These rendering methods are the most important part of the program. He made this great video which takes you through the three main rendering methods of Helicon Focus. Vadim Chiline of Epic Mind Studio is one of the instructors over at Photigy a website dedicated to product photography education. For you, hopefully, this little review will help you decide. For me, the answer was an unequivocal yes. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that it produces results superior to Photoshop, but the big question is “is it worth it?”. Helicon Focus is a program dedicated to focus stacking.

That’s where Helicon Focus came to my rescue. In my personal experience shooting product photos, Photoshop could not produce results I was happy with. Our very own Matthew Saville made this excellent video which shows you exactly how to focus stack within Photoshop. It is a viable option though and one which many photographers use. Yes, you can focus stack in Photoshop, but it’s slow, sometimes painfully so, and, more importantly, the results are not always perfect. Some of you may be jumping out of your seats at this point saying, “I can do this in Photoshop! I don’t need another program!” You would be both right and wrong. For others, it’s an absolute necessity that every little detail is sharp, for instance, product photography. For some, it’s a stylistic choice just like any other photographic technique.

This is where focus stacking comes into play. If, however, we would like everything to be in focus – a flower in the foreground to a building in the background, an object filling our frame, and so on – things become a little more difficult. If we want very little in focus, most of us know how to accomplish this. That depth of field may cover anything from meters to millimeters. Your camera, lens, distance to subject and aperture will produce a particular depth of field. What Is Focus Stacking And Why Should I Use It?įor those that don’t have the time to read my previous article, I will give you a quick rundown.

Photo stacker online