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Dimensional (3D) photography is a simple process, at least in theory. You provide a separate image of the same scene for each eye, slightly out of phase. Of course to do it right, it takes a good amount of photographic skill, an understanding of the psychological and mathematical principles involved, and some fairly precision hardware.
But, in a true do-it-yourself fashion, you can get everything you need to create your own 3D photos for a modest investment. Here's how...
What you'll need is a pair of matched digital cameras, a few tools, some 1/8 inch aluminum abgle bracket, a few bolts, and some 3D authoring software.
The software I use is for the PC. My favorite program is called stereo photo maker, which you can download at http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/index.html There are also Mac programs, such as 3D Maker.
You'll also need some red/cyan glasses for viewing your results; you can get them at http://store.rainbowsymphonystore.com/3dglasses.html
The most important thing is to create images of the same size, quality, same kind of lens, etc. So you'll want to get two identical cameras. You can get a good deal on last year's model used on eBay. You don't need a top of the line camera, or one with all the latest bells and whistles. Here's what's important, and I'll explain why in a minute:
- A hole for a tripod mount screw.
- Removable SD memory cards, to retrieve the pictures.
- An internal flash, that can be disabled.
- A narrow width body, ideally about the distance between your eyes.
- A remote shutter release, if possible (most low cost cameras won't have one, don't worry about it).
You'll definitely want a tripod, so you can hold the cameras perfectly still. You can pick up an inexpensive one for $20 at Target or Wal-Mart. I usually shoot without flash; they add just one more variable that can go wrong. It's better to use natural light (the best 3D seems to be for daytime outdoor shots anyway).
If you can get cameras with provisions for an external shutter release, buy or make a "Y" cable, so you can fire both at the same time. If you can't do this, hold your breath and click the shutter buttons at the same time.
The distance between the lenses are important. They should be the same as the distance between your eyes; if not, you'll get hyper stereo effects, which can hurt your eyes. A high-end commercial camera bar will let you move the cameras farther apart though; you want to do this if you're shooting landscapes, where nothing is in the immediate foreground.
The first thing you need to do is to create a jig to hold the cameras together. There are some commercial ones, but I ended up making one out of a piece of 1/8 inch aluminum angle bracket. You'll need to cut away parts of it to make room for the preview window and rear controls; you can do this with a hacksaw and a file. The only critical thing is getting the holes you drill lined up on a straight line. I used a pair of Kodak CX6200 cameras, that have both a tripod mounting hole and a smaller hole I used to put an alignment pin in.
Using a metal ruler and a scribe, I cut a line where the holes go. I pressed the camera one the angle bracket so the bottom and rear were making good contact, and measured the distance for the main hole. I used a 1/16 inch bit to make a starter hole. Next, I measured the distance to the smaller hole, and drilled it too. The big hole needs to be drilled out to 1/4 inch. For the alignment hole, I found a little allen-head screw that fit it perfectly. It was a 4-40, I think. I got a tap and tapped the little hole big enough for the alignment screw.
Next, I cut away the back of the angle bracket so I could see the preview window and get to thebuttons on the rear of the camera. Finally, I mounted the whole assembly on a piece of 1x6 pine. I got push-in threaded insert to fit the 1/4 inch x 20 screw from the tripod. I drilled out the wood with 1/8 holes to get to the alignment screws, and 1/4 holes for the camera mount screws. I got some 1/4 inch x 20 aluminum thumbscrews long enough to go through the wood and bracket, to firmly mount the cameras. I used some 6-32 scews and nuts to hold the bracket to the wood.
Now it's time to take some photos. Try not to get things too close to your camera, have the sun behind you. Snap both shutters at once. Remove your memory card after you have a few shots, and download the images to your computer. I create a work folder, with a subfolder under it for the left and right images.
Fire up your authoring software, and make an anaglyphic image, using red-cyan images. Stereo photo maker has ways to align the images and pull them together or apart, in order to get the correct depth. You can view them onscreen, put them on your website, or print them out, using glossy photo paper.
And even if you just have one digital camera, you can try some experiments first before you decide if you want to go further. Simply take a photo, move the camera about 3 1/2 inches, and take the second frame. The important thing is keeping the camera on a steady line, and having the camera body exactly parallel in both shots (otherwise you'll get parallax distortion and a headache). An easy way to do this is to get a short length of 2x4, and nail a second piece along one edge so you have something to slide the camera along. Since there will be at least a few seconds between exposures, try a landscape or still-life shot, since anything moving will not show up correctly.
See also my list of 3D photography tips.
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