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My first attempt at combining macro shots

Recently I have been thinking a bit about combining shots to achieve a greater depth of field.  When I noticed that some of the shots I took today of a spider with its prey were similar but had different parts in focus, I decided to give it a try.  The following is the end result.

Continue for more on how I did this.

The following are the two shots I used to make it.

In this shot, the spider is in focus but not the prey.

In this shot, the prey is in focus but not the spider.

I would have liked to use a program like CombineSZ, but the problem is the shots are not aligned.  Therefore I used the following steps to combine them.

1) I copied the entire shot with the OOF spider.

2) I then pasted it over the shot with the IF spider, creating a new layer in the process.

3) I then reduced the opacity significantly of the new layer, enabling me to see through it.  Using this mode I aligned the spider and prey as best as possible.  The spider had moved a bit so I made more of an attempt to align the prey than the spider.  When finished, I changed the opacity back to 100%.

4) Using a small eraser, I carefully erased the OOF spider in the top layer, which had the effect of displaying the IF spider underneath it.

5) I then merged the layers and concentrated on the areas (particularly of the web) that looked a bit strange.

6) I used the cloning tools in replace mode to redo the parts of the web near the feet.

7) I had some problems with the right foot, so I copied the foot from a third image not displayed here.

 

I’m sure there are better ways to do this, but this is my first attempt and I rather like how it came out.  This isn’t the first shot of a spider with prey that I have taken (these spiders are very common around our house) but it is the one with the best depth of field.

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Tags: combine, depth of field, macro, photography, prey, spider