Merging with Focus Stacking

You can use focus stacking to merge a series of images with different focal distances. By combining multiple images with different areas in focus, you can create a new image with a greater depth of field.

To Use Focus Stacking in Manage Mode:

  1. Select the images in the File List pane.

    2. Your selected images must have the same dimensions.

  2. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Process | Focus Stack...
    • Press Ctrl + Alt + S.
    • Right-click your selection and choose Process | Focus Stack... from the context menu.
    • Choose Process | Photomerge | Focus Stack... from the right side options.
    • Press Ctrl + Alt + M | Focus Stack... from the right side options.
  3. A preview will display, if you're happy with your results, press Merge to confirm.

To Use Focus Stacking in Edit Mode:

  1. In Manage mode, select the images in the File List pane.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Process | Load Files into Stack.
    • Right-click your selection and choose Process | Load Files into Stack from the context menu. Your images will open in the Layers pane in Edit mode.
  3. In Edit mode, choose Layer | Focus Stack...
  4. In the Focus Stack dialog, configure the settings as described below.
  5. Press OK. If you have disabled Keep Layer Stack, all other layers will be removed and the focus stack layer will be the only remaining layer in the Layers pane. If you have enabled Keep Layer Stack, the focus stack layer will appear as the top layer in the Layers pane.

Focus Stacking Options

Merge

All Layers: performs focus stacking using all layers in the Layers pane.

Selected Layers: performs focus stacking on the selected layers in the Layers pane.

Auto-Align Layers

Aligns the images in the stack. For best results, keep this option enabled.

Keep Layer Stack

Disable this option to delete all other layers, keeping only the resulting focus stack layer. If you have accidentally disabled this option and deleted all other layers, press Ctrl + Z after the command has run.

 

The Focus Stack command will ignore all masks, text layers, and adjustment layers.

Running the Focus Stack command on large images will require a significant amount of memory.

There is a 50 image limit when Focus Stacking.

Focus stacking cannot be performed on a single layer.

See also: