What is focus stacking?
Recent techniques made possible by digital processing allow the depth of field problem in macro work to be overcome to some extent, but this only works where the subject is static and the camera can be moved in a controlled way, for example on a focussing stage. What you do is take a series of photographs, without changing the focus adjustment of the lens, but moving the camera away from or towards the subject to take a series of pictures that give sharp focus “slices” through the whole of the subject. For example, if you were shooting a bug with a body 2 cms long, then you might set the camera up on a tripod and focusing stage, focusing initially on the very nearest part of the bug (the tips of its antennae, for example), for the first shot. You then advance the camera towards the bug bt 2mm (or a distance comparable to the depth of focus at that setting) for the next shot, advance again, shoot, …etc. Ten shots would allow you to cover the whole length of the bug (assuming it was he
