I’ve done this type of shot before a year or two ago, but I didn’t know about focus stacking. This is my second focus stack attempt, the first was the rose from day 15. Focus stacking allows for an increased sharp/in focus depth of field. When shooting macro and longer focal lengths, the depth of field gets real shallow. Therefore, I took 15 shots varying focal lengths from near to farther. Photoshop will auto blend to grab the areas in focus from each shot, then adjusted various levels in Lightroom.
Shot with Canon 5D3, Canon 85mm f/1.2L @ f/9.0, 1/125″, ISO 100 – on a tripod with 600ex-rt flash firing from behind ring to create the heart shaped shadow. Flash triggered with ST-E3-RT with dual honeycomb grid and gel from MagMod.
Here is my last attempt:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lamediaman/17921622645/in/album-72157647568408983/
I like the heart more in this one a little bit – but I was pretty big into hard vignetting, so this one is a bit more grungy than my new attempt. My new attempt is much sharper and smoother transitions are the edge.
LAMediaMan 
Wow nice shot! I didn’t know about this technique- I’ll have to try it out.
This is the best video I’ve seen on the subject – but it gives you phenomenal clarity, but you definitely need a tripod!
I just recently got a tripod so I’ll have to put it to the test – thank you!
PS – thank you!