Anaglyphs

Like stereograms, anaglyphs require two offset images to create the 3D illusion. However anaglyphs can be made out of one photograph, meaning they don’t require any specialist cameras to capture the original images, making anaglyphs a better choice for this project, rather than stereograms.

The 3D illusion is created by isolated two colour channels with in the image, red and cyan, and then offsetting the layers to create two images of the scene in red and cyan with either subtle or dramatic position movements to the side, depending on how prominent you want the 3D illusion. The final image is then viewed using filtered glasses reacting to the different offset layers. Each eye sees one of the colour layers and the brain creates a 3^rd image, from these two, with increased depth perception giving the appearance of 3D effects. I’ve chosen this technique of creating 3D images over stereograms because it just seems more feasible and less hassle, stereograms require either two identical cameras or one specialised one, they also have to be viewed through stereoscopes giving the images size restrictions and increasing costs and time taken to produce the final output, anaglyphs require specialised glasses, but these are very cheap and can be bought on mass and compared to the production is relatively simple to produce compared to the alternative method. Its also a more modern method of producing 3D images and so hopefully will result in higher quality results.

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Anaglyphs have multiple applications and outputs including; moving and still images, science and design (where depth perception is critical), entertainment purposes such as 3D films to name a few. NASA use the method for the Mars Rover images to give them a clearer perception of the geography of the environments.

However there is a down side to using anaglyphs over stereograms, and that is the colour rendering. Because stereograms are side by side images they produce much clearer results, and anaglyphs have their two images over lapped causing strange colour casts and ghosting to occur, this can be negated with higher quality anaglyphs however.

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A brief history

Anaglyphs first appeared around 1852 in Germany by Wilhelm Rollmann, however his method was only used for line drawings only. The first printed anaglyph appeared around 1891 and was produced by Louis Ducos du