To stack or not to stack

BobORama wrote:

John K wrote:

...on what you're end goal is, and what audience you're playing for. If you stay inside of the niche focus stacking community then you're probably gonna stack, cause per pixel image sharpness is the only thing that seems to matter to a lot of them.

The disdain is palpable. If you believe stacking is a cult to which you don't belong and never want to, that speaks to you, not the technique.

No disdain at all. The focus stacking community is a niche, and most of the people who focus stack do so to get sharper images and not to get more depth of field. There are scenes and subjects that have to be stacked, either due to the angle or the size of the subject. But not every shot has to be focus stacked, and there's more to a good photo than just the image sharpness.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 200 with highlight tone priority) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (5x) + a diffused MT-24EX (both flash heads on the Canon flash mount, E-TTL metering with -1 2/3 FEC). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held.

If you want to be known outside of the small focus stacking community then you're going to have to create images that look good edge to edge.

I think you mean the other way around?

No, you have to take images that are well composed and well lit to get noticed. If you can do that and focus stack, then cool. But to ignore composition and light and only concern yourself with absolute image sharpness is a mistake. Funny thing is that the quality of the light you use and even the angle between the light, subject, and sensor can have an impact on the level of detail that you can capture. I've lots count of the number of focus tacked images I've seen where a lot of the detail was lost just because the light wasn't diffused well enough. Doesn't make any sense to me.

Anyways, I use a lot of different techniques. Its good to be able to pull the appropriate bludgeon out of the toolbox as needed. In the end its about respecting your subject enough to capture it in as masterful a way as you can. Knowing more ways to do that makes you a better, more capable conduit through which others can experience your subject.

Which is a long way of saying "Depends"

Agreed.