How to Focus Stack for Tack Sharp Landscape Photos with Isabella Tabacchi

now hello photopillars raphael the bar here welcome to another master class today we're going to learn how to focus our landscape images with disabilities welcome to the show hello hello rafael hello everyone i'm happy to be here to explain you how to use focus taking which in which situations you have to use this amazing technique yeah because i've been i've been looking at your photos and i'm a huge fan of your work i mean your images all you have to do is go to your instagram and watch your work and uh it's amazing how you create all these top sharp images from front to back perfect perfect yes yes there are some very useful techniques and it depends also on the condition and the situations and i'll show you also several of my images to explain you how did they take them uh in which situation there was and also we will see a kind of a little bit more tricky technique i will i will show you how to how to merge all the bikini because uh sometimes it's very difficult that technique the other focus taking i will explain you about it later we can't wait uh everybody watching we have almost 300 people watching now it's live uh really ready to learn from you and for your art but before for the people that don't know who is who is tell us a bit about your yourself and your story okay uh i'm isabella i'm a landscape photographer from italy i live in bologna but i like to travel and discover new landscapes around the world or i started in uh to take pictures in the dolomites then since that period i wanted to ex to explore more and more the world and i take pictures and through my landscapes i tell people my emotions i want to express my emotions through my landscapes i love to play a lot with the elements of earth in the foreground so i like to create some sharp some some very particular foregrounds and very nice full of shapes foreground full of geometries because i like to express messages also with nature and they like to uh to check some some techniques some ways to lead to my to the subject of of the image so people that look at my image can can can have a direction to see to see even better the subject of my of my pictures well well i know really your images are amazing and we can wait to learn from you so it's about i know that you're a professional asking photographer that you do is for living you have even nfts and you run workshops you have uh online tutorials to share your expertise with people and we're so thankful to have you with us today and yeah ready for action so anytime you want to start the presentation let's go for it yes yes yes i yes exactly i i do photography for living because i said i want to leave me with my dreams i want to live with my dreams and find a way to live with it and that's why i i found several ways to to earn my ceremony to make a living with photography and i like to to make more and more initiatives every time so yes also nft was quite quite an opportunity for me to explore a new world also anyway new art market besides the art market also that i have on my online shop also and that's the goal right to have uh make a living and have more time to create more amazing images yes it's not easy but uh but i wanted to be determinate to this and make it congratulations not an easy thing to do thank you okey dokey do you want to i mean i suppose that people is looking for to see your images your work okay and learn the story behind the images perfect so i can share my screen let me see if you see it if you see bridge okay perfect yes let's start so let's start uh about each on each image i will tell you uh what uh how did i do to take these images where they were taken and i have some images for you this is the first please hide this bar that you see that you have on on the photo yeah no the bar the bar uh go back to the photo come on go back to the forum okay the photo and then here you have like a blue yeah that's it thank you [Music] perfect okay wow okay let's start yes yes perfect let's start from this image okay this image is taken in switzerland in a lake called the green de jazeer is a very beautiful lake and here um i always try to find something as you see some leading lines to something creative that can lead to the background that is in this uh occasion is the material you know one of the most beautiful mountains in the world and in this lake uh i wanted to visit this lake since a long time because uh there are there is a very beautiful reflection of trees in um especially in autumn and but i didn't want it just the reflections so when i i was there next to the shore of the lake i went around and i went a little bit up there there was there was a kind of little heel and they went a little bit up and i found a kind of uh yes some roots that were so much similar to a spider so when i saw this condition i just i just wanted to take picture and i made everything possible for everything possible to have a very beautiful frame and to have a very nice perspective especially of the roots because the roots had to be in a very nice perspective to leave to this mountain this image was taken in in at the end of 2019 and okay so here i use it focus taking and i took three images because focus taking is a technique that is used when you have different plans in your image that make it create the depth of field you need it because some areas are in front of other areas and they can't be focused together with the other areas even if i use a hyperfocal or a very a very close if you use for example f 16 as an aperture so a very close aperture you need absolutely to uh to make also focus taking especially when i use since when i use middle format medium format because medium format is very three-dimensional the the form of the the sensor so i need always to use focus taking to have everything sharp because not all the plants are sharp because something if something is on the on the front on the front in comparison with the background for example here in this situation the roots the stones this part of the eel is on the front in comparison with the background the lake and the mountain i have to make two exposure at least to exposure but sometimes even three four and in this situation i did three exposures because i need to merge all this all these areas with different in a different in a different because the depth of field is very three-dimensional in fact i made one shot for the part of the roots that is closer to me than the other part this part here don't know if you see my mouse here then i see my sword yes here the stone that i call this i call the middle the middle the middle area and then another exposure for the lake the mountain because the lake and the mountain and the mountain are quite distant even if the trees are a little bit more [Music] near to me close to me than the mountain they are anyway very far away quite far away so they are on the same plan while the stone here is on a different plan a little bit less closer but closer than the background and the very the very the closest part of the foreground is also another plan so i made three shots here how far away is the the are the roots from the camera what's the distance between the camera and the roots in the foreground i don't remember but of course they they have to be of course the distance has to be more than 30 centimeters because there is a minimum distance and of course so they they can be focused but the distance in in the reality the distance has nothing to do with the with the focus with the reason why we do focus taking is not because of the distance but is because of the different plan for example if you have a foreground that the camera the sensor that lens perceives like a foreground that perceives like in front of in comparison with the background of course the foreground the the camera can't can know if you should put the focus on on the foreground or the background of course it depends on the focus point but they can't it's like just the double exposure it can't perceive the difference when there is a knight difference between shadows and highlights it can perceive so much well how to if to make an exposure with everything