Notes to myself: Focus stacking

Learning about photography techniques is not as good as actually doing it. Therefore I was glad I did not miss last night's educational night at the camera club. I learned to use the adjustment rails I bought quite a while back, but never put to use. The following image shows how the rails are put together to provide x-y movement. This inexpensive contraption can be used for focus stacking in macro shots. With an L-bracket added, it can also be used for panorama shots.

After shooting a set of images with varying focal points, the images have to be processed in Photoshop to combine into one image. Here are the steps to do focus stacking in PS:
1) Files>Scripts>Load files into stack (to load multiple images into layers in PS)
2) Edit>Auto-Align Layers (to align the layers in a focus stack)
3) Edit>Auto-Blend Layers (to blend the layers)


As an added bonus, I saw someone using an interesting camera app that night. This app is called DslrDashboard. This app allows me to use an Android phone to control my DSLR camera via a USB cable. It looks very interesting. I have installed the app but am waiting for my USB OTG cable to arrive before I can try out the app. I am hoping to be able to use the larger screen of an Android device as the LCD display for my shootings. Image viewing is but only one of a myriad of features this app is capable of. But don't hold your breath if you are not a Nikon user... DslrDashboard is primarily for Nikon, plus some Canon cameras. Even then, it is not for all models.