We use magic to photograph tiny parts in a big image.

Achieving perfect focus in a group product shot can be a challenge if the products are not all the same size. When Buster Creative was asked by our medical device client to create a dramatic and beautiful spread of their featured products, we had plenty of great concepts. Once on set in our photography studio, we quickly realized that in order to show the fine detail of the smallest products (4mm ontological implants or miniature biopsy cups) without losing focus on the largest (24cm surgical drills and bone screws), we would need to utilize focus stacking. This highly sophisticated digital image processing technique combines multiple images taken at different focus distance to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field than any of the individual source images. Focus stacking is helpful in any situation where the individual images have a very shallow depth of field, or when you need multiple depths of field within one single frame.

We shot 10 images at multiple focal depths, with different areas in perfect focus. Then, we used advanced software to blend the in-focus patches together to generate the final image. The result? A very satisfied client and a stunning image!

This stack of images shows extreme focus from the front to the back of the image, and the final images show the composite of the depth of field.

The final, color-adjusted results: