![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Focus_stacking_Tachinid_fly.jpg/640px-Focus_stacking_Tachinid_fly.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Focus stacking
Digital image processing technique / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about focus stacking?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Focus stacking – also called focal plane merging, z-stacking,[1] or focus blending – is a digital image processing technique which combines multiple images taken at different focus distances to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field (DOF) than any of the individual source images.[2][3] Focus stacking can be used in any situation where individual images have a very shallow depth of field; macro photography and optical microscopy are two typical examples. Focus stacking can also be useful in landscape photography.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Focus_stacking_Tachinid_fly.jpg/640px-Focus_stacking_Tachinid_fly.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/FocusStack_BrightFieldLightMicroscopy_DiatomaceousEarth.jpg/640px-FocusStack_BrightFieldLightMicroscopy_DiatomaceousEarth.jpg)
Focus stacking offers flexibility: since it is a computational technique, images with several different depths of field can be generated in post-processing and compared for best artistic merit or scientific clarity. Focus stacking also allows generation of images physically impossible with normal imaging equipment; images with nonplanar focus regions can be generated. Alternative techniques for generating images with increased or flexible depth of field include wavefront coding, light-field cameras and tilt.