EOS 90D Mixed results with stacking; Moving files in Affinity Photo 2

[Ramsden]

Good morning

I have tried to get used to Stacking following my previous post.

EOS90D and in this example 70-300mm lens, and no filters.  I can now stack!

But after dragging my tripod around the local lanes, I had some mixed results. So what am I doing wrong.

The landscape shot, had, at the time a clear blue sky, but the photo has made the distance look hazy, and the blue skies have gone.I followed the advice for landscape and set the stacking stops to 4. So is it my camera set up, stacking set up or something else.

I thought you might like the second photo when the sheep moved. Don’t they know they have to stand still when being photographed!

But I have another question about using Affinity Photo 2 on my iPad. Is there a simple way to move the photograph back to my photos folder, as at the moment it doesn’t offer me that option. I can put it back into Dropbox, My IPad and Drive.

Ramsden

[jrhoffman75]

'"But I have another question about using Affinity Photo 2 on my iPad. Is there a simple way to move the photograph back to my photos folder, as at the moment it doesn’t offer me that option. I can put it back into Dropbox, My IPad and Drive."

I don't use Affinity, but for many editing products the final image doesn't "exist" until you export it to a destination. What you are viewing in the editing software is just a display showing all the activities you have performed on the file.

[SignifDigits]

Thanks for sharing Ramsden.  I haven't used Affinity for stacking, sorry.  You know you can also stack in DPP4?  It is under "Tools" "Compositing Tool".  I typically would focus stack in-camera.  The stacking that I did on fireflies was in a astro stacking tool.  A friend of mine suggested that I use Sequator as it allows masking. 

In DPP4 you can set a base frame and use the sky from it if you wish.

I am surprised the wind turbine isn't a blur.  I guess it was a still day - good thing or the plants will move.

[johnrmoyer]

I hope some of this might be helpful.

I suggest using a cheap Linux computer, Debian or Ubuntu, for things like stacking. Canon DPP does not run on Linux, but gimp can stack layers and hugin can do focus stacks. Rawtherapee can save a 16 bit TIFF from the raw file which will have more color information before stacking.

One of the least expensive Linux computers has been  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi 

Raspberry Pi runs Debian which is what I run. This is a very small computer.

You would likely need keyboard, mouse, and cable to use a television as the display. Unless, you get the Raspberry Pi built into a keyboard.

HP sells computers with Ubuntu pre-installed, but it is likely one will need to "customize" when ordering. Ubuntu lists laptops certified for running Ubuntu. https://ubuntu.com/certified/laptops 

Both Debian and Ubuntu have a huge number of free software programs available.

[johnrmoyer]

For landscape focus stacking, maybe: 

• set whitebalance to daylight instead of auto
• for the shot with sky in focus, set negative exposure compensation
• for the shot with shadows in focus, set positive exposure compensation
• process the raw files and save 16 bit TIFFs that have more color information
• choose a day with no wind
• consider the extra work of masking in a program like gimp so that the sky is on a separate layer 

I use F/8 for focus stacking of a landscape

[Ramsden · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all your replies. I'll try some of the other apps. The problem with ipad is that it has a restricted DPP called express not DPP4. Its got limited abilities.

Im happy that I can now stack, and use it when I feel the need. But its not a priority for my photography.

Cheers Guys

Ramsden 

[SignifDigits]

Ramsden.  I had forgotten that about the iPad.  Sorry about that.  That was one of the reasons that I pitched it and went back to the PC.  I'm just not an ecosystem (Apple or Samsung) kind of guy.

[Ramsden]

Hi

No problem.

I can see a laptop appearing in my wish list. Though I'm not convinced it will be worth spending over £1k to enhance my photography.

I'm most pleased at just working out my camera to do stacks, its only taken 2.5 yrs! But the process has set my mind racing as I am playing around with the size of the stops, and number of stacks. 

I'm also going to try a manual stack, where I  alter the focus point over ten shots and see how that compares to the camera's automatic process.

Cheers 

Ramsden 

[ebiggs1]

First let me know are you using the iPad for stacking or a computer? My suggestion is, and has always been, to anyone the best is Photoshop/Lightroom on a full size desktop and monitor. Now for sure other platforms work and some do a reasonably good job but they are not PS/LR. That is why some of the other editor's ads say just as good as Photoshop or comparable to Photoshop. Photoshop is the standard which all others are judged.

Just exactly how are you going about"stacking"? From exposure to editor.

A photo like this is not possible unless more than one exposure is made. That is where photo stacking comes in. Is this what you want to achieve?

You can expose for either the very bright outside daylight or the very dark barn inside but not both in the same shot.

I need more background info from you.

[johnrmoyer · Accepted solution]

From the EOS 90D manual: