Focus Stacking with GIMP© & Jewelry photos.
Equipment: Cannon© 700D DSLR with 60mm macro lens. Led strip lighting 2500k & light box.
Step 1. Preparation:
Camera is in manual mode with Aperture set around F13 and ISO 200 / 400 but you don't really want to go much higher than that. From there you can have a bit of tolerance with brightness control by adjusting shutter speed.
Set white balance and I can't stress this part enough. A little trip down to the hardware store and getting a few of the sample color cards from the paint department is a nice way to get the right balance for your pictures, I chose a few neutral whites to greys and experiment with these until I find the right one for the job.
Step 2. Taking the photos
I like to start with the part of the item that is in closest range to the lens and work back. The camera software allows for fine focus adjustments made on the PC as once the camera and item are positioned you want them to remain fixed until finished.
After the first picture, depending on your requirements, adjust the focus gradually back by small increments and taking a picture for each one. Usually I'll take anywhere from 6 to 10 pictures for an item and then once finished will run a batch process to convert them all to JPG files. You can probably skip this in advance if your camera is set to save in that format as you take the photos.
Step 3. Opening in GIMP
Open all at once under the menu File>Open as layers (CTRL+ALT+O). It helps if when the pictures are taken in order and named appropriately so that they appear in layers list in workable order.
De-select the eye icon in layer list for all but the first two. Whichever is the higher in the list of the two selected images will be the one appearing on the screen, below that is the layer which contains an area in focus that you want to appear as part of the composite. By selecting the eraser tool in menu you can delete the sections of the above layer to reveal the in focus area below.
Toggle between the two images by turning the visibility on & off to see where further adjustments are needed. Also, experiment with the opacity and brush size to get a smooth transition between the two layers.
Once you're happy select the above layer and right click and choose merge down. The two layers become one and now you can make visible the next layer above and repeat the process. Each time merging the above layer down to finally make a single composite image with all areas now in focus. And that's it.
Happy days. :)
Equipment: Cannon© 700D DSLR with 60mm macro lens. Led strip lighting 2500k & light box.
Step 1. Preparation:
Camera is in manual mode with Aperture set around F13 and ISO 200 / 400 but you don't really want to go much higher than that. From there you can have a bit of tolerance with brightness control by adjusting shutter speed.
Set white balance and I can't stress this part enough. A little trip down to the hardware store and getting a few of the sample color cards from the paint department is a nice way to get the right balance for your pictures, I chose a few neutral whites to greys and experiment with these until I find the right one for the job.
Step 2. Taking the photos
I like to start with the part of the item that is in closest range to the lens and work back. The camera software allows for fine focus adjustments made on the PC as once the camera and item are positioned you want them to remain fixed until finished.
After the first picture, depending on your requirements, adjust the focus gradually back by small increments and taking a picture for each one. Usually I'll take anywhere from 6 to 10 pictures for an item and then once finished will run a batch process to convert them all to JPG files. You can probably skip this in advance if your camera is set to save in that format as you take the photos.
Step 3. Opening in GIMP
Open all at once under the menu File>Open as layers (CTRL+ALT+O). It helps if when the pictures are taken in order and named appropriately so that they appear in layers list in workable order.
Add layer of transparency to each picture by right clicking on the file name in layers list and select 'Add alpha channel' for each picture. You'll know when this is done as the file names are in bold before and un-bolded text when alpha channel is added.
De-select the eye icon in layer list for all but the first two. Whichever is the higher in the list of the two selected images will be the one appearing on the screen, below that is the layer which contains an area in focus that you want to appear as part of the composite. By selecting the eraser tool in menu you can delete the sections of the above layer to reveal the in focus area below.
Toggle between the two images by turning the visibility on & off to see where further adjustments are needed. Also, experiment with the opacity and brush size to get a smooth transition between the two layers.
Once you're happy select the above layer and right click and choose merge down. The two layers become one and now you can make visible the next layer above and repeat the process. Each time merging the above layer down to finally make a single composite image with all areas now in focus. And that's it.
Happy days. :)
