Nothing New

I imagine any "regular" visitors have moved on since this blog has been so inactive.
My foray into infrared has meant no spare time to play with 3D.
However, I'm always on the lookout for digital point & shoots that are both cheap and have Manual exposure mode. Someday I'll have a pair and will jump back into 3D.
For now, with a single camera it's just too time consuming in the field.

New, From HemisFair's Fountains

Guess it's been a long time again since my last update.
I just shoot too many other things, and single-camera 3D is such a pain, that I forget or don't bother.
The two images used here are a few weeks old and were forgotten until tonight.

If I did this more often it would become easier--a Catch-22.

Mission San Jose

HemisFair Fountains

Using a single camera has many drawbacks for 3D, especially when things are moving.
The time it takes to set-up the 2nd shot means that clouds and cars and people and water have moved, destroying a tight 3D effect.
But I shoot at night all the time and especially enjoy what a long exposure does to moving water.
It gets averaged-out over the length of time the shutter's open, making the appearance rather smooth.

A few nights ago I wondered if this time-based effect might help me with single camera stereo pairs, so I gave it a try.
This was only a quick edit and I'm sure I could do better, but the main point is clear: Even with the smoothing there is still a difference between the left and right images in the water areas, but the difference is subtle and when viewed the end result is that the little waterfalls I captured seem to shimmer.

I'll take shimmering water any day--it actually looks like it's moving to me which is pretty damn cool.

Bedrock In A Dry Creekbed

You have to click on each photo to see the 3D effect
Cross-eyed version.

Flashing gif.

I missed the distracting spot of bright foliage in the upper-left corner, and didn't feel like fixing it right now. Sorry.

Log Again

Seriously, you have to click on the thumbnail to see what this post is about.
The excellent Stereo Photo Maker software has a flashing gif function that allows anyone to 'see' 3D in full color.
It works better on images with subtle variations between left and right shots as far as I can tell, and the flashing can be mildly annoying, but it's another tool in my arsenal of tricks.

The way the top of the log is bouncing up and down in this version is most likely caused by that area being at the top/center in only one of the exposures used.
The reason is lens "barrel distortion", which occurs at the wide-angle part of the zoom range in many cameras and can be described as a milder form of the "fish-eye" effect.
No camera lens is perfect, and barrel distortion is a fact of life many people learn to live with. Mine has it's fair share, and when shooting normal 2D images I often try to dial in some magnification to reduce it whenever possible.
Because 3D works best when almost no zoom is used, I will have to learn just how much magnification I can get away with to reduce the distortion without compromising the depth by having too much telephoto compression.

Log™

"What rolls down stairs
Alone or in pairs
Rolls over your neighbor's dog
What's great for a snack
And fits on your back
It's Log Log Log"

Watch the commercial

Crownridge Natural Area

Crownridge is a new park. The land was bought by our water district to preserve the natural landscape and forever prevent development on this piece of land. It's in our aquifer recharge zone, so any rain that falls here becomes part of our drinking water supply.
The whole concept is a winner, and I'm sorry this 3D photo doesn't do it justice.

Tree And Fence

I thought it was cool that the same kind of tree was used for the fence. Mountain Cedar?