@Ryan Cush of Macro Studio has kindly set up a free 30-day trial specifically for our community. A great chance to try it out and see how it fits into your macro photography workflow. After the trial ends, the basic Library and Editor functions will still work, but stacking will no longer be available. 👉 Start your free 30-day trial Please keep this trial link within our community, as this offer has been created specifically for this group. @Ryan Cush is also happy to answer questions and welcomes feedback. You can suggest features, explore the roadmap and see the latest updates on the Macro Studio feedback site. If you give it a go, let us know how you get on!

Well, it's been an incredible educational journey for us this week. A Vapourer moth cocoon appeared on our window frame. We'd never heard of them before - let alone seen them! Here's some photos of the sequence of the events (I took quite a few and @Ryan Cush prog Macro Studio was magnificent in identifying and sorting out the stacks!!!). The eggs had a lucky escape, the window cleaners came this morning as we were going out. They were instructed NOT to wipe the cocoon and the eggs away! Will the eggs hatch in a few weeks or is it too cold and we'll all have to wait until Spring 2027? She's unable to fly, having little stubs for wings, so - she's now dead, her job done. Photos taken with an Olympus OM-1ii camera and 90mm macro lens. I'm amazed at how close I can get to the action and the quality of the images. Some were simply single shots, some stacked in-camera, others photo bracketed shots and merged on the computer with Macro Studio. I love the mega close up ones of her amongst the aubrieta - mind you I did get funny looks and comments whilst I was laid on the pathway taking them.

Has anyone here tried Macro Studio for focus stacking? I’d be interested to hear how you think it compares to Helicon Focus, particularly the quality of the finished stacks, handling of fine detail and halos, processing speed, and ease of retouching. If you’ve used both, which do you prefer and why? Any side-by-side examples would be great to see!

Just wanted to bring to your attention another option for stacking your images, one I have been testing alongside Zyrene & Helicon Focus. Well worth a look. The stack below, consisting of 51 images, was produced using MS (https://macrostudio.pro/) One outstanding feature is the ability to point the editor to a folder of images where it will auto-stack based on timestamp. The software is in constant development and Ryan the developer is very open to your input . I have no vested in interest in any of these software packages and have purchased all three. Onto the image. Sadly the Green shield bug had drowned in our bird bath but I took the opportunity to commit it to digital for eternity. This is straight out of MS as a TIFF and edited in DxO Photolab 9.9.1