Pixiq

Helicon Focus a product of Helicon Soft Ltd., is a unique imaging solution that really works. The program makes it possible to achieve greater depth of field by capturing a series of shots at different points of focus. This technique is called focus stacking.

See the animated movie below.

Focus Stacking is actually a very useful concept when you think about it. For example, using this technique can allow for a greater range of DOF while using faster apertures under low light conditions. The program creates completely focused results from a number of partially focused images by combining the focused areas of the stacked images. The amount of DOF can be determined by the user. You can have everything sharp or you can simply make the existing depth of focus a bit larger. 

Obviously, it is important to make sure that you obtain the depth of field that is necessary when you shoot your subject. This is normally an aperture choice. The more you stop down the lens, the better the depth of field. However, there are situations when it is impossible to capture the exact depth of field that you might need.

Almost anytime you want to achieve sharpness from the foreground to the background, you would select a small aperture to achieve the results. This also means using a slow shutter speed which in some cases may also be a problem.

With Helicon Focus, you can use fast shutter speeds while using a shallow aperture by simply making multiple captures at different focus points in your scene. For this to work properly, the user needs to be fairly precise as to where to place the focus for each shot. The user needs to focus manually in small overlapping increments. Helicon Focus can process the sequence and blend them into a single image that will have an extended range of focus. When done correctly, the results are amazing.

• has no limitation on image resolutions (you need at least 512M RAM to work with 8Mp+ images);
• processes an unlimited number of images in the stack;
• preserves details by using advanced interpolators for image manipulation (Lanczos, Sinc256);
• internal workflow always uses 16 bit color depth to preserve colors;
• provides possibility to clean dust artifacts, by removing black points from the resulting images;
• automatically adjusts brightness of the adjacent images;
• reads RAW, 8bit and 16bit TIFFs, JPEG, JPEG 2000, BMP, etc;
• writes 8bit and 16bit TIFFs, JPEG, JPEG 2000, BMP, PSD, PNG.

Source d-Studio

Although the required focus adjustments produce a slight increase in magnification from shot to shot, the software both resizes and aligns the images during processing.

The software interface is very easy to use and allows for adjustments such as cloning and retouching if required. In the above image, you can see a few of the source images used for the focus stack on the far right. The two large windows show one of the source images on the left and to the right, the final result. This window can be used to clone in details from any source image if needed.

This software works with subjects that do not move during the capture. Helicon Focus software is available for both Mac and PC platforms at Helicon Focus - heliconfocus.com. The Mac version may be found at d-studio.com.The demo software works for 30 days without retriction.

Please read my other articles on pixiq.com and feel free to add your comments or questions.

The following video shows a series of 6 focus captures that where used to produce the final image.