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Recently, I come across the term called Focus Stacking where you combine different pictures with different focus points.

My question is, why do the focus stacking? Are there any benefits from the photographic POV?

Thank you in advance!

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Focus stacking allows you to create an image with a greater apparent depth of focus (i.e. more of the subject in focus) than would otherwise be possible.

This is used in fields like macro photography where you are often working at the limits of the capabilities of the lens.

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  • Thank you for mentioning macro photography. I could not think of a situation where focus stacking and post production would produce a better result than simply using a suitably small aperture for greater depth of field. – Arkanon Jul 29 '12 at 20:27
  • This applies to non-macro photography as well, either to increase depth-of-field beyond the diffraction-limited aperture or in case where a small aperture gives shutter-speeds beyond the camera's limit. – Itai Jul 30 '12 at 1:12
  • Think of it as HDR where you combine the areas that have the focus you want instead of those with adequate exposure. – Blrfl Jul 30 '12 at 9:33
  • Apparently, it is also possible to reconstruct 3D models from photographs using focus stacking. – Anderson Green Mar 7 at 15:27

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