Can focus stacking replicate the effect of a tilt-shift lens?
Asked 3/2/2013
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A tilt lens can angle the plane of focus so it is no longer parallel to the sensor (Scheimpflug principle). Can a non-tilt lens create the same result by taking many shots focused at different distances and combining them later?
I'm asking from a technical standpoint: is the wedge-shaped depth of field seen with lens tilt just a result of focus getting closer to the camera, or is it a different optical effect? In other words, can focus stacking truly reproduce tilt, or only approximate some of its results?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
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You could, but it wouldn't work exactly as your illustration suggests except in very simple scenes.
If the aim is to produce an image that has as much in focus as possible (the traditional purpose of tilt movements), then focus stacking without regard for an imaginary plane of focus is a simple, effective and highly automatable solution. Despite the fact that (OMG!!!) you'll lose some of the original sensor data, the mere fact that things aren't poking inconveniently in and out of a real plane of focus that is limited by real-world physics makes the image better than the real thing. (You only get so much depth of field, even with a view camera's movements and f/64.)
But when you're trying to place a distinct plane of focus (along with out-of-focus areas) into a complex scene, there would be a lot of manual work and you'd need to have a pretty good mental model of what an actual tilt image of the scene would look like. It would almost be easier, I think, to do a regular "get everything sharp" focus stack, then take the resulting composite image into an application (or module, plugin, or whatever) that allows you to apply a depth map and add lens blur. The process would be similar with a stack of images; you'd need to paint in the things that should be in focus, as well as the bits from other images that are appropriately out of focus for a given part of the image (and would probably have to do some gradient blending as well to get the right bokeh transitions).
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
13y ago
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Not exactly. Focus stacking and lens tilt can overlap in results, but they are not the same optical effect.
Tilt changes the orientation of the plane of sharp focus itself, so it can lie along a surface that is not parallel to the sensor. The wedge-shaped depth of field comes from this change in focus-plane geometry, not simply because part of the scene is closer to the camera.
Focus stacking with a normal lens only records multiple images with different focus distances and combines the sharp parts. That works very well if your goal is simply to get more of the scene sharp overall. In many practical cases, stacking is easier and more flexible than using tilt.
However, stacking does not truly reproduce a tilted plane of focus in a complex scene. It cannot perfectly mimic the specific transition between sharp and unsharp areas that optical tilt creates, especially when you want a deliberate slanted focus plane with selective blur. In simple scenes it may approximate the look, but in general it is not identical.
So: stacking can replace tilt for maximum sharpness, but not fully for the distinctive optical behavior of a tilted focus plane.
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