Now available for macOS, Windows, and Linux

The modern way to
do macro.

Focus stacking and full non-destructive editing, in one app. Stack, mask, retouch, and save — no monthly Lightroom subscription required.

Buy Now — $99 $59

Launch pricing · 30-day money-back guarantee

Macro Studio on macOS — a focus-stacked honey bee on a branch, shown in the Editor with AI species identification (Honey bee, Apis mellifera), mask and adjustment panels, and the history strip
Pay once
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macOS, Windows & Linux
Native desktop, no cloud

Who this is for

  • You shoot macro (insects/spiders, flowers, fungi, textures) and want every detail sharp.
  • You’re tired of bouncing between editing apps and stacking apps.
  • You want professional stacking results without a steep learning curve.
  • You don’t want another monthly subscription.

Smart Focus Stacking

Macro Studio analyzes every pixel in your focus bracket to identify the sharpest regions, then combines them into one image where every detail is in perfect focus — from the nearest antenna tip to the farthest wing edge.

  • Unified stacking engine — more detail and cleaner backgrounds on every subject
  • One-click stacking with automatic settings
  • Works with RAW, TIFF, JPEG, and PNG inputs
The same wasp after focus stacking — the whole face is sharp, from the textured compound eyes to the antennae, against a smooth green background.
A single frame from a focus bracket of a wasp's head — only a thin slice is in focus, so most of the face, eyes, and antennae are soft.
Single frame Stacked
The same fly stacked in two apps: on the left, another leading stacking app leaves ghost-edges and double outlines from misaligned frames; on the right, Macro Studio produces a clean, single-edged result.
Another leading stacking app Macro Studio

Automatic Alignment

Changing focus changes magnification. Macro Studio detects and corrects for focus breathing, camera movement, and vibration so your frames line up perfectly before stacking.

  • Pixel-perfect alignment — even handheld stacks come out crisp
  • Corrects scale, rotation, and translation
  • Runs automatically before every stack — nothing to set up
I can actually hand hold my subjects, and it just stacks them beautifully — a stack of 13!
— Janie J.

Autostack — Stack a Whole Folder at Once

Back from a shoot with a card full of brackets? Point Autostack at the folder and Macro Studio sorts your shots into separate stacks by capture time, then stacks each one for you — turning a pile of frames into a set of finished previews while you step away.

  • Groups a folder of mixed brackets into separate stacks automatically
  • Stacks every set at full resolution, hands-free
  • Sorts the results into tidy per-stack folders so the keepers are easy to spot
Autostack in the Library: a folder of brackets split into separate 'stack 001', 'stack 002' folders in the tree, with one stacked mushroom result on the canvas and its source frames in the strip below.
Retouch mode: a stacked honey bee shown alongside a source frame, with a strip of source frames below and brush size and hardness controls above — painting sharp detail from one frame into the result.

Retouch — For Subjects That Won’t Sit Still

Insects are notorious for moving a leg or antenna during your stack. With Retouch you can correct that by painting a part in straight from the single source frame where it was sharpest, saving an otherwise great image.

  • Clone from any aligned source frame — pick the one where the feature is crisp
  • Great for antennae, hairs, bristles, and legs
  • Adjustable brush size and hardness help you get the perfect look

Stack, Mask, and Edit — All in One App

Skip the round-trip to Lightroom. Macro Studio ships with AI-assisted subject masking and a full adjustment suite, so you can finish your image and head straight to export or social post without leaving the app.

  • AI-assisted masks: Subject, Background, Radial Gradient, Linear Gradient, and Brush
  • Exposure, colour, contrast, clarity, sharpness, and denoise
  • Non-destructive — save as JPEG, TIFF, or DNG for your Lightroom or Photoshop workflow
The good thing is I no longer have to fix a lot when I edit my photos in Lightroom. Really helps a lot.
— Dennis M.
Macro Studio's Editor: a stacked mosquito with the Subject mask active and the full Adjustments panel open on the right — sliders for exposure, color, texture, clarity, sharpness, and more, plus species identification.
Species ID panel: Macro Studio has identified the stacked image as a Green June Beetle (Cotinis nitida) with 98% confidence, along with taxonomy (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Cotinis), Wikipedia link, EXIF metadata, and a Figeater Beetle suggestion as the next-best match.

Species Identification

Macro Studio names what you shot — beetles, bees, flowers, mushrooms, ferns — along with its scientific name, taxonomy, and a confidence score. A Wikipedia link is one click away for when you want to read more.

  • Works on insects/spiders, plants, and fungi
  • Confidence score plus top alternative matches
  • Wikipedia link built in

Spot Correct Without Leaving the App

Dust on the lens? A stray hair on a flower petal? Paint over anything that shouldn't be there and Macro Studio samples from nearby pixels to blend the fix in seamlessly. Non-destructive — every stroke is reversible.

  • Content-aware patching from surrounding context
  • Full per-stroke undo / redo
  • Never touches your originals — saved files carry the fix, source frames stay untouched
Spot Correct tool in action: a macro shot with the Spot Correct brush active, cleaning up stray specks and dust without affecting the rest of the image.
Compare view: a split screen showing the input frame on one side and the stacked/edited result on the other, with synchronised zoom and pan so both sides track the same region of the image.

Compare — Before vs. After at a Glance

Slide between your stack input and the final composite to confirm your edits actually improved things. Zoom and pan stay in lockstep, so both sides always show the same region of the image.

  • Synced zoom and pan, with the option to unlock when needed
  • One-keypress toggle (C) so it's always at hand

Crop and Straighten

Every stacked image gets a proper crop tool with rule-of-thirds grid, straightening controls, and keyboard nudges. Level a tilted horizon, tighten the composition, or pull a 1:1 social crop out of a landscape shot — all without leaving the app.

  • Rule-of-thirds grid, free and constrained aspect ratios
  • Straighten slider, or drag to rotate
  • Non-destructive — reopen the crop any time to adjust
Crop and straighten tool: a stacked image with the crop rectangle active, rule-of-thirds grid overlaid, and a straightening slider above the controls.
The Save dialog: format checkboxes for TIFF, JPEG, and DNG, watermark options, and a live preview of a stacked water-drop image with a 'Cush Closeups' watermark applied.

Brand Your Work — Built-in Watermarks

Apply your logo or text watermark at save time. Configure position, size, and opacity once, then reuse across every save. Watermark the JPEG for social, skip it on the TIFF master — all in one Save dialog.

  • PNG logo or text, any corner or center
  • Position, scale, and opacity controls
  • Applied per-format — watermark your JPEG, keep the DNG clean for Lightroom

Draft Your Social Post in One Click

Once you've stacked and edited a shot, Macro Studio drafts a social post for you — caption, hashtags, species name, shoot info pulled from EXIF — ready to paste into Instagram, X, or wherever you share.

  • Auto-fills species, camera, lens, and settings from EXIF
  • Copy-paste-ready caption and hashtag block
  • Pairs naturally with the watermark + JPEG export for easy sharing
The Draft social post dialog: an auto-generated caption and hashtags for a Metric Paper Wasp (Polistes metricus) — species name, camera, lens, and shooting settings pulled from EXIF — with a Copy to clipboard button.

What photographers are saying

Loved by macro photographers around the world

Thank you for making Macro Studio. I’ve found so far that it is able to handle macro stacks that Helicon utterly falls apart on, which is great. I’m also glad to see that it does a much better job of handling overlapping elements than Capture One. Kudos!
Ryan G.
Macro Studio for photo stacking kicked Zerene Stacker’s teeth in. I can actually hand hold my subjects, and it just stacks them beautifully — a stack of 13! And the support he offers is unmatched!
Janie J.
The output of this program is way better and much cheaper than other commercialized apps on the market. Really worth a try — and it never fails me on my first try.
Dennis M.

Ready to see the difference?

Get Macro Studio 2026. One-time purchase, 30-day money-back guarantee.