Photo Stacking Using darktable

Software darktable
1

I am just starting to explore photo stacking and have a question. I would like to use darktable to stack theses files, but have seen this process explained different ways and was wondering if darktable HDR will work for either.
Option 1) Same photo taken using the same exposure, just focusing in at least 3 different locations of the image
Option 2) Same photo taken focusing on the same location of the image, but changing the exposure several times.

If I shoot an image either way above, will HDR produce the dng file properly to edit? I have only seen videos showing HDR working with the Option 2 above.

Thank you

2

darktable doesn’t do stacking itself - but it can trigger a lua script using external tools for that.
have a look at darktable lua documentation - enfuseAdvanced
maybe also darktable lua documentation - image_stack

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3

So darktable only creates a .dng file to edit if I’m shooting using Option 2. If that option is not photo stacking, what is that option considered?
I would like try both options just to see the differences and use the correct terminology.

I will also look at the 2 documents you supplied me.

Thank you

4

Option 2 is for HDR, for extending the dynamic range beyond what your camera is capable in a single exposure.

Option 1, where the focus point changes, will produce several files. You take those files and focus stack them.

5

If you want to do focus stacking with quality free software check out this article. Scientists use focus stacking all the time and have developed wonderful free tools. Personally I have used Combine ZP with great success, but this article compares it to other commercial options (Edit).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269630893_Focus_stacking_Comparing_commercial_top-end_set-ups_with_a_semi-automatic_low_budget_approach_A_possible_solution_for_mass_digitization_of_type_specimens/figures?lo=1

Edit: Only Combine ZP is free software in this article and the program can be downloaded from this 3rd party link (be careful of advertising links etc). I downloaded and all appears fine with the software.

Download CombineZP by Alan Hadley

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6

FWIW, I use focus-stack. No DNGs are involved, and darktable “sort of” participates in the workflow:

  • use darktable-cli (that’s the “sort of”) to convert each raw file to an “intermediate” TIFF (no loss of data). This is because focus-stack doesn’t take raw files as input, but will take TIFF.
  • use focus-stack to stack the TIFFs into a new output TIFF.
  • delete the intermediate TIFFs.

I can then open the stacked TIFF in darktable/RawTherapee/ART.

The one drawback is that if you are stacking a lot of images, the space taken by the intermediate TIFFs can be substantial. For that reason, it’s a good idea to put those on /tmp.

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7

Note that the article is from 2014 and one or two things may have changed a little.

8

Yes I agree: the software may be better than what is described in this article. There is some mighty fine free software out there for focus stacking.

9

Looks like CombineZP isn’t further developed and now there is Czimps, it’s free too.

I will stick with Affinity Photo (free - after one one-time payment :sweat_smile:)

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10

wat

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11

:laughing:

12

No monthly ransom required :wink:

13

I read the article you referred to, but only found that CombineZP the only free software. Right now Im, just trying stacking method so not ready to purchase software yet. Is there any other free software you can recommend? I understand that CombineZP is no longer doing any development, but looking at various You Tube videos and web sites seems to still be a good option for a beginner, no?

14

The two commercial softwares for stacking are Zerene and Helicon.

I prefer focus-stack, as @elGordo mentioned.

15

Thanks for the focus-stack software.
In using darktable I have never had to convert a file. Where do I find the “darktable-cli”? Other question I have is, after the images are stacked, can I edit that new “stacked” image and will it come out as well as if editing a raw file?
One last, I went to the focus-stack you referred to but not sure what I need to donwload. Can you point in the right direction for that file(s)

16

Also forgot to ask, will focus stack on windows 11?

17

darktable-cli is a part of darktable. Here’s a link to the topic in the darktable manual

Yes, you can edit the output TIFF with dt with no loss of quality.

From the site:

Binary packages for Windows 10, Ubuntu 20.04 and Mac OS X are available on the GitHub releases tab.

This doesn’t mention Win 11, but I would not expect problems if you use the Win 10 package. Follow the link in the above quote to get to the downloads.

18

Thank You,
So after looking at the darktable manual, all I’m doing is exporting the file with a TIFF extension.

Also downloaded the windows version to see how it works.

Thank you for your help

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19

I also tried downloading and installing this software on windows with no luck.

20

I don’t mind paying for perpetual licences, but I hate monthly (legal) ransomware payments from software providers. I have a perpetual licence for LR6 and Photoshop CS6 plus other Adobe products. I am not willing to pay a monthly ransom payment to update. :hugs:

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