What is Focus Blending?

What is Focus Blending?

 

There are times when I am photographing and what I want in the scene to be in focus is just physically outside of the capabilities of the lens. Its not the lens, all lenses have limitations with depth of field. Most of the time I just focus on the foreground and let the background go slightly soft. The viewer doesn’t notice it usually because our mind simply will think it is in focus. When it is too soft, I will do a technique called “focus blending” or some people use focus stacking. I simply do one image with the foreground sharp, then a second image with the background sharp, then in Photoshop I will blend them together. This only works for me when the middle area of the image is lacking a lot of detail, but still sharp in both images. When using an ultra-wide angle lens this is a great technique for complete sharpness when you have the lens very close to your subject in the foreground. Why not just use a higher f-stop like f22? Sometimes the diffraction can make the elements appear more out of focus at higher f-stops.

 

Tamron 20mm Di III OSD lens on a Sony a7Riii, Manual Exposure mode, f11, ISO 50, shutter speed of 5 seconds, H&Y Filters ND 32 5 stop CPL, Sirui W2204 tripod, Acratech GXP ballhead, Shimoda Explore 30L backpack, processed in Lightroom, blended in Photoshop. #WithMyTamron, #Tamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron20mirrorless, #HY_Filters, #SiriuiUSA, #Acratech, #ShimodaDesign, #BearWoodsPhotography

Fern in a Bowl

Fern in a bowl.

 

I still have some images of Dick’s Creek that I had not shared yet and made mention of this image in one of my other post, so I thought I better go ahead and finally post it. In the area just above Dick’s Creek Falls, the area around the cascades formed a bowl and inside the bowl was a resilient fern growing in a crack. Using the Tamron 20mm I got as close as I could to capture both the fern and the cascade in the image. Another item on my list to return once we have more green in the landscape!

 

Tamron 20mm f2.8 Di III OSD lens on a Sony a7Riii, Manual Exposure mode, f11, ISO 50, shutter speed of 1 second, H&Y Filters ND 32 5 stop dark CPL, Sirui W2204 tripod, Acratech GXP ballhead, Shimoda Explore 30L backpack, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #Tamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron20mirrorless, #HYFilters, #SiruiUSA, #Acratech, #ShimodaDesign, #BearWoodsPhotography

Above Dick’s Creek Falls

Above Dick’s Creek Falls.

 

Just about 150 feet above the falls is a great little area that reminds me of a little canyon. The water goes over a series of cascades and then through some granite. There are some really cool “rock pools” that have formed from the water rushing through over a couple thousand years that I will show you in another image soon. There are some ferns growing inside one that were really cool. This scene was perfect for the new Tamron 20mm lens on my Sony as I was able to really concentrate on the foreground as my primary subject, but still include the cascades in the background.

 

Tamron 20mm f2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 lens on a Sony a7Riii, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 50, shutter speed of .8 seconds, H&Y Filters ND32 5-stop ND CPL, Sirui W2204 tripod, Acratech GXP ballhead, Shimoda Explore 30L backpack, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #Tamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Tamron20mirrorless, #HY_Filters, #SiruiUSA, #Acratech, #ShimodaDesign, #BearWoodsPhotography