« Focus Stacking »

I did a shoot a few weeks ago where the client wanted some pictures of the family playing poker. For one shot, I had an idea to put a hand of cards up in front of the camera to give it the perspective of another player in the game. However, with the distances and lighting involved, there was no way to get both the family and the cards in focus. But, there is a technique called focus stacking that made this shot possible. I took two pictures. The first with the family in focus and the second with the cards in focus. Then, in Photoshop, I opened the first image and masked in the cards from second where they were in focus. In the final image, all of the important eliments are in sharp focus. Here's the finished shot: