Frequently Asked Questions

General

What is focus stacking?

Focus stacking is a technique where you take multiple photos of the same subject at different focus distances, then combine them into one image where everything is sharp. It’s essential in macro photography where depth of field is extremely thin — at high magnification, a single frame might only have a millimeter or two of the subject in focus.

What kind of photos does Macro Studio work with?

Macro Studio is designed for focus-bracketed image sets — a series of photos taken at progressively different focus distances. It works best with macro photography but can also be used for landscape focus blending and product photography.

Does Macro Studio require an internet connection?

No. Macro Studio runs entirely on your local machine. Your images stay on your computer; nothing is uploaded to the cloud for stacking, masking, or editing. The only exceptions are:

License activation — a one-time online check when you first activate.
Update checks — once-per-day silent check (toggleable in Preferences).
Species identification (if you use it) — sends a cropped subject image to an AI species lookup service. Skip this feature if you’d rather stay fully offline.

What are Library and the Editor?

Macro Studio is split into two modes:

Library (press L) — folder browser, frame strip, stacking controls.
Editor (press E) — post-stack editing surface with masks, adjustments, crop, retouch, and Save.

See the Quick Start guide for the full workflow.

Licensing

Is there a free trial?

There is no free trial, but we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If Macro Studio doesn’t meet your needs, contact us within 30 days for a full refund — no questions asked.

How much does it cost?

Macro Studio is a one-time purchase. See the pricing page for the current price. All features are included, all updates within the version are included, and you can use it on up to 3 machines.

Can I use my license on multiple computers?

Yes. Each license activates on up to 3 machines (e.g., your desktop and laptop). To move a license to a new machine, deactivate it on the old one first, or contact support to free up a slot.

Do I have to upgrade to future versions?

No. The version you buy is yours to keep and use forever. Future major versions may be released as optional paid upgrades — we haven’t committed to a release cadence yet, and we’ll continue shipping improvements under the existing version for a long while.

Will my version keep getting updates?

Yes. The version you buy continues to receive feature enhancements and bug fixes for the lifetime of that version line. Updates land automatically when you launch the app on an internet-connected machine; there’s nothing to re-buy to get them.

What’s the refund policy?

30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. Contact [email protected] or request a refund through your Paddle receipt. See our Refund Policy for details.

Workflow

How do I edit a single image (no stack)?

Select a single frame in the filmstrip and press Return/Enter, or double-click any thumbnail. Macro Studio opens it in the Editor with the full editing pipeline — masks, adjustments, crop, retouch, save. No stacking step.

This is also how you re-edit a previously saved TIFF — load the folder it’s in, double-click it.

Can I save multiple formats at once?

Yes. The Save dialog has checkboxes for TIFF, JPEG, and DNG. Check any combination and Macro Studio writes all of them in one pass. See Saving for details.

What’s special about DNG?

DNG is a 16-bit lossless format with the same image quality as TIFF, generally a little smaller on disk. It’s a good choice if your Lightroom catalog standardizes on DNG, or if you prefer it for any other workflow reason. All edits (adjustments, masks, crop, retouch) are baked into pixels — same as TIFF and JPEG.

Macro Studio doesn’t support watermarking DNG output — the watermark Apply-to row in the Save dialog disables the DNG checkbox.

Do I need to use masks?

Not necessarily. Many edits work fine on the Global mask alone — adjust exposure, contrast, color, and you’re done.

Subject and Background masks become useful when you want to treat the in-focus subject differently from the defocused background (e.g. push subject sharpness without sharpening the bokeh, or warm the subject while cooling the background). See Masks for the full picture.

What if the auto-detected Subject mask isn’t quite right?

Click Refine Mask below the mask buttons. The brush editor opens with the current mask loaded, and you can paint additions or erasures to clean up the edges. See Masks for the full editor controls.

Can I undo edits?

Adjustments and masks are stored as parameters, so you can change them at any time — they’re not “applied” in a way that requires undo.

Can I stack a whole folder of brackets at once?

Yes — that’s what Autostack does. Point it at a folder that holds several focus brackets and it groups the images into sets by capture time and stacks each set for you, so you can quickly spot the keepers. Open it from File → Autostack a Folder… (Beta). See Autostack.

Why don’t I see Masks, Adjustments, or the Crop and Retouch tools in the Editor?

You’re in Standard mode, which keeps the Editor minimal for new users. Flip the Standard / Advanced switch in the top-right of the Editor to Advanced and the full toolkit appears — Masks, Adjustments, Crop, Retouch, and Source Cloning. New installs start in Standard; the choice is remembered. See Editor overview.

Technical

Which image formats are supported?

Input: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and most RAW formats (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, ORF, RW2, PEF, SRW, X3F, RAF).

Save: TIFF (16-bit), JPEG, and DNG. See Saving for when to use each.

How many frames can I stack?

There’s no hard limit. For very large stacks (50+) at high resolution, 16 GB RAM is recommended.

The stacked result has artifacts. What can I try?

Make sure your frames overlap sufficiently in their focus zones (no big focus gaps).
Ensure consistent exposure across frames — shoot in manual mode.
Re-shoot any frame that’s motion-blurred or got nudged mid-bracket — a single bad frame can leave a soft patch.
Add a few more frames through the transition where the artifact appears, so the engine has finer focus steps to work with.
Send us the stack. If you can’t get a clean result, right-click it in the history strip and choose Send this stack to us… — that uploads the frames so we can reproduce the problem and help (or improve the engine).

If you’re still seeing issues, contact support and we’ll help troubleshoot. The Help → Send Log Files… option bundles up your logs and uploads them in one click.

How do I remove purple/green color fringing?

That’s chromatic aberration (CA) on out-of-focus highlights. Switch the Editor to Advanced mode and use the Defringe brush — paint over the fringe and it neutralizes the false color while keeping detail intact. See Defringe.

Which stacking method should I use?

None — there’s nothing to choose. Macro Studio uses a single unified stacking engine that combines the strengths of the old Pyramid and Depth Map methods automatically: more detail, cleaner backgrounds, and fewer artifacts on tricky subjects. Just select your frames and press Stack. See Stacking.

Where are debug logs?

Preferences → Reveal Debug Log in Finder… (or Show in Explorer) opens the log folder. Logs rotate automatically; the most recent file is what support typically asks for.

The easier path is Help → Send Log Files… which bundles + uploads automatically.