Meet Gary 🐌 — My First Focus Stacking Macro Attempt

Yesterday I spent almost six hours photographing a snail.

Not because I love snails that much — but because I finally decided to try something I had wanted to do for a long time: real macro photography.

You know those photos where a tiny creature fills the entire frame and you can see every microscopic detail — the texture, the patterns, the tiny structures that are invisible to the naked eye. I’ve seen many of those photos online and always wondered how difficult it actually was.

Yesterday I found out.

And it turned out to be much harder than I expected.

An Unexpected Model

Yesterday near the swimming pool I noticed a very small snail slowly crawling along the tiles.

Without much discussion we immediately named him Gary.

The moment I saw him I thought: this might be the perfect chance to try real macro.

So we carefully took Gary home and I started preparing everything for the shoot.

What is Focus Bracketing?

To get the level of detail I wanted I had to use a technique called Focus Bracketing.

This means the camera takes many photos in a row — in my case around 60 frames — while slightly shifting the focus from the front of the subject to the back.

Later these photos are combined into a single image where the entire subject appears sharp.

In theory it sounds simple.

In practice… it’s a completely different story.

Two Hours and Not a Single Photo

Before taking the first shot I had to configure a lot of settings in my camera.

While reading instructions and adjusting menus I spent almost two hours.

And at that point I still hadn't taken a single photo.

Even Gary looked bored.

He slowly crawled across the table as if he had completely lost interest in the whole project.

Lighting Problems

When I finally started taking test shots I immediately noticed another problem — the images were far too dark.

Macro photography needs a lot of light.

So I had to borrow my wife's lamp — the one she normally uses to film her Instagram makeup videos.

Suddenly my tiny snail had something that looked like a professional beauty studio light.

That actually helped a lot.

After more experimenting I finally managed to shoot around 60 frames.

But Gary clearly had no respect for my photography ambitions.

He constantly tried to escape and kept moving his antennae — which is exactly what must NOT happen during focus stacking.

Even the smallest movement can ruin the final image.

Four Hours Later… Another Problem

After several hours of shooting I finally had my photo sequence.

Now it was time for the second part of the process — stacking the images together.

The best software for this is usually Helicon Focus, but I had already used the trial version last year and the license is currently a bit too expensive for me.

So I started searching for alternatives.

Eventually I discovered Zerene Stacker.

Another hour went into learning how to use the program — at least the basic tools.

At that moment I was honestly close to giving up.

But my stubborn nature didn’t let me stop halfway.

Six Hours Later

After almost six hours of work, I finally managed to produce a result.

And here he is.

Meet Gary from Thailand.

The photo isn't perfect.

There are artifacts, some areas are not perfectly sharp, and choosing a moving subject for the first focus stacking experiment was probably not the smartest idea.

But honestly — I’m very happy with the result.

For a first attempt, this feels like a really good start.

A Very Tiny Model

By the way, Gary is extremely small.

His shell is only about 1.5 centimeters in diameter.

Which makes it even more amazing when those tiny details start to appear in the final image.

Yesterday I learned something important.

Macro photography requires a lot of patience.

But it also opens a completely new world of details that we normally never notice.

And this definitely won’t be my last experiment.

Now that I understand the process a little better, I’m already looking forward to the next attempt.

Hopefully next time Gary — or his cousin — will cooperate a bit more.

Thank you for your likes, your comments, and your time. It never goes unnoticed.

Addendum:
Test photos

I write my texts myself, correct mistakes and translate via ChatGPT (which is not a violation on Hive)! All photos were taken by me personally - I am a beginner photographer, so I ask professionals not to judge strictly.

Thank you for sharing these moments with me! Until new stories and new holidays! ✌️.

Camera 📷: Sony Alpha 7 IV full-frame
Lens 🔭: Sony FE 70-200mm F: 2.8 GM OSS II
Lens 🔭: Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS
Lens 🔭: Sony FE 24–70mm f/2.8 GM II
Processed 🛠: Lightroom

photo by openai