Helicon Focus Software Enables Unlimited Depth of Field

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Helicon Focus Software

Here’s a neat little trick from Helicon Focus to render tack sharp photos that seem to have been taken by a camera with unlimited depth of field.

In a normal macro shot of a flower, for example, the front petals may be in sharp focus while the back petals are out of focus. The challenge is to render the whole flower in sharp focus. You can use an appropriate aperture of course to render the whole flower in focus in one shot, but that will not be as sharp as this Helicon hat trick can deliver.

The method involves taking several shots of the subject in different planes of focus and combining these images using the Helicon Focus software, resulting in tack sharp focus of the main object.

PopPhoto.com’s Dave FitzSimmons tried this out and he describes the process in detail in his post. He says the trick can also apply to landscape portraits involving a wider view, not just macro shots.

Helicon Focus is available in Lite or Pro versions. The Lite version costs $30 for a one-year license, or $155 for unlimited use. The pro version is $70 for one year and $250 for unlimited use.

[Site: HeliconSoft.com]
[Via: PopPhoto.com]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.