Making people disappear using the tripod for focus stacking

Today let's see together how to use the tripod and exploit it for focus stacking and also to make people disappear from our shots.

The focus stacking technique

There are situations where the available depth of field is not enough to keep the whole scene in focus . It can happen, for example, when you work in macro or when you have an element in the foreground and you want to use a "medium" aperture to get the maximum image quality.

The technique of composite focus, or focus stacking, involves taking multiple shots with slightly different focus settings and combining them into one razor-sharp image with optimal depth of field. We had already talked about it in this article .

To apply it, you mount the camera on a tripod , compose, switch to manual focus, and adjust the focus to the first closest element. Then, you have to keep moving the focus progressively further out, until the entire depth of the scene is covered, shot after shot.

Assemble the shots

To assemble the shots, process them with the same settings in Lightroom, then select them all and go to Open as Layers in Photoshop . In Photoshop, select all layers and go to Edit > Auto Align Layers. The images, taken with the tripod, will line up perfectly, despite any slight differences due to focus breathing. Finally go to Edit > Auto Blend Layers, tick Smooth Tones and Colors and choose Create Image Series.

Of course, if your subject moves between exposures, this method won't work , but with static subjects it's great for creating an expansive depth of field.

The tripod to "make people disappear".

Sometimes, no matter how patient and how long you wait, there's no avoiding having someone strolling the scene . If there's a crowd, there isn't much to do, but when there are only a few people, it can be tempting to touch them up in Photoshop. Too bad it takes a lot of time and, when people are faced with a particularly intricate background, it is also very difficult.

Thankfully, another, simpler technique often works just as well: Mount the camera on a tripod, compose, and take a series of shots at 5- or 10-second intervals , depending on the number of people and their speed. To make them vanish from the scene, then simply select the images in Lightroom and open them as Photoshop layers . In Photoshop, select all layers and go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object. Finally, apply Layer > Smart Objects > Image Series Mode > Average and you'll see them all disappear!

Any movement of the clouds between exposures can be a slight complication, because Photoshop will try to make them disappear as well. However, it doesn't take much to solve: select the shot with the most beautiful sky and copy it in full . Go back to the image with the layers as Smart Objects and use Select > Sky, followed by Paste Into to insert the best version of the sky.

Just remember that this solution is not always applicable: it cannot work when there are too many people on the scene, or when some are sitting or otherwise still in the same position , or when the wind makes other elements move, such as leaves, grass or flags.