with everywhere that in information is the same but it doesn't has to do with the distance but with the plans with the plan of the image in fact usually in fact there is the focus taking is needed when we are very low with our tripod or with our with our camera because the more you are low on the foreground close to the foreground the more the camera perceives the program as in front of in comparison with the background in fact sometimes for example in kamchatka uh i i took several or also in other situations i took several shots with the tripod that was quite high more or less i like me or a little bit less and i didn't need to use focus taking because the the camera was not so close to the foreground of course one yeah so you you like to load your your camera down right to get this nice perspective exactly or or you you need to have also the the foreground that is a little bit eiger for example if you have a very high plants or very odd flowers that are very light very tall very very tall flowers and very tall plants that are quite solar as much as the camera then you need to use focus taking because the camera perceive it like in front of in comparison with the background fantastic question about the the focal length for this photo what what's the focal length you use this was this was an exception usually i use xcd21 and that with medium format is a 17 for a full frame but this was with xcd30 which is around 24 millimeters for a full frame so uh it's like this because i didn't want it that the matter was too little too small in fact with the xcd21 would have been small because the lake is not so close to the matter and the distortion as we know the distortion of of the wide angle is quite high especially with the mountain so i decided to use a little bit longer focal length and yes with a little bit longer focal length it was even more needed the hook is sticky nice beautiful and the light is beautiful in the image thank you thank you yes it's uh uh it's one of the best places i visited and i didn't i didn't know um about this some things you can't plan because when you visit a place sometimes you if you don't know the place uh you have to search to look for some creative things that some things that can make your foreground very creative and sometimes you have to look for them but it's my favorite part of my workplace because i like to explore to have some surprises and this was one surprise for sure fantastic fantastic perfect perfect so let's see the next image okay for example this is a situation in which in which i didn't use focus taking i want to see to show you the differences because here for example i was not so close to the foreground in fact in fact here i have a lot of beautiful foreground in that light but the the tripod the camera was quite high so here it didn't they didn't use focus taking even if i use also here medium format that is very three-dimensional and here i didn't use it for instance here i used focus taking exactly here use focus taking because as you see there are different plans or more more because there is also a plan that is in for more in front here for example we have the frame made by all the trees the tree is a nakatcha tree this one that makes a kind of frame in namibia the these trees are very beautiful because they are so big and the branches can create some very beautiful very beautiful geometries very beautiful cures very beautiful frames and of course here we have the background so i needed a shot for the background then we have a part of the background here that is closer a little bit but we don't really need it because the the camera was quite higher than than the then yes then this the camera was quite taller in comparison with the floor but of course we have this part of the branches of the tree that is more in front than this other part of the trees and then we have also the background so i made one shot for the background and then i i made one shot for the the further there uh yes the the parts of the trees that were less closer here and then i made another another shot for this part of this tree that was closer to my camera but um so in another plan here was here in front of these parts and also this also this part also there is another another because this part of the branches the branches is a little bit further away a little bit more behind this other part which is done here on the left so i think i made four four shots sometimes i don't remember because i did these images three yes like two and a half two and a half years ago but yes can i can explain a little bit more how was the situation and of course i made also double exposure because because of course i needed to have all these parts of the trees a little bit more brighter because otherwise i didn't have details on my trees so it's not good and i needed also to have the sky or this part of the sky that was quite recovered to recover the information especially on this part in the center here of the frame behind the the weaver bird strip so it was tricky but but very beautiful also very beautiful to do it of course and the result is one of my favorites when you're focusing in the different planes how do you do it you just take your your camera and make focus on the different distances and you remove tripod because you want to keep the same framing or you just frame with your camera on the tripod no i'm i just don't know i i put the camera and check the composition see which composition i want to have and and then i i keep the camera on the tripod uh still fix it and then i make several exposures with different focus point for example i make an exposure with the focus point here then i made a make another shot with a focus point here here then another one here here and then the exposure the double exposure so fantastic fantastic sometimes sometimes when uh when i i'm not able for example to take the shot without with the tripod because the situation is very tricky i need also to take shots free and and then i need to to align the layer and as we will see now later i will align the layer in photoshop and then merge everything pressure merge everything and it's not easy especially when you have several branches of the tree leaves flowers that move from a shot to the order is not so easy but but sometimes for example i'm it's not so easy to take shots with the tripod in some situations and now to to be more flexible i bought some yes less last spring i bought a joby a joby gorillapod which is some people told me oh it's not stable it's not able but when i when i use it it was quite useful because i i could take really the images quite next to the floor and it's much more easy to make focus taking also in some situations in which the tripod is too is too much it's too much it's too big and and also another another tip that i can give to you is to use the tripod upside down so you are more closer to the floor and you can you can have a very beautiful view like the like the foreground is even a little bit more big and you can be closer to the foreground this much easier when you need to take shots very closely but here i didn't use the tripod upside down because the tree was quite was quite i was more or less um this yeah this part of the tree was more or less here this a little bit yes and less taller than me nice nice so we have a few questions isabella do you want to answer them now or we won't you prefer also now yes because it's people is asking so many questions by the way i haven't mentioned that but we have sandra vadar in the chat so feel free to to ask questions that you're already uh doing for instagram so i'll try to to is for example here we have wrong bing i've tried it several times and noticed that the focus plane is always a strong curve one so not nearly straight line across the photo i guess that's due to the lens design and maybe some focus breathing any advice to avoid this problem to get this curve that is always core i i don't understand it means that the foreground when it takes the foreground is always like curve and you want small straight okay this depends from the distortion of the lens of the white angle sometimes some wide angle have more distortion and some have less distortion i personally like this effect but i think that you should maybe fix it in photoshop with some maybe liquefy or distort or some transformation in the edit transformation you know photoshop menu you can you can fix the distortion a lot so you can make it and make them a little bit more straight as you wish is not the problem yes okay okay yeah i have a few more but i need to find them okay let's continue and ask you the questions when i find them here in the chat okay perfect yes so let's continue okay this this is another another example on how there was a part that was closer so on another plan so and then we have also the background this is a kind of a kind of uh it's not a cave it's like a very huge stone very huge stone in this lake and i wanted to have the cave effect so i placed myself a little bit more behind this kind of wall and because i wanted to have the icicles here so i of course i took a shot for this part and then another shot for the background this was quite easy because we don't have elements that are moving here so this is quite easy to to it can be staked with the masks or also with some software uh for uh to stack the focus taking so this is for example a very easy situation and here is a we have a situation in which we have a part that is closer that is on a little bit in front that is in front in comparison with the background so we add the we have two plans and we have to make a focus um to make a disclosure with the focus point here and then exposure with the focus point on the mountain because of course this guy is difficult to to put on focuses and the mountain is considered at the same in the same position infinite position with the sky beneath is in front of it's is considered infinite infinite an infinite position yes okay this is another image and this was a little bit more tricky because these flowers can a little bit move it from one shot to the other besides i think this one was taken i didn't have a good um i wasn't able with the tripod it was a little bit tricky with the tripod so i think i don't remember so well but i think i took it free end and here i made a lot of a lot of shots for example this there is this area in the front for this part of the leaves then there there is there are these flowers which are on the same plane and then there are these other flowers that are on a different planet because they are a little bit more behind than these ones then there are these flowers so there is this plan with also a part of the stone which is also quite in the same position behind this part and and then there is this part that is behind in comparison with those flowers and then there is the background and the the most the most difficult part of course was to create the all the edge with the masks that was to paint here with the masks to save the edge of of those parts of those plants also because the plants were moving a little bit so i needed to to clone the plants which were behind because when you make the mask when you make the mask when you create a mask there are some parts which are the the blurred parts the blurred exposure that appears behind the sharp one when you make the mask because uh if the the plant moves from one shot to the other let's say that the blurred plants were a little bit moved from here to here of course when you make the mask to make the to to make um to yes to create an edge behind a sharp part behind those flowers unfortunately it appears the blurred flower the blurred plant in this case behind the other one so you need to clone to clone this blurred plants behind so you need before you have to make the mask and then clone the blurred path but we will see it better with them with the example image so this one was quite tricky but very nice so four images right four four shots four um one two three four five yes five yes this was one of the most the the most difficult images because of course here we have a lot of plans and sometimes it's easy to get confused when you make the masks to mask all these different leaves because as you can notice this leaves those lids i are placed on a different on a different plan on a different planning comparison with audio these other leaves and there are there the branches then there are other branches here then there is another this other branch that is only on the other part and this is quite tricky so uh here i needed to take a picture for the background and the sky the double exposure was also quite difficult to merge the lower then the darker exposure together with this uh with this part which was quite bright of course so i needed to find a compromise and and also i used here i used the color masks from the tk8 to and to to to make to find the trick to to be able to make the masks a little bit more easier for to focus take the single leaves but for for example for the branches i had to do it manually because here you can select the yellow parts with the color masks of the dk8 and make a mask to to hide for example the blurred parts but for example for regarding the branches you come to do it so we have to make everything manual and yes here we have all the leaves that are placed on on a different on a different yes and i use it f 13 so at 13 yeah exactly so several times people ask me which kind of which kind of aperture are you using because of course if i use a of course the more you open the the diaphragm the open the open the aperture the more the aperture is opened of course of course you need to make fox taking you know but i use very not so much open aperture more than f16 i don't go because i don't want to have the problem of diffraction and they want to have very sharp details everywhere so i use f13 f16 so this this leaves are for example here i i made a shot for this leave because it was a little bit more in front of than the others then i i did another one for this one then these leaves are on the same plan then don't miss that there is also the grass here behind so i made another shot also for the grass then i made another shot for also this leaves in is in the same plan than this one then i made another shot for this leaves for those leaves here behind then another shot for the grass that is on the same plane than this one then there is this plan which is the same of this one on the on the right and then those leaves behind and of course i had to clone the blurred the leaves that were moving from one shot to the other and also the branches and also this this plan and also and also also this uh also this one that is also behind a little bit more behind the sun on a different plan and then the lake then i had to find also compromise between the exposure of the sky and also because the sky has to be um of this is good of this color and this exposure for the sky is good but of course the mountains were a little bit darker when i made the lower a lower exposure of the sky so you had to make a double exposure and pay attention especially to this part of the lake because of course the reflection can't be brighter than the sky when you talk about double exposures you mean that you take two shots with different exposures or you use hdr or bracketing or uh i make i don't use an automatic bracketing because i want to be free to on the different light conditions because because sometimes the the condition of the light can be the light is much more stronger and sometimes we have the light that is a little bit less stronger so i want to be free i don't want them on the automatic bracketing then then i change it no i prefer to make manual exposure so maybe make a lower exposure with adjusting the shutter speed most of times adjusting the shutter speed and and then and then make simply more exposures of course for the focus taking i i do a single exposure for example if i have a a situation like this one where we have a very strong light not so much strong because it was quite hidden by some clouds but was coming out so uh it's not so strong but yes it's quite strong so of course so of course i make uh some brighter shots for the mountains and the for the focus taking then i make another darker exposure for the sky and the reflection and then i merge everything okay but of course i don't do several exposures also for the focus taking because otherwise would be too much messy the house yes so okay this is uh taken in kamchatka and yeah here i use focus taking because uh the camera was a little bit more more down than other situations and in fact but it was quite easy because i just have i just had to take uh some to take a shot for this part to have all these details very sharp very very sharp and then another shot for yes the medium part and especially one shot yes for the part that is quite much more far away here i made also a double exposure and was not easy because there was a mist around the volcano here so i needed to find also here a compromise between the sky here and the volcano and so i needed to include the volcano on the exposure for the sky because it was quite misty and then the the brighter exposure start from from this part here yes so then i made the focus taking as always is it a tree or a rock in the foreground this this is lava it's lava this is petrified lava it was it's the lava from the eruption of 2012 2013 of the talbot volcano and i did it also with the pronouns with the russian province and yes there was a very strong eruption after the one from the 1975 which was very strong there was this one and uh and then the lava then the lava got petrified and all the shapes of the lava that was flowing from the volcano to the to the valet to the cinder valley uh it was petrified like that in fact in iceland if you go in iceland where there is the volcano that just erupted there there are these textures nice awesome beautiful yes i love volcanoes yes then there is this okay this one is the one that i want to show you and then is a here there is this uh this image this last image taken in switzerland in canton vault and here we have um i i did three shots i did one shot for the background as always one shot for the middle the middle part the part in the middle and then one shot for the gentians these are yellow gentians these are very big flowers and they are quite tall here the problem um i i had problem with another image because uh taking in this place because uh uh that the yellow johnsons were on a different planes for example two jensens were more closer in front of another gentian so i needed to take several shots but for example these transients are four and fortunately are on the same plan so i could make a shot just for the gentions and then of course there was a little bit of wind so i needed to clone as always the blurred part the blurred jensen that came out after i made the mask here used f 16 as aperture so these are the pictures and now uh yes if there are not questions if there are questions i can answer otherwise i go straight with the with this image and i will show you a little bit how to merge a little bit ultimately when the foreground the one is not aligned and when the foreground is a little bit moving because we can go and so we have a lot of questions so maybe it's a good idea to answer a few of them now and then we continue with the demo demonstration and then at the end we answer all of them because i think we have more than 20 questions now yeah so let me start with uh atomic all shots are made with the same settings regarding aperture and time okay let's check okay here f16 one on uh on 350 here yes here maybe i wanted to take it free and that's why maybe i didn't use the the tripod here i don't know why maybe i i was airing up taking many images and that's why uh i made one on 350 f 16 and the ease of 400 was daytime so the light was quite quite uh but uh i don't know what it means it means that i take for the focus taking i take all the the exposure are all with the same settings or yeah okay okay for one image for for one image if you take uh with same settings [Music] okay okay it depends no the the image is the exposure of for the focus taking i i use the same settings just the focus point changes because as i told you before for this image of course here i needed to make a double exposure but to make it easy um i for too much focus taking i want to have all the same exposure if it happens that for some reasons i don't really have the same exposure and the an area that has to be focused with another one is a little bit darker or brighter i in camera roll or a lightroom i make the i try to i try to make them i make the same exposure i i fix i fix it somehow even if depends from the situation but for the focus sticking area i take i take it with all the same settings because they have to when you merge them you don't have to recognize that some areas are some blocks are darker or brighter they have to be the same then at the end you merge the double exposure so i suggest i suggest to make before merge the focus taking and then the double exposure when you have it always okay thank you then we have uh lillian white did you use a flash on the flowers or the photo of the flower so just just not natural light and then the flowers it means here yeah or here here is the sunlight because it was quite strong the sunlight and also consider that if if some flowers are brighter even if it there is not so much light if the color of the flower is bright it's a bright color for example white or yellow it reflects the light and i feel like that there is much better because have you ever noticed for example that in when you go hiking in the evening if there is if the landscape is snowy everything is there is no it's much easier to see the snow than another kind of uh a floor with just earth or just trees because the bright color is reflecting much more the light even if the light is fuel so it's normal that in some images for example the some flowers are brighter here there was a quite natural light and of course as the flowers and the leaves are a little bit upper than this part here down which is on the shadow of course they are brighter it's not neither the flash of course they are brighter because they are a little bit upper than this part with them in post right yeah then i accentuated the light uh the little bit but without alterating the image as as you for example you can take a try with for example a cube or or not at the object on on your desk on your table you put it here on the table and the upper part is always a little bit brighter even if the light is a little bit few because because of course the upper part is a little bit brighter because it takes much more the light that is on the on the environment so fantastico fantastico we have another question um gh rate how do you deal with focus breathing when the changing focus plane can result in the foreground object increasing or decreasing in size by a pixel or two uh with the focus um breathing with focus breathing when the changing focus plane can result in the fur in the foreground object increasing or decreasing in the size of a pixel or two okay okay uh he means that when when you take different exposures uh with the different focal point focus point uh it's like from from an exposure to the other it's like that there is a kind of zooming effect and the pixel of course look smaller or bigger but it's just an effort when you align the the frames the images this effect disappears because when you align it automatically in photoshop it disappears this effect and it's totally normal is just because it's the effect of the when you when you focus in fact when you focus when you change it with the focus point and you you press on the button to start to to take the shot of course the camera does this and there is a kind of little zoom and this is this is the reason yes but no words totally normal you can you can just align the layers when you align them when you stack them it's okay great and then the last one before we continue because it's uh getting you know almost one hour already kobe walls so no filters uh just exposure compensation for the sky versus mounting so you you don't use any any any filter lens filter like okay the filter it depends okay in this situation i didn't use any filter uh yeah so i didn't use any filter sometimes but sometimes i use them the filters like nd filter or gnd and the problem with focus sticking is that when you when there is a lot of wind and yes a lot of wind quite quite a bit quite a bit and you are shooting for example you need to shoot with um [Music] a big uh a big shutter speed like shutter speed because a quick shutter speed because because there is a quite a little bit a lot of wind of course when yes when you use the nd filter you need because you want the effect of the clouds there there are that have a motion blur of course you you need to take an exposure for the sky or yes if you have a lake or if there is also a lake a reflection you need also to take an exposure for yes for the sky for the lake and then you have to take to remove the filter and take an exposure for the foreground because otherwise the foreground you can't take it and but here i didn't i didn't use filter button sometimes i use them for example in uh in an image from a doris i posted some months one month ago which was uh a waterfall in azores with many waterfall place with many waterfall very green and there is a very big leaf leaf on the on the foreground and there was a little bit of wind so i needed to to use a quicker shutter speed for the foreground to merge to make a focus taking with the huge leaf and the background of the leaf as always and the leaf the leaf as always and and then an exposure for the background and then an exposure of course for the sky that was the cloud were moving a lot so i needed to take an exposure also for the sky with the nd filter so i did several thank you for the explanation so you ready we can go to the demonstration on how your focus stack of course of course perfect okay so i want to make a demonstration with this image and and let's uh let's make this uh here i i have two exposures one for the foreground okay this is for the background in fact here i have in fact here i have a darker exposure sorry for the for the dust spots but when i change my my lens as the the lens the sensor is uh parallel to the to the appender of the of the lens of course something always comes in and and then if if for example i marry young apple a lot and i don't have i don't want to use them uh the yes the the the brush for for the yes for the sensor i need absolutely of course to take the shot and and then to fix it later anyway this uh this is an uh an exposure for the background here we have two plans this plan with the four with the the background the and also the middle part it are together because uh here i used the nfx f16 aperture and i was quite quite high with the tripod quite tall with the tripod and that's why the camera recognizes that this middle part and the background on the same plan and where did you focus in the background at the right horizon or in the middle in the middle of the middle in the middle so i am sure to take everything uh quite that the focus is distributed everywhere and on the middle so here because here it's quite difficult it's better to focus some somewhere here on the island which is in the middle and you have some precise subjects that are that is possible to focus better the lake um sometimes it recognizes it the camera sometimes not when there are some details in the lake you can recon the focus point the the focus um system recognizes it but it's better to focus here on the on the land because there are more details and is easier to focus and um yes and then we have these flowers this flower are on a different planet let's see the magic okay here we have everything sharp so we have to merge the foreground with the background as you can see the foreground is in front of the background that's why he wanted the the camera didn't recognize the the yes the the focus here on this part if i focus here so we needed to open them i use camera raw but you can use also lightroom okay so [Music] so here i suggest immediately to check here this part to delete these things i just delete them on this frame because we won't use the sky in this image in the other image we don't use this because we will use just the plants okay now it's better okay now let's uh let's see a little bit the exposure for lex fix a little bit let's make some basic adjustments because yes we have to improve a little bit the sky and also the this part because it's a little bit dark so let's um here is in italian but i will translate for you this uh these are the shadows so let's make the shadow a little bit after so let's recover a little bit the color also on this part and then to recover a little bit the colors in the sky let's make the lights the highlights a little bit more down to recover little with the details in the sky okay the whites i don't i don't make the wise brighter because it's okay we have enough brights and here there is a yes here we have already a bright part we have to fix again a little bit this part like this just one and sorry again but okay okay perfect okay good and now uh yes this part is okay maybe we can change the temperature if we wanted the sky a little bit warmer and the times a little bit more on the pink not too much but a little bit because sometimes the sensor is a little bit more on the green color but it's just a little bit just to be more uh precise and and then and then it's okay i think maybe the blacks yes the blacks a little bit more open okay and then i think it's okay i don't um i make the br the the saturation vibrance adjustments on photoshop with amino acid masks because i want more a little bit more precise adjustment so they don't make time in camera and also because with the brightness adjustments we make always the vibrance saturation a little bit more or less so i prefer to make this adjustment later and the details let's go on details because i want to get a little bit more details for for this area okay [Music] here and the details to make the details to 100 usually i always make this and it's okay just need to fix up two things here okay perfect then we can uh yes we fixed the this image also on optics let's remove just the chromatic aberration and i don't use correction profile corrections because if if the lens is not vignetting so much i think it's it's not useful okay let's just that one okay perfect and then okay and then we can we can we can go on the other exposure on the other exposure as we will use just this part of the exposure we have just a focus on this part for these adjustments so we go on basic then whites a little bit to accentuate the color of of the plants not too much but a little bit to accent with the yellow and also little bit let's open the shadows to have more details and i think it's okay because um i like also the color of the flowers i like the green color here so i want to keep it like that we have always checked that it's quite similar the exposure to this image to this part of the image but it's quite normal that this part is a little bit brighter because you see that the color is brighter and the three-dimensionality is bigger because these parts are closer and it's easier that our better three-dimensionality is bigger and then we also go in details and charms here sharpness details 100 always sometimes accentuate also the radius and the amount of the sharpness but here i don't we don't need it because it's really really very sharp okay then optics remo chromatic aberration if even if the remove removing chromatic aberration makes sense especially for the edges of the image but we remove it also in this exposures we never know and then we can push ctrl or command for mac and click on the other image then we can open the objects in photoshop and then let's let's start the focus taking okay now photoshop will open the two exposures or if there are more exposure more exposure it will open them in in more documents not in the same document so we need a bit more time yes we need more time of course this is not um this is not the big quick computer a little bit slower but yes photoshop opened them in different documents so we need to get them on the same document to do this there are two methods if you use the tk8 you just need to go in in in the actions decay and just push on stack if you don't have it it's very simple you need to go on layers on the layers panel layers on this button on this menu click on here and then duplicate layers then you have to go on destination this is the source document this is the destination document and click on here and then place this image this layer on this document on the document this the other document which is uh with finishes for 8a2 so click on this as a destination document so place push okay and then if you go on the other document you will have the the image the layer the other exposure on the same on the same document so we can close this one and then i usually put the option that i will that i i use usually smart objects but um fortunately to align the layer because we need to align the layer first because we have to merge them as focus taking we need to to blend to align the layer because the layers are not aligned because of several reasons not only is not just for free end is also for if there is a little bit of if the tripod is there is a um a micro movement between one shot in the order so you need of always almost always to align the layers and so to align the layers of course we have to press ctrl or command for mac and go on edit and and the outer line layer the problem is that outer line layer doesn't work because we have smart objects so we need to click with the right button of the mouse on one layer and then go in rasterize layer because we needed to to convert the smart objects into normal layers and then we go in edit and outer line layers projection automatic and i never use the lens correction like vignetting removal or distortion nothing nothing and always just projection automatic and then let's push okay this kind of the the alignment of the layer is also also solves also the problem of the little zoom that that the person asked the question mentioned the zooming the yes the briefing the briefing exactly okay now the yes now it's aligned the only problem of course is the fog that here is different the lake this detail here which is not which there is not in this exposure and of course later when we merge when we finish the the merging the focus taking we will have to cut the picture and remove this edge because this is the edge and after the alignment because of course the photoshop aligns the layers so it moves them it makes them a little bit little so that's why uh quite often almost always there is this edge here okay so now the technique is this one as the flowers of course are moving to a position from a position to the other as you can see we will have a little problem because this is not a still element and this technique i call it art focus taking because of course you have to manage this problem and what do i mean okay let's start to make the mask in fact we have to mask essentially all this from this edge of the leaves to all the part up so we need to to mask everything is outside of this area so we need to make a mask with this symbol on this layer and essentially with the black brush we have to hide we have to hide the blurred part which is on this layer on this layer because this layer this layer because this layer 8a2 as we have here the sharp leaves and the behind the background is blurred so we need to hide the blurred part essentially on the mask to get everything sharp because we needed to hide the blur part of the layer 82 because we have to show the sharpen part of the layer 889 which has the sharp part for this area okay so we just need to have the black brush always opacity and flow 100 because we need to have a very precise very precise adjustment with the brush they need to be very sharp so we don't we don't need to admit uh we don't have we don't have to omit for example um some areas which have different opacity because they be they are not the effect would be not so nice and then the thing that i suggest of course is to draw essentially the edge before not to don't uh yes to make the things in a in a technical way we have to draw the edge outside of the leaves and then we can paint all the other parts after for example so first let's continue first let's continue on this edge and then we will mask the the part that is missing as you can see here is the problem look what i'm i'm getting with this mask this is nothing else that the blurred leaf that is coming outside because uh the leaves in the leaf move it from one shot to the other so before in this shot in the 8 8 9 the leave the leaf was on this position and on this layer was in this shuttle was here the leaves so this is the problem this is why we need later to clone this part to clone just the part that is blurred we have to remove it in fact um of course i will i will show you a part of the of course of this editing because otherwise sometimes uh that's why i i tell people uh also in social media then that ask me about this technique about also why i take so much time to edit my images most of the time is because of this okay yeah because we have a question that from dean novik why isabella is not using luminosity masks and doing the masking manually with the brush by hand because uh because this uh the focus does has nothing to do with luminosity but yeah exactly is another thing sometimes to do a clever thing i select the color in fact in this in this situation for example i can select the the color of of this flower let's go for example multimask press on this i yes here people should know also luminosity masks how to use the apk8 panel but i just do it quickly and here for example i select this color and then here i modify the mask because i want it very contrasted to make it so you see that i select it much better so i don't have problems okay then this is maybe a little bit tricky for those who don't know luminosity mask but i do it very quickly this button inverts the mask because i have to paint outside to to define the edges to hide the blurred part okay and now i can select for example and when i have for example a flower like this that has a a different color from the foreground the background and everything else it's easier but the problem is that here i have the background and the leaves that have more or less the same color and it's not so easy and but for example here i can make this trick and you can see that i can paint it very easily of course as you see it will appear the flower that move and move it the blooded the blurred flower that moved from one shot to the other and of course we have to be careful because yeah because here we have another color and also the drops let's be careful about the drops that's why sometimes i sometimes they take a long time to take these i realize that you're you spend a lot of time working on your images exactly so um in fact this is just a little bit for demonstrating you how it's working but yes for example in this way i say that the mask i i could paint quicker here because i selected the yellow part but for example be careful because the greens have also some yellows inside so when you select the greens so you have to be careful to exclude on the interval here for example when you selected the greens you have to be careful because you have to exclude this kind of yellow by making the the range the interval a little bit more a little bit more strict yes in this way then you make it brighter with the slider for example yeah so you have to be careful let's abort the mask okay and okay so uh i spend all the time just to show you i spent all that i spend all the time to make to paint the edge here on the behind the leaves to save of course the background to make the to show the sharpened background that is on the other layer you can also leave a little bit of a little bit of edge here without painting until almost until the leaf the leaf the the the leaf here because because it's here you don't have on this little part here that i didn't paint it you don't have some details so it's easier then when you paint the mask is easier and then you just need to clone this part this blurred part that is appearing and let's see how i clone for example this blurred part that is appearing let's say that now we made all the yes we we painted all along the edge of the foreground and everything is okay then i paint all the rest of the image but let's say that now the problem is that this this blurred parts appeared behind behind the foreground this blurred part appear behind the sharpened part let's see how to clone them we just need to clone them and we have to go not on the mask of course but on the layer and of course you have to uh you need to have the idea of which layer he is because of course you have to know that this is this is not the right layer you have to clone it on the on the other layer because this blur part belongs on this layer because of course in uh in the second layer we had the the sharpen foreground with the blurred black background so that's why we need to clone this part this blurred part on the other the first layer because the first layer is the one with the blurred foreground and here we we need to clone it and we can use for example the clone stem tool and here is the tricky especially the tricky the tricky thing because we need especially to take some parts from other areas which are quite far away and quite similar because we don't we don't have to uh to make to make repetitions of course and and then so we have to to pick some other areas that are similar for example this area we can find it very similar for example here here i didn't paint it but when you clone on this layer you go you get to the the sharpened one because i didn't paint it here but it's here is quite similar but you can also take it from other parts of course opacity 100 hmm of course when you painted a little bit to avoid the repetition you needed to take another part for example for example this one so people want to realize that you that you took another area now another one here okay now we cloned it and for example this part we can take it from let's see here this is quite similar because it's the same plant what is up here and then then another here so if you take several pieces then you avoid it to show that you created some repetition on your image this from here to create some mixes to avoid the people realize that you create repetitions because of the cloning this is a trick that you to avoid this this kind of inconvenience and this quite is quite long of course but yes this is the way for example how i create you can see now this part of the of the flower is okay because the background is sharp the part of the flower is sharp you have also all the drops and and you don't have to worry um that that you that you clone also part of the flower because um when you make the mask in a good way so you you make you um you paint along the edge of the of the foreground of the element of course you don't have to worry because when you use the clone stem tool in this layer then if here is already masked the background is already masked you don't have to worry that you you also you also clone a part of the flower it's not a problem so this is a trick that i use to make this kind of focus taking and then i continue for example for all the image for all the image continue for this part for this part for the leaves here of course is the work of several hours and unfortunately there is no software that that can solve this thing uh because when the subject when the foreground moves from one shot to the other unfortunately i i also i also tried with many other solvers but unfortunately he can recognize the the movement he can clone it properly and let's let's wait that artificial intelligence can solve this thing of course i would take much less time but yes the result is i like it always so yeah and then yes yes exactly exactly and then of course you have to merge the layer you have to merge the layer by pressing command option musk or shift e otherwise in windows ctrl alt e yes and then you have the photostatic image and then you continue continue to make your adjustment and everything of course here would also paint the sky for example of course here it would also hide the sky because this guy this is the part that of course we need it's important yes and this is fantastic it's difficult it's tricky but the result is always satisfying especially with very tricky situations in these days i'm emerging a very tricky image from lofoten and because there are all the plants that are on a different plan on the news that are on all the lists that are on a different plan and it's so tricky but i will do it i like difficult situations if you like photographing plants and flowers uh when it's windy it's uh [Music] you'll have another option until until ai comes and saves us time right exactly that's the problem and in fact was quite windy in that situation and i think it will be ready in some days in one week maybe i'll see because i don't have so much time in these days but when i when it will be ready of course you will see it on social media on instagram isabella we have a few uh questions if you don't mind do you have time to answer them yeah okay we have uh petr h how do you calculate where to focus the fundamental question yes exactly it's not easy because for example um when you have so many focus points so many plans in the image you need to see absolutely to check always that in one exposure everything is um when where um you have to see where the unsharpened in their champa are and sharpened areas are because it's very important to check them because you you miss and then you miss and then you miss the in area it's not good because then you have an unfocused area so when you take an exposure it's very important when you take an exposure you have to check with the live view that everything that everything is sharpened or that there are some parts which are the parts that are not sharpened for example i take an image of for example this image for example i take the image of of this view and then i check which areas are not sharpened and how much of focus the certain aperture that i'm using can cover for example in fact it's very this is very important and i have you have to check and zoom a lot with the live view because it's not easy with the live view to see um with just a small screen if you if you focused everything in a proper way so you have to check it by zooming in the live view and and then check the all the areas and all the areas and check that how much are unfocused and well until when the focus point covers the focus the the focused area so for example for this image i saw that the focus area was arriving until a certain area so i said okay so i now i make another shot of uh with a different focus point on always on the center of the frame of the or the center of the area that wasn't sharpened in the other shot and and then i check again with the live view if uh if it's if everything is sharpened there or there is another area that is more in front of me in front of the in front of the background that is not sharpened usually i after a lot of experience a lot of years i i trained my eyes to recognize usually the different plans and usually i can i can easily manage and i can easily like guess guess how how it will uh it will become later but of course i always check but this is for example i think the better way okay thank you then we have ramon fritz how long do you spend on an image on average in post you already answered that is several yes it depends on the situation it depends it depends so it depends on the situation sometimes when the image is easy one hour sometimes when image is more difficult it has a lot of different plans i take also several days because i make some breaks and then i because otherwise i can't do anything else so i plan to have some days and i dedicate that i dedicate myself to this image awesome thank you then we have stefano jelly do you use only the hasselblad system or also another camera uh no now i don't have other cameras before i had the nikon d8 under 10 and uh but then i sold it last year because um i just uh i was okay with hustle blood just use it as a blood and uh and i sold it it was my camera before hustle blood but i i still have some raw files that sometimes of the previous years that they some sometimes they like to use to to edit so because it's a nice camera nice nice thank you we have john uh honestly do you ever use a tilting lens tilting lens um no no i i don't know i don't have it i don't have it okay okay my questions might be alone when you are composing the image do you focus from front to back or back to front um it depends also also it depends on how much easy from for example in this situation i focus it i focus it on the foreground and then i i was hiding the background with the mask and but depends depends um depends on for example if if there is a beautiful sky and i want um during the shot if there is a beautiful sky and i want to capture it i focus on the sky before absolutely and then when i took the sky i go until the foreground so i don't miss the beautiful situation the beautiful light thank you there we have mike wagon would it be best to take the first shot at the lens hyperfocal length uh since everything behind that will be in focus and then work inward taking as many as as many as many products as needed to to get the resting focus uh as you explained it seems that you don't you don't use hyper focal distance you just focus at the background and then you you move exactly towards the camera exactly because hyperfocal gives you not that not a sharp background right exactly and uh yes but yes i usually yes make the things on the situation i don't use fixed rules usually for example in a situation i like to use f16 in order f13 but depends also on the situation on the light condition so it depends on really on the light on the wind moving the subject you're showing us for many vertical panoramas uh many vertical images is it your taste like your is it your style yes i like more the vertical format because i can catch more of the foreground and have a better visual on the forum but defense depends also i use very much the vertical format but i also use the the landscape format especially in the last years i i don't know why i like to use vertical format because i i like to to capture more much more of of the foreground so i can capture more details leading lines things like this nice nice thank you mario vigo how can you do focus stacking in knife photos where you need to use large apertures like 2.8 for low light yes in this situation of course of course i have to make a lot of pictures not always i use it in night photography because usually night photography i use less difficult situations or when i don't have so much time but when i have time of course i use f 2.8 or um in the case of uh the f the six and the xcd21 i have f4 that is more or less like f 2.8 in a full frame and and yes of course i need to take a lot of pictures a lot of pictures for um unfortunately uh yes when the foreground is very windy it's very difficult to take you take pictures in the night and it's very it's very difficult it's very complicated it's not possible because always you have to use a longer exposure especially for the foreground i need to make a very long exposure because i have to capture all the details in the foreground that's why sometimes in this situation when there is a lot of wind i take the image in the blue hour the foreground in the blue hour and then i make it i'm blending for uh yes interesting and thank you they have chris mastriano what what was the most photos you had stacked ah i think one thousand photos stacked no i think 10 11 [Music] also 15 [Music] okay then the last question before we say goodbye because it is almost 1 hour 40 minutes actually over one hour 40 minutes thank you for the class isabella marek marek is uh asking you if uh do you plan your photos in advance do you have your favorite places where you go or where you want to go or are you taking advantage of the moment why while walking okay there is a part that i plan because for example if i wanted to visit a location or i i don't know an area and they want for example to check some beautiful place i check them on google earth and and then i plan with photopills the direction of the light the milky way position all the the time the time of the summers sunset and this stuff but of course there is a part that i don't plan for example yes some weather conditions that maybe are very variable otherwise also yes the foreground because the foreground for example in a place that i don't know i can maybe guess what kind of foreground can be there for example in a certain season there are some certain flowers at the certain altitude so more or less i can have an idea but of course not always and sometimes i find some textures some different programs that create some some leading lines some geometries in the foreground and in this situation maybe i just go around i go maybe some hours before the sunset or the sun rise and then i go around and check the different composition and my favorite i use it for the best light even if this depends on on the wetter if if it's more variable i do immediately every shot and then i i return on on the foreground and yes yeah suppose that when you discover a nice foreground this is then is when you can plan maybe to have different conditions or a different position of the sun or different uh some direction yeah or milky way but yeah scouting is is key scouting yes there is the augmented reality function for photopills that you can you can see them if the sun is setting or coming uh [Music] rising on them on the on the view you can see it it's very it's very useful yeah basically you want to learn how to plan your photos you have a lot of videos in this in our youtube channel group this channel oh you made it thanks so much you're welcome it was really fantastic and hope that you found found it very useful and yes if you have other questions i'm available by email and where people can connect with you uh what's your website social networks yes on my website yes i see many people write me on on instagram and then on the dms but uh yes it's better email because i never see to all the atms so it's a little difficult sorry and but by email you can your workshops your blog you're telling me that you're going to start writing nice contents and if people want to keep learning from you you have also tutorials right online for sale exactly exactly then on the blog i will i will also make a post about this uh this talk so i can put for yes i can put the things uh written so they can check they can check it and perfectly maybe if they didn't understand some things so they can see also the things written on my blog post so it's gonna be great let me see if i can i can share share screen now it's me who is sharing so this is your website yes yeah guys you want to connect with isabella you have the website the workshops editing everything uh you need you can even oh you you you can even get a consultancy with you right exactly exactly you can you can ask me yes what what to do what i think about your pictures or about uh maybe if you want to get full times and you want some suggestions yes workshops yeah nice nice everything everything well isabella i think it's time to say goodbye any last word we say before we go back to have dinner so this time yes this was great and if uh if you have other questions yes you can reach me on my website on my own by email and uh yes anyway it was a very nice session i am happy you you made it up you made it up all the work hard work thanks so much for being us like today and thanks so much everyone for watching uh we're still oh for two thousand two hundred people but you'll like this class so it's amazing thanks so much everybody thanks so much isabella so much thanks so much thanks for being part of this community and well guys essentially goodbye if you like this video as always give us a like subscribe and i'll see you next wednesday in another video and remember that you have the power to imagine plan and shoot legendary photos bye bye bye bye bye everyone stay safe

Channel: PhotoPills

Views: 12,696

Keywords: Isabella tabacchi, isabella tabacchi photography, focus stacking, Focus stack, focus stacking lightroom, focus stacking photoshop, focus stacking software, focus stacking landscape photography, How to focus stack, Focus stacking tutorial, Focus stacking photos, How to focus stack images, Focus stack photography, Focus stacking fast, Focus stacking guide, Landscape photography, Focus stacking workflow, Focus stacking technique, Landscape photography focus stacking

Id: ldKu-NE0gHw

Length: 107min 3sec (6423 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 15 2021