Can You Bracket AND Focus Stack for Perfectly Exposed & Razor Sharp Landscape Photos?!
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In this week’s episode, we discuss if you can exposure bracket and focus stack for perfectly exposed and razor sharp landscape photos. It's a question that comes up from time to time, whether or not you can apply both of these extremely helpful landscape photography techniques at the same exact time. And, the short answer is yes, yes you can and the process in which you can accomplish this is much easier than you might think.
In this video, I'll walk you through how I go about creating an exposure bracketed series of photos and at the same time creating a focus stack series as well. The on-location portion of this process is very straight forward and so is the actual post processing aspect of combining the images together which I walk you through in this video as well. Exposure bracketing and focus stacking might be two of the most powerful techniques in landscape photography. And understanding how to accomplish both at the same time is something that can prove to be extremely useful in certain situations that you could potentially find yourself in while on-location.
So the next time you find yourself setting up a shot that requires focus stacking and is also a high dynamic range scene that also requires multiple exposure brackets, I hope the information in this week's video will help you to accomplish both at the same time! Thanks for watching! - Mark D.
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I don’t know why but the intro was so calming
My biggest takeaway was "Just go out and shoot." I get stuck with Analysis Paralysis when it comes to weather conditions. The rest of the tutorial is just the frosting on the cake. Thank you for posting these. I'm learning a LOT!
For the past several months, that has been my top question I wanted answered. Thanks for making it easy to understand!
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this video!
Hope yo enjoyed it!
When I got my first DSLR I was fascinated by macro photography and HDR. So I did a lot of focus stacked HDR to offset my gear’s limits (because a rebel T7 and kit lens is not amazing for either). I still often use exposure stacking when doing a panorama or other situations where there’s a huge dynamic range (shooting a car with a vibrant sunset in the background for example). I’d just never made the mental jump to using focus stacking & HDR for landscapes or similar situations. Great video again Mark!
Thank you, now l am wiser about focus stacking!
love this style of photography.
Great video. Nice to see how others are doing this process. I have found that when I shoot a 5 shot bracketed exposure (2 stop per bracket) I get one shot with enough dynamic range where I don't have to do any exposure blending (90% of the time). That way I do 2-5 bracketed shot sequences for focus and let the camera handle the auto bracketing exposures. Then I determine (1) which shot in the bracket meets all my exposure needs; (2) grab the same shot sequence from the bracketd shot groups; (3) apply basic settings, sync, align; (4) complete the focus stacking process with the selected shots ; (5) process the final bracketed composite with needed adjustments in LR or PS. Just speeds up the process a little bit.
Thank ya Mickey! That's a great workflow - I usually end up taking more than I need as well just to be safe.
Thanks Mark, you are a great educator.
The hand shot idea is so good! I recently took bracketed and focus stacked shots and they are SO hard to tell the difference in Lightroom (haha!)
Honestly, I like that not all of the branch was in focus. It added more visual interest, at least to me, than if it was all focused and razor sharp.
I've been doing video as part of my work for a while and realized with a slight investment I could explore photography. I've enjoyed learning to see the world around me through a different "lens".
Thank you for another excellent video Mark. Brilliant work.
Clarity itself superb video
Perfect! Having the error of too few focus points in the video really drove home. Much more effective than a squeaky clean how to video . As always, thank you.
Lol, I was just thinking about visualising an image before going out to take photos, and making it a part of my process. Thanks for this!
Great info and tutorisl. Thanks.
Content is always great. What I really like most is your honest disclosure of who you are. I feel like I'm in your office and you're talking to me. Telling me, "Oops I shouda taken another set or two focused here and here." Well done Mark.
Really appreciate that Gregory - great to hear you enjoy the videos!
Yes, I like seeing the "oops" in the process, because that helps us really learn. Bad examples vs. good examples of composition, exposure, and so on.
Very helpful, Mark. Thanks. You combined two techniques that I'm trying to master.
I could hug you for that hand trick. The rest of this is way above my grade still but that simple tip was worth the trip.
Your videos are so informative and delivered in an easy to understand, and more importantly apply tutorial. Thank you kindly.
