EFFICIENT FOCUS STACKING FOR LARGE IMAGES OF PALYNOLOGICAL SAMPLES

A method of creating a focused image of a sample includes: acquiring a first image of the sample at a first height of a focal plane; acquiring a second image of the sample at a second height of the focal plane; creating a mask from the first image; calculating a first metric for a first pixel in the first image, wherein the first pixel is not covered by the mask; calculating a second metric for a second pixel in the second image, wherein the second pixel is not covered by the mask; and constructing the focused image of the sample from data of the first pixel and data of the second pixel based on the first metric and the second metric.