Loading and Selecting Frames

After you load a folder from the folder browser, the filmstrip at the bottom of the Library fills with its photos. This page covers how to choose the frames that go into a stack.

Loading a hand-picked set of files

To load only some files, choose File → Open Files… (⌘⇧O / Ctrl+Shift+O), or drag files from Finder or Explorer onto the Library. The files can come from different folders. Only those files appear in the filmstrip, and a refresh keeps them.

Supported formats

Macro Studio opens these files directly, with no converting first:

TIFF (8-bit and 16-bit)
PNG (8-bit and 16-bit)
JPEG
RAW: CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, ORF, RW2, PEF, SRW, X3F, RAF, and generic .raw

The filmstrip also shows videos (MOV, MP4 and M4V), so you can play a clip you shot alongside a bracket. See Videos.

Frames are sorted by filename. Numbers count as numbers, so bee 9 comes before bee 10.

Color profiles

A TIFF, PNG or JPEG with an embedded color profile (such as Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB, Display P3 or Rec. 2020) is converted to sRGB as it loads. A file with no profile is read as sRGB. Colors outside sRGB, such as the most saturated ProPhoto RGB colors, are pulled in to the nearest sRGB color. Exporting as sRGB gives the most predictable result. Stacked results are always saved as sRGB.

Cameras too new to decode

Macro Studio’s RAW decoder may not read a very new camera. It also can’t read some formats, such as a Nikon Z 9’s High Efficiency★ NEFs. When it can’t read a file, Macro Studio tries these, in order:

The Adobe DNG Converter, if you have it. This free Adobe app knows new cameras long before other decoders. Macro Studio converts a copy of each RAW to DNG and stacks that, at full RAW quality.
The camera’s embedded JPEG preview. A banner in the Editor names the camera and links to Adobe’s download page. The stack works, but the preview is 8-bit and already processed by the camera, so you lose the RAW file’s editing room. Edit single image works the same way.
An error, if there’s no usable preview either.

Adobe doesn’t make the converter for Linux. On Linux, Macro Studio goes straight to the preview. Instead of linking to Adobe, the banner asks you to report your camera with Share Feedback → Send Feedback….

Nothing is downloaded or installed for you. Preferences → Advanced → Adobe DNG Converter shows whether the converter was found. You can point to it there, or turn automatic conversion off. You don’t need to restart after you install it.

A stack can’t mix previews with full RAW frames. If only some frames can be read, Macro Studio stops with an error. Install the converter, or turn it on in Preferences, and stack again. If the converter can’t read those frames either, or you’re on Linux, leave them out or stack them on their own.

If the colors look wrong. Sometimes the decoder makes a picture from a camera it doesn’t fully know. You may see a strong color cast (often pink), or a washed-out, flat result. Macro Studio catches some of these and treats them like files it can’t read, so with the converter installed they stack correctly. If a stack still looks wrong, send it to support.

When a stack used the converter, the Editor’s Info panel says so on a RAW decode row.

File-type filter

When a folder holds more than one file type, a File type filters row appears above the filmstrip, with one colored pill per type. Click a pill to hide or show that type. Use it to stack only the RAW files when your camera also wrote JPEGs. Or hide an earlier saved stack, so Select All doesn’t add it.

Filter first, then select. Changing a pill, the Filter box or the star rating filter clears your selection.

The Filter box narrows the strip by filename. While you type in it, the arrow keys move the text cursor. Press Esc, or click the filmstrip, to browse with them again.

Videos

A video in the folder shows in the filmstrip with a ▶ badge and its length, like ▶ 0:08. Click it to show it in the preview, paused on its first frame.

Press Space, click Play video, double-click the thumbnail, or press Enter to play. Do the same again to pause.
Click or drag the bar under the video to move through it. The speaker button turns the sound off and on.
The video stops when you move to another frame, and pauses when you leave the Library.

A video is never part of a stack. Select All and the other selection buttons skip it, and it can’t be compared, opened in the Editor or given a star rating. Right-click a video to reveal, rename, copy, move or delete just that video.

If a video won’t play, the preview says This video can’t be played. Open it in another app instead.

Which DNG a thumbnail is

A DNG saved by Macro Studio has a badge on its thumbnail: MS DNG for a Macro Studio DNG, or Raw DNG for a Raw DNG. A DNG from your camera or another app has none.

Online-only cloud files

In iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or Box, some photos may be online-only: listed, but still on the server. They show a cloud icon (☁) instead of a thumbnail. Macro Studio never downloads them unless you ask. Select them and click Download to view (or Download N files to view).

