Focus Stacking
Several frames of the same static scene, each focused a little further through it, blended in software so only the sharpest region of every frame survives into the final composite — extending sharp depth well beyond what one aperture and one focus point could ever capture in a single exposure.
Most valuable in dedicated macro work specifically, where true close-focus depth of field can shrink to a couple of millimeters even at a genuinely narrow aperture. See the focus stacking answer page for the actual capture sequence and blending workflow in practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does focus stacking work for moving subjects?
Not reliably at all — any subject movement between frames misaligns the stack and produces visible blending artifacts, which is why the technique is almost exclusively used for genuinely static scenes: product photography, landscapes on a tripod, and motionless macro subjects.
How many frames does a typical focus stack actually need?
It depends entirely on how close the subject is and how narrow the depth of field at each individual frame is — a handful of frames can suffice for a modest depth increase, while extreme macro work at high magnification sometimes needs dozens of frames to cover the full subject.