This involves taking multiple identical images where only the point of focus changes. The solution to the depth of field problem is the technique of focus stacking. It can be very difficult to render objects sharp in their entirety. Here you can find that even using a very small aperture only gives a few millimetres of depth of field or even less. If you are interested in macro photography, the problem is even more acute as the subject is often so close to the camera. It then becomes necessary to use a much smaller aperture which is probably outside the optimal working range of the lens. Unfortunately, this may limit your depth of field and mean that more distant objects are out of focus. So if you are shooting a landscape with an object looming large in the foreground, it’s likely that you will focus on the object to ensure it is sharp. One of the problems we face with these types of photography is that as the point of focus gets nearer to the camera, the depth of field lessens.
But in other forms of photography such as Landscapes and Macro you might want to maximise the depth of field. For some images you might need very little, for example in portrait photography where you throw the background to the subject out of focus. How much depth of field you need for an image is a bit of a moving target. Unfortunately, most people don’t have one of these cameras, or the patience to use one.
This can be used to increase depth of field beyond what could be achieved with the aperture alone, allowing the aperture to remain within the optimal working range.
This is one of the reasons many Landscape Photographers favour large format technical cameras which allow special movements such as tilt. Ideally you want to keep your aperture in the range where the lens performs at its best. The drawback with this approach is that as the aperture becomes smaller, something called diffraction sets in and the image sharpness suffers. You then carefully select the point of focus for maximum depth of field.
The traditional approach (adopted by most) is to use a very small aperture. Trying to achieve a significant depth of field in your images can be quite frustrating. There are times when the depth of field you can achieve in a single shot just isn’t enough. A focus stacking video to accompany this tutorial is also available.
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