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 Develop view?

Macro Studio is split into two modes:

Library (press L) — folder browser, frame strip, stacking controls.
Develop (press D) — 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 E, or double-click any thumbnail. Macro Studio opens it in Develop view 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.

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. Macro Studio has been tested with stacks of 100+ frames. 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).
Try a different stacking method (Pyramid vs. Depth Map).
Check that Align frames was enabled in the Library footer (it’s on by default).
Ensure consistent exposure across frames — shoot in manual mode.
Try the advanced controls: a smaller Detail value (e.g. 10) for less averaging, or a larger one (20-25) for smoother blending.

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.

What’s the difference between Pyramid and Depth Map stacking?

Pyramid decomposes each frame into spatial frequency bands, picks the sharpest band at each pixel, and reconstructs. Smooth transitions, clean backgrounds, handles fine structures like antennae and hair well. The right default in nearly every case.
Depth Map computes a depth map with a graph-cut optimizer and uses it to select source pixels. Best when parts of the subject cross over each other (intersecting insect legs, overlapping stems), when frames are out of focus order, or for unusually long stacks. Can show topology-line artifacts in smooth backgrounds.

If you can’t decide, check Run all methods in the footer (or enable it as a default in Preferences) and let Macro Studio produce both — then A/B compare in the history strip.

Where are my settings stored?

Per-OS user data folder:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Macro Studio/
Windows: %APPDATA%\Macro Studio\

This includes your preferences, watermark presets, social tag templates, folder browser state, and license activation. Back this folder up if you want to preserve settings across machines.

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.