I'm trying something new today. I have been fascinated with 3D photography, or stereography, for many years now. I remember as a child, playing with one of those old-fashioned stereoscopes, and marveling at the illusion of three dimensions on the old photos. Surprisingly, I'm not overly fond of 3D movies... the effect is kind of cool, but it gives me a headache after awhile.
A few months ago, I was asked to do a photo shoot for work, where I took three separate series of photos for a 3D project. The photos have sat on my computer for a long time, and on my way home from work tonight, I started wondering if I could pick a couple of these photos & create the illusion of three dimensions on the computer screen. I know that the effect probably won't work with the small image that you see accompanying this blog post. You'll have to click on it to open it larger in another window. You might have to move around, or forward or backward a bit, until the image comes into dimension for you. After I created my image, I posted in on Flickr to test it, to see if I could see it just as well using a jpeg image on the web, as I could see it as a layered PS file. It seemed to work. For me, I find it easiest to see if I stare at the image on the left, sort of crossing my eyes and losing sharp focus. Then, pop! It comes together into a three dimensional image!
So, I thought I'd post my little experiment here. Let me know if it works for you. Leave me a comment! (Note that if you have a vision impairment in one or both of your eyes, you may not be able to see the illusion.) Photo above from the Smithsonian website.
11 comments:
Oh, that is very clever. I could only manage it with the smaller version. Great choice of image with the path curving off into the distance. I have been wondering whether stereoscopic photography might make a come-back now that there are stereo TVs. I'm sure you should at least be able to convert all the old stereograms into images to view in 3D on TV! What fun!
That's pretty cool, Stef!
I tried and tried, but alas, I don't think I can do it. It may be my glasses. But nonetheless, very cool idea!
I couldn't do it either but maybe because I am so tired right now...I will come back later after I have rested and try again. Very clever!
Great experiment, Stef!
I tried with the larger version...no luck. I just ended up seeing everything in duplicate. I think it's because of the blindspot I have on the left from the stroke. I tried with the smaller version and it sort of worked.
Sorry everyone is having problems seeing it... I've discovered if you can 'unfocus' enough to see three images, the 3D one will be in the middle. It works for me every time, but I do have to move around a bit, and kind of stare to see it. Focusing & concentrating too hard makes it hard.
When it works for me on the smaller one, I end up seeing three images as well. Staring without focusing is a good way to describe it.
Gonna try again later ... I did get the 3 images when I ... went cross eyed or something. I used to be really good at those stereograms.
We had one of those stereoscopes! I remember being fascinated with it, trying to figure out how it worked. Very cool.
It worked for me beautifully!
It didn't work with either the small or larger versions on your site, but I saved the large one to my desktop where I could resize slightly smaller and move it around. I wore my reading glasses and relaxed my eyes while focusing in the center, between the two. I have a 24inch screen
I came back to each of the images on your blog and it pops in 3d immediately - now I can't get it NOT to work, lol
Very clever you!
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