Focus stacking can be a valuable tool to expand the area within a photograph that is rendered in sharp focus. Earlier this week, focus stacking came in handy while I was taking pictures of the historic Park School in Orland Park, Illinois. My goal was to create an image with both the foreground (the sign) and the background (the school) in focus.

My first approach was to use a very narrow aperture setting (f/22). However, the sign in the foreground was so close to the lens (about 2 feet away) that it wasn't possible to get both the sign and the school in focus even with a small aperture setting. This became apparent while checking the display on the back of the camera.

Focus stacking provides a couple of benefits. First, it makes it possible to create an image with both a sharp foreground and background. Next, it allows for a wider aperture setting (such as f/8 in this picture). Most lenses perform best at the middle aperture settings. As a result, not only is the image sharp from front to back, but the overall image quality is higher than it would be if I had settled for the f/22 setting.

Park SchoolOrland Park School at 9960 West 143rd Street in Orland Park, Illinois on April 13, 2015

CLICK HERE to view a larger (1,800 vertical pixels) resolution version of this image.

To read a previous blog entry about how I go about stacking the images, please CLICK HERE.

To view more photographs of the school, please CLICK HERE.