You've inspired me to go try this! I've done both types of bracketing, but never together. I like Fuji's implementation of focus bracketing - it's good for not accidentally getting too few shots. You could fairly easily set that up and run it three times with manually adjusted exposure. Thanks for sharing this technique!
Thank you I have learn a lot
Thanks a lot Mark, it's really something that almost every photography lover needs to know about, nice job.
Glad you found it helpful!
Have been wanting to experiment with Focus Stacking but hadn't considered combining bracketing and focus stacking together. Your explanation of the process was clear, hopefully I can make it work.
If you have any questions after you try it out just let me know!
Interesting and helpful video. Thanks.
Do you ever use in-camera focus stacking?
Great video! As a small aside that's a bit off topic, one reason most camera bag layout systems are crap is because they force you to set dividers that allow for a particular lens mounted on the camera. Meaning you had to swap back to the other lens just to put the camera away, the alternative would have been a more annoying re-shuffle of the velcro dividers. Swapping lenses in the field is probably my biggest peeve, and bags are crap at facilitating this.
Add panorama and some hdr bracketing into the mix and make sure youve got a free scratch disc and maximum amount of memory in fast computer.
Your videos are great I’m a film shooter moving into digital
That was an fantastic explanation and video on how to do this. I just recently learned how to bracket and focus stack and was then wondering can I do both on one image. Thanks for the info Mark!
Sir i am a big fan of yours...i like the details and information of your blogs...As a beginner the photographers struggle with the watermark orb logos in their photography...it will really be interesting to listen a talk from you about the size, positioning and importance of watermarking on the photos....and what is your experience in watermarking??
I would like to thank all the computer programmers that have made this video possible. And you Mark, for making sense of it all.
Thank you for this video. I was wondering how you would handle a moving subject in this situation without raising the ISO? Many thanks
Great video!
Hey Mark. Another great instructional video. I have, however, one question and one comment. Question. When changing lenses with the mirrorless camera do you have a problem with dist on the sensor? Comment. Going from LR to PS and back to LR for the focus / bracketing operation then the fiddling about in PS to focus stack seems a lot of unnecessary work when the whole exercise can be done in two steps in Affinity photo and achieve the same, if not better, result.
I've used the focus stack bracketing in cameraa for my Fuji. it works well to pick focus points. You then stack in program
awesome info helpful, and issues I have with haveing to have perfect conditions just gotta go out alone or not
Nice and all explanatory video ..what exposure communication you prefer for plus minus.....one stop or 2 stop for 3 stop compensation
Great video (as usual) Mark... pragmatic and clear! In this case it's about the process not about the pictureitself... we got that! Thank you!
I have such a hard time with my camera, I can't check focus in live view, so rely on eyepiece, but when I check it afterwards, there's always a blurry area. So frustrating! Thanks so much for the info, still learning, which says a lot about the teacher!
I’ve practiced this technique last time I went out chasing waterfalls but my workflow was a tad different. When I’m at a focus point I’d take my 3 exposures for the bracket then my blank then change focus and repeat. Then I did all 3 hdr stacks first with same edits then threw it into photoshop for the focus stack. Now I’m no pro and it seemed to have worked fine but do you feel that’s a improper way or a way that could cause some issues?
Thanks Mark, took a similar shot recently in the UK using F16 to try and achieve a sharp image. Might return and try this technique. Now I just need the right conditions.... More importantly I need to be able to find the area where the berries were as most bushes seemed to be devoid of them.
It was good to see the process play out, i focus stack, and exposure bracket but have yet to combine the two techniques. Will feel a little more confident giving it a go now. Thanks mark !
Glad to do it Timothy!
Thanks, the idea with the hand is good !
You've done a good delivering on this process. I think your audience would benefit from more presentations on this process - it helps with our creativity. Thanks Mark
Many thanks Dennis!
Your studio looks reallu good now
I like the video so I will go ahead and write comment. When you go ahead and pick the focus points, do you go ahead and make the exposure right away? Or do you go ahead and just set it up. I like when you go ahead and process in LR. I am going to go ahead and try this out ASAP. Sounds redundant to me and my English teacher.
Another how-it's done 'blow-by-blow' info video. Thank you , Mark. The usual high standard. 🎅
Thank you for sharing. It's been really helpful and the taking a photo of your hand between stacks is a very good tip!
Good one, Mark. Nice to be walked through the process.
Thanks Stephen! Hope you enjoyed it!
This is what I’ve been missing!! Great video and very informative! Thank you Mark!
Thanks Ben! Excited to hear that
You need to get metal spikes on your tripod there , a lot of movement there with rubber feet on the mushy ground.
Great video Mark! Next time try using an external device to set the autofocus points so you don't move your camera around before you take each picture!
Mark, as always really to the point explanation , thank's much !
Super video tutorial....I can’t wait to try this advice! Thanks!
Great video thank you.
Thanks for watching Sarah!
Love your outdoor videos. And great explanation of combined focus and exposure stacking.
Thanks so much!
Another great video Mark. Thanks for the great instruction!
Glad to do it Robert!
Thank you ....👌👌👌👏👏👏
Thank you for sharing your expert knowledge in photography. My husband and I also teach photography at a local college. One of the ways we teach is to show our students a TH-cam like yours. We then do the process in class so we're sure they know how to do it and they have the TH-cam to reference in the future. We are interested in your backpack. We like the way it opens on the side that faces your back. Could you please give us the make and model of it. Thanks in advance.
Instead of using a photo of my palm, I hold up one finger for the start of the series and 2 fingers for the end.
I had to do this becuase once everything from my session was loaded, it was hard to tell if a palm photo was the beginning or end of a sequence as there we a few series of the same scene.
This will give me something to learn and try for the new year.....thank you Mark....Happy Holidays and have a great and healthy New Year.
Happy holiday’s to you as well Robert!
Really valuable information Mark, appreciate the time and effort you put into these videos to help the beginner.
Thank you.
Glad to do it Ross and a big thanks for checking it out!
Well that's an easier way than my first time doing it, I did a focus stack a couple of days ago of a sunset. But i did the exposure bracketed set of images first and then did each focus image at the same exposures of the bracketed sequence, then combined them but i was pretty happy with the outcome but I'll be doing it this way from now on
Thank you for doing this video Mark. It answers the question I had a few videos ago.
Glad to hear it AJ
Great video , Glad for all the info you put out and keep it up
Many thanks Mark!
Just trying to follow the Bracketing /Focus Stacking.
So you take 3 sets of Bracketed photos for a total of 9?
Then do you Bracket one dark image from each group?
Thereby Bracketing the over exposures together, and then the 3 under exposed photos and then the 3 correct photos from each of the 3 sets?
Or do you Bracket the 1st 3 images (under/correct & over exposed) together, then go do the same to the 2nd set of Images, then the 3rd set ... resulting in 3 Bracketed Images?
Then Focus Stack those 3 Bracketed images.
Just to clarify the sequence, because I must have done something wrong.
Thanks
Gordon
Thanks for the hand in front of lens trick. I’ve been doing mine as -, 0, + order for my brackets and I can see them okay.
It seems we should be able to take only two shots of a scene: focus / exposure on foreground, then focus / exposure for background for a total of two shots. Why doesn’t this idea work to do it all in just two shots?
Thanks for sharing.... I am learning more about this process, so many thanks for information... Cheers
Glad to do it Robert!
Keep it up mark !
Well put across Mark....!
Wonderful video mark. Was looking for this
Thanks Raja!
Full of information and really well explained. Has helped me understand the process. Many thanks.
Great to hear Daniel!
Thanks for the great video. I love the idea of taking a picture of your hand between stacks. I always have trouble figuring out which pictures are supposed to go together. Usually have to dig up my old version of Nikon ViewNX-i.
That was a whole lot of good information Mark! Wow 🤩.
Now to put it into practice- thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge!
Thanks so much Jackie!!
I've wondered this for several years. What I want to know is; can I focus stack, bracket (HDR?) AND.... stitch together a panorama?
I'll have to try this soon. Great video!!
