3D Photos!

I just found a way to breathe new life into photography (for me personally): Stereophotos! After doing a bit if research online and then applying my own knowledge that I've learned in school and at In-Three I've started playing with poor man's 3D photography.

At this point I'm creating the parallax by taking a left eye photo and moving 2-10 inches to the right depending on my subject. I've been able to create some pretty stunning stereo pairs this way. As time progresses I should buy a tripod head that allows me to mount a camera on a horizontal rail. This would allow me to move the camera on a precise axis at a precise distance and make cleaner photos that don't strain the eyes as much.

So far I've found closer subjects create a more pleasing picture and that moving the camera more that three inches can really strain the eyes.

Next step: find a way to display them that doesn't require the viewer to cross their eyes.

For now: You have to cross your eyes. Pretend like it's a magic eye book since they work on the same principal. You need to cross your eyes until the two images overlap (without focusing on them). Once the two blurry out of focus images line up, one on top of another, let your eyes relax and a third image should appear. With practice you will find they can find and then focus on the third image (the combined 3-D image) that will appear to float in front of or inside of the screen. It takes practice but once you try it several times and figure it out, you can learn to easily repeat it and view the images for several seconds at a time. From there it's easy like riding a bike.

If you're having problems getting it to work and my directions aren't helping then run a search on google for: "how to view cross eye stereo pairs". These are 'cross-eye' stereo pairs that require you to focus in front of the screen not behind it as in "wall-eye stereo pairs." Here is an example of a site I found: http://www.starosta.com/3dshowcase/ihelp.html

Also notice that some of the photos have a more realistic subdued 3D effect that is a little easier on the eye muscles: "Muppets3D" and "Bob Hope" are good examples. Other photos were taken with an unnaturally large distance in between the 'left-eye' photo and the 'right-eye' photo. This produces and exaggerated sense of 3D depth and shape which is also fun to look at: "Lacie Closeup"(look at those bangs),"Peppers!" and "Syrup" are good examples.

Be sure to click on the thumbnails for larger versions to see all of the 3D detail that was captured in some of these images.