John Oliver Cabin – Stacking With Photoshop

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17 thoughts on “John Oliver Cabin – Stacking With Photoshop

  1. I am practicing photo stacking. I took all the photos into PS, did everything you did, saved, but got the following msg in LR.

    Could not save as “D85_4028-Edit.tif” because this document exceeded the 4 GB limit for TIFF files.
    See Help topic “Saving and Exporting Images” for more information.

    1. It’s because there are limits to fill sizes with certain formats, not a big deal though 🙂 Save it as a PSB (not PSD, but PSB) file. That’s Photoshop’s large document format. With 46MP sensors, I have to use it myself on a regular basis. It really doesn’t take too many layers for it to exceed normal file size capacities.

      1. Great videos so far, Steve. Though, in your reply to Denise, I assume you meant “Not PSD” but PSB.

        1. Yes, thanks – I corrected it. I’m trying to do too much at once LOL!!

  2. PHOTOSHOP BLENDING PROBLEMS. After auto aligning it is good idea to duplicate all the layers. Then if there are problems that you showed with focus stacking, you have all the original layers. It is the masking that messes things up. With the original layers, you can find the “good” layer and pop it behind the merged layer. Then it is simple job to mask the top layer and simply brush in the impacted area. This way there should be no complex masking and fine brush work. You also mentioned that focus stacking does not work so well for seascapes with moving waves. This method works great because you can always find a few frames that have sharp waves that can be brushed in with a simple mask. It also does not USUALLY need careful brush work.

    1. That’s actually a great idea and seems like it may be an easier solution. I may have to do an update down the road.

      As a side note, I too have blended in waves with little difficulty, but the skill level for this course is all over the place – from advanced Photoshop users like yourself to those who have never opened the program. So, I have to be careful – although I do mention you can do waves, leaves, etc in Photoshop if you have the experience. 🙂

  3. Thanks Steve! I think this could work well with your cabin image, but moving grasses may be another story! I neglected to mention that working methodically up the focus-stacked image looking for problem areas is the way to go. If you have stopped down a bit, you may actually find that there are a few frames that are OK. Another thing – when you have moved the in focus image under the final focus stack and brushed in the offending portion through a layer mask you should make a stamp of these 2 layers. Then move the in-focus layer back to where it belongs and continue moving up this new top layer looking for the next problem. If one is found, repeat the process and make another stamp. etc etc etc It sounds complicated but in practice is quite simple.

    I have been into Photoshop for a few years but am constantly amazed at some of the basics that I have completely missed. I also came to your forum late. You have a lot of fine photographers in there that have the right attitude in encouraging and assisting at all levels. I firmly believe it is your attitude that has attracted them. Good job everyone!

    1. Is there a video of this technique somewhere Neil? I think I follow what you’re saying but would love to see a practical example.

  4. This set of tutorials is a real steal at the introductory price! Lots of great tips, especially, for me, using the back command dial to scroll through the stack images at high magnification. I have a small tip for you. After the auto-align step, when you turn layer visibility On/Off and you see the white border due to focus breathing, use the menu sequence Image, Trim to automatically trim all the frames based on the transparent pixels. This also prevents that blurry edge. With tripod mounted stacks, this usually works very well. Doesn’t work if there are any rotations between frames, but this not common. 😀

    1. Thanks – never thought of that. As I say, I don’t usually use Photoshop for stacking since I have the other two programs. 🙂

  5. Steve when shooting with either a D5 or D500 using Helicon FB Tube (which gives these camera’s automatic focus Bracketing), would it be the same — by setting a high number of shots once the camera’s lens hits infinity does it stop shooting or continues shooting past infinity?

  6. Hi Steve. This is a fantastic course. Super value for money. I’ve been doing focus stacks for a while but have often been disappointed. You’ve helped me understand where I’ve been going wrong and I haven’t even finished the course yet!

    One quick question at this juncture. I know you don’t sharpen at the first stage in Lightroom but as we all know LR applies some import sharpening. Do you knock this back to zero or just leave the sharpening LR applies?

  7. this is a great course and the impute from others is great too! thank you again !

  8. I am not sure why but when I have done auto blend in photoshop it shows all the layers with masks but did not create a merged layer.

  9. Hi Steve,

    great course, one question. How to deal with lens correction in lightroom. Is it wise to apply that for export to stacking software or after the stack has been created? thanks.

    Best ragards,

    Marcel Metselaar, the Netherlands

    1. I’d recommend doing it on the initial images since the stack will crop the images. For most of what I do, I never use lens corrections anyway, but if I were using them, I’d think before stacking is the right way to go.

  10. Like Denise I ran into export issues and while maybe related the Auto align and blend each take about 15 minutes. While I tried to save in the large format I got a second message that it could not export. I tried PS as I didn’t have to pay for it. I down loaded Zerene and will try it but wonder if I will run into the same issues in saving?

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