Hey Mark, I use an XT3 as well and I think the in camera bracketing and focus stacking modes are absolutely fantastic, you should check them out! It saves some time and avoids having to touch the camera and probably moving it.
They do work pretty well, but I find I usually like to control exactly where the focus points are in most scenarios.
@@MarkDenneyPhoto I get it, it is nice to be able to control everything, that way we are the only guilty ones if something goes wrong lol. Greetings form Mexico!
my camera allows me to do focus stacking automatically, I assume this would still work? - I love the workflow
I’m curious why you didn’t use AEB feature in the camera? It automates the three / five exposures
I think what also people could have meant was if that's ok to bracket and focus stack different parts of the scene which are in different proximity and tone. E.g. when you bracket for the bright sky and focus on it, then bracket for the foreground and change the focus again. Will the blended image suffer from possible quality loss on tone bracketing edges which now would be in different focus?
Awesome work Mark, would help me a lot in future.. thanks
Much appreciated - thank you!
Thank you sooo much!
This is amazing🎉🙏🏻
I noticed in your first focus stacking video you didn't mess with edits until after the focus stack. Is order important here? Can you bracket your three photos in each focus range, then focus stack and then edit. I'm a rookie, just picked up a camera 2 months ago, I'm taking a photography class as an elective, I'm a history major so slightly over analytical. Thanks for the great videos.
Yiou mention not to change exposure but what about black and white points. What does that do prior to stacking?
Great tutorial. wish you had shown the exposure blending part in PS....
Nice - wish you had included PS in the title; I use LR.
This video explained Hallie Berrys name 😂
😂
Is there any substantial benefit in focus stacking prior to exposure/HDR stacking, or do they effectively end up with the same results if they're interchanged in the workflow?
Mark, how does one coordinate the number of focal point photos with each of the under-exposed, exposed, and over exposed bracketing series?
Please mention the details of camera bag, tripod and the tripod head
Great tutorial. Thanks! PS I loved the image you came up with, even though it didn’t have all the elements you were hoping for.
Much appreciated Michael - thank you!
@Mark - thank you for this video. I use the Sony a7r5 which has the auto focus bracketing feature build in. It doesn't blend the photos in-camera it stores each set of focus bracket file into each folder. So in this case, each folder would house a set of focus bracket files for each exposure. In your video, you priority exposure first and then focus stacking. My method due to Sony's auto focus stacking feature, I would combine the focus stacks first for each exposure and then perform the HDR merge at the very end. Do you see any issues with this workflow where the order is switched?
Wouldn't we be better off by using "AEB" and take teh same focus point 3 times before moving to the next one? The object could have moved or the selected focus point be different for the other exposures?
I have Canon rebel 5t. I don'thave the luxury of picking focus point like you do on your camera. How do I essentially do the same as you did in bracketing and focusing at the same time?
The "take a picture of your hand" idea is worth the cost of the subscription. 😉 I've done some bracketing and got lost trying to figure out what's what.
Indeed! That's such a time saver
I have done the hand trick as well, but also hold up the number of fingers to match the number of photos in the series
I would think it would be more efficient to turn on Exposure bracketing in camera and take that at each focus point. Less button presses and also ensures each sequence has same focus points. As a side note I use Olympus M1-X and you can do focus bracketing in camera (you can also do stacking but you get much better results doing it in post) That process makes it easier to not miss the end focus points :-)
That’s what I was thinking too. Three shutter presses rather than 9.
Can you not just continous bracket shoot each focus point to make this process a bit quicker? You then produce the three HDR images first then focus stack the hdr images instead of the opposite way done in the video. Just wondering if there was a reason why it wasn't done this way.
Like the vlog..but what happens when you don't have Adobe ! which other software will work.
Thank you for this tutorial!! Love your work sir 👌👌🙂
Thanks so much!
@@MarkDenneyPhoto Mark I'm not gonna lie, I've been following you for a few months now and your content and teachings have really opened my eyes to what is even possible with photography. You are a true inspiration, and I feel very blessed to be able to learn from you. Keep em coming!! 🙏👊😎