A new app for Apple iPhone and iPad users is designed to bring automatic focus stacking to mobile photographers. The Stay Focused app allows users to specify a range of focus distances by moving on-screen markers over areas of the scene to be captured, and the app automatically shoots a sequence of focus slices. The individual images can then be loaded into the photographer’s usual focus stacking software package or, via an in-app purchase, can be sent to the app provider’s server to be processed remotely and returned to the phone.

The company says that users can choose between 2 and 100 focus slices for each image, and that the app works with third party macro, telephoto and fisheye lens adapters. The app provides manual controls for color and exposure, and images can be saved in JPEG or PNG formats.

As iPhones have small sensors and very wide lenses which produce extensive depth of field at normal shooting distances anyway, this app will be most effective for shooting macro and close-up subjects where depth of field is usually more restricted.

To read more visit the Stay Focused website or see some sample images on Flickr.