Stereo Photography- The World in 3D

3D Photography has been around for a century and a half. It is simply a method of photographically recreating what you already do- perceive depth in everything you see.

Standard photographs are only 2-dimensional representations of what you see. 3-Dimensional photographs are taken from two perspectives (you have two eyes, hence two perspectives on a scene). By forcing each eye to see only one photograph, i.e. the left eye sees the left photograph and the right eye sees the right photograph, your brain will reconstruct the depth information from the two pictures and you will see a 3D image.

There are various ways of doing this, and this site is meant to give a demonstration of several forms of viewing them.

Here you will see over 3000 3D pictures from 38 countries that were either taken on 35mm slide or negative film, and with a digital camera. There are also 3D images extracted from video, 3D images made on a scanner, and 3D photomicrographs made with a microscope. Most of the images are in cross-eyed viewing format, and there are instructions on how to view them on this site.

However, about 20% of the site consists of images in the JPS format, or JPEG Stereo. These images give you more flexibility in viewing, and allow you, the viewer, to pick the most comfortable viewing method, whether it is cross-eyed, parallel, anaglyph, or even LCD shutter glasses. These images are also at twice the resolution of the other images, so you get much more detail. Since the images are larger, you are warned because the thumbnail has a yellow or red frame around it, and you will see these icons on the top of the preview page:

The yellow frame means that it's just a JPS image, but otherwise, the page is the same as the others (although the JPS image will pop up in a separate window).

The red frame is special, in that only a small fraction of the pages are indicated thusly. It indicates that not only is this going to be a JPS image, but that it will also have a map showing the location, a much larger caption giving more information, and a 2D pop-up photo album with even more regional photos. These images are called InDepth, and are also collected in a separate gallery for a concentrated look at the best of this site.

In the Viewing section, you will learn how to view the 3D images on this page using the cross-eyed method (a majority of the shots). To start viewing the galleries, just click on the regions of the map.

In the Take your own 3D section, you will learn how to take 3D photos using a camera or a scanner, and you will learn my 3D video method as well. You will learn how to take 3D photomicrographs using a toy microscope.

In the Display them yourself section, you will learn how to project the 3D photos you have taken with a camera onto a movie screen in full stereo. Complete details of the home setup are included.

Finally, while I don't go into depth with all methods, I provide links to other sites that explore other aspects of this type of photography, and I am a member of the Stereoscopic Web Ring, with more than 200 sites devoted to Stereo Photography and other formats. I also provide links to the manufacturers of the equipment I use, along with manufacturers/sellers of other types of 3D equipment.


	Updated: October 22, 2007