myself about my skills at photography; I’m very small-time, but I still need my shots to look good.
(Out of respect for actual photgraphers, I don’t even call myself a photographer. I "shoot product photos" or "do product photography" which still sounds a bit too lofty, but….)
The product itself is the Velleman TLM12, a test tweezer for SMD devices. I’d like to get a "long" shot of it but that angle makes the tip and leads get out of focus in most shots and they’re tiny so it’s really noticable. I can get every part in sharp focus in 3-4 shots, but not in one at the angle I’m hoping to get.
I use a macro lense when I need to get big pictures of 1" connectors and the sort, but this is way too big for that and the macro has a very small area of what would be in focus so this problem would be compounded far more than I’m experiencing now.
I think layer masks might be the quickest way to achieve what I’m trying for here. Like I said, I don’t need this often but if I knew how, I’d do it more frequently and might even create an action to do this faster.
Thanks again, everybody. HUGE help. 🙂
Wow. Took more shots than just the 3-4 (something like 10-12) focusing on more primary spots (using apeture mode as I usually do) and moved the camera back a little further. Ran photomerge on them… almost exactly what I wanted and plenty good enough.
Only problem was one of the plugs moved from where I wanted before I started shooting so now I have to shoot them again, but that I can do.
Still gonna give the other options you guys suggested a whirl when I have more time.
Yet again, thanks, everyone!
George,
Have you tried TufusePro, and if so how does it compare to the other software you are using?
Hi Mathias,
Not one I have heard of.
I use Helicon Focus Pro for all of my high magnification image stacks. It’s the best of those apps that I have tried.
I’ll download it and have a look.