What software is available for macro focus stacking?

Question

What software is available and widely used for macro focus stacking? In other areas photoshop, lightroom, aperture, etc are kind of industry standard options. Is there such a thing for focus stacking?

Answer 1

I believe you are looking for something like Helicon Focus.

I've heard from reliable sources that stacking can also be done manually in Photoshop CS 5, but I haven't done it myself.

Answer 2

In CS5, load your images into layers.

• Select Edit > Auto Align Layers (at macro distances even on a tripod small changes in focus will alter the perspective of each shot)

• Select Edit > Auto Blend Layers. This will select the sharpest parts of each layer and create a mask. The masks can be quite complex, but it does a very good job.

There is an open source program CombineZP