Overlapping Bristles etc.

Part of the Wing stack.

The result using Do Stack

The result using Do Average and Filter

After Contrast enhancement.

In this Stack the bristles that cross are on different frames and come into and out of focus at different times.   The problems in the Do Stack picture are due to the fact that CombineZ likes the transitions between frames to be smooth when using this method.   The alternative method Do Average and Filter does not care about the order or the position of the bristles.

This second method does have drawbacks though, contrast in the image is lost due to mixing with out of focus frames, I tried to put some of it back in the last picture.   There is also a problem when coloured objects cross their colours are mixed, this is not so bad in this example because all of the bristles are the same colour.

To process using this method

• Load the Stack.
• Click on Macro->Average and Filter.
• The result produced will probably be too sharp or not sharp enough, see below to adjust.
• Press Return when sharp enough.

To change the amount of sharpening produced by the Highpass Filter which is left active alter it's 2nd parameter.   The easiest way to do this is to press 'V' note the Value shown, if the picture is too sharp increase this value, if not sharp enough decrease it.   You can repeat this operation as many times as you like until you press Return.

You can alter contrast in your favorite art program but if you wish to use CZ proceed as follows

• Copy Out to a new frame Frame->New from Visible.
• Then Rectangle->Contrast and adjust it's value; see below
• Finally press Return.

Contrast and most other tools, and also filter parameters can be adjusted in an interactive way.   Press 'M' for More or 'N' for Not more, these two keys work in quite large steps.   To fine tune the result use the Left and Right Arrow keys.   Finish off by pressing Return and overwrite the original frame if you wish, the result will be in Out anyway.

Using the Weighted Average sometimes produces a better result, especially if the amount of sharpening needed to render the picture is so great that it amplifies noise as well.   The drawback here is that the result can be patchy.