brave [little] meme

I recently started playing with 3D Stereo Pairs, and what started as a fun little exercise  turned out to open up a whole world of beautiful photography. The concept is neither new nor hi-tech, but it’s an interesting one nevertheless.

In a nutshell: 3D Stereo Pairs are just that, two images, presented side by side, taken a few inches apart from each other. Although different ways of presenting these images exist (parallel, over/under, anaglyph, etc.) the most easily accessible is the “cross-eyed” method.

Take the image below as an example. You start off with the two images presented (the stereo pair). Gently cross your eyes until you see three images, and focus on the middle one only. Slowly, as you stabilize your vision, you will  be able to get that “virtual” image into sharp focus, and your brain will ‘pop’ it into spectacular 3D. You will be able to see into it, look around it, and get a real sense of depth as if looking into a portal.

The first time might take you a minute or two, but once you get the hang of it you should be able to re-focus on any stereo pair in a matter of seconds. And once you do that, you’ll have access at a whole new world of photography. 

Here are a few links to get you started.

The Best of Stereoscopy

3D CrossView Photo Pool

Stereoscopy on DeviantArt

Anachrome

More information on Wikipedia