Download your frames before you stack. A bracket with online-only frames won’t stack correctly.

Selecting frames

You choose which frames go into the stack. These buttons sit above the filmstrip:

Button	Key	What it does
Set First	`F`	Marks the current frame as the start of the range.
Set Last	`L`	Marks the end of the range and selects everything from First to Last.
Select All	`A`	Selects every frame showing. Press again to deselect all.
Deselect	`D`	Drops the current frame from the selection. Press again to put it back.
Compare	`C`	Compares two frames side by side.

With the mouse:

Click a thumbnail to view it. This doesn’t change a selection of two or more frames.
⌘-click / Ctrl-click adds a frame to the selection, or removes it.
Shift-click selects a range.
Scroll over the filmstrip, or Shift + scroll anywhere in the Library, to step through frames.

Frames outside the selection are dimmed. Press Esc to clear the selection.

The order frames are stacked in

When you stack, the frames go in the order you shot them, whatever sort you’re viewing:

If every frame has a shot number saved by the camera, Macro Studio uses it. OM System and Olympus cameras save one when you shoot a focus bracket or a burst.
Otherwise it uses filename order. Most cameras number their files in the order they take them, so this usually just works.

This matters for files that were renamed after shooting, such as photos exported from Apple Photos with album names and numbers.

Culling from the keyboard

It’s usually faster to select everything and drop the bad frames:

Press A to select every frame.
Step through the frames with the arrow keys. This doesn’t change the selection.
Press D on a frame you don’t want. Press it again to put it back.
Press S to stack what’s left.

To see each frame as large as your screen, press ⌘⇧F / Ctrl+Shift+F first. The same keys work, star ratings too. A line at the bottom shows the file name, its stars and whether it’s selected. Press Esc when you’re done. See Full screen.

Edit single image: opens that frame in the Editor.
Reveal in Finder / Reveal in File Explorer / Reveal in File Manager: shows the file.
Copy file path: copies the file’s full path.
Rename file…: renames the file. The extension and star rating stay with it.
Run StackCheck: asks StackCheck about that stack.
Copy N images to folder… / Move N images to folder…: see Splitting a folder.
Delete N images from disk: moves the selected original files to the system Trash.

Copy, Move and Delete act on the whole selection. The rest act on the frame you right-clicked. You can’t rename or move frames while they’re being stacked.

Undoing a delete

Press ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z right after a delete. Macro Studio puts the files back from the Trash, star ratings included. This works for folders deleted from the FOLDERS tree too. It can’t undo once the Trash is emptied, or if another file is now in that spot. There’s no undo on Linux, but the files are still in the Trash.

Splitting a folder into multiple stacks

When one folder holds two brackets, select the frames for the first one. Right-click a thumbnail and choose Move N images to folder…. The dialog suggests {parent folder name} stack 1. Press Enter, and Macro Studio moves the files into that new subfolder. Repeat for the next set, which it names stack 2. To use another folder, click Browse….

Copy N images to folder… works the same way but leaves the originals in place. A file that’s already there isn’t overwritten. The copy is saved as name 2.ext.

The Stack/Edit button

The big button at the bottom right of the Library changes with your selection:

Fewer than two frames selected: blue, reading Edit single image [Enter] →. Press Enter to open the frame in the Editor without stacking.
Two or more frames selected: green, reading Stack selected images [S] →. Press S to stack.

If the label ends in & Drop Oldest, the history strip is full, and your new result will push out the oldest one. See Compare and history.

The status line above the button shows how many frames are selected. That’s how many go into the stack.

A note about what you selected

When you start a stack, an amber note appears if the frames aren’t all the same file type (like 21 ORF, 1 DNG). It also appears if some are stacks Macro Studio saved earlier. The stack still runs. But an earlier stack can give the new file the wrong frame count. And any frame that isn’t a RAW file turns off camera-raw mode for the whole stack.

To fix it, hide the odd files with the file-type filter, select again, and stack again before you save. Autostack doesn’t show this note, so keep saved results out of folders you autostack.

Editing a single image

To skip stacking, double-click a thumbnail, or select one frame and press Enter. It opens in the Editor with the same tools and Save dialog as a stack. On a video, the same gestures play it instead (see Videos).

Tips for best results

Use a tripod if you can. Tripod shots give cleaner edges.
Shoot in manual mode so exposure doesn’t change between frames.
Overlap the focus. Each frame should share some sharp area with the next, or you’ll see seams.
Use enough frames. 10-30 is typical. 50 or more is fine at high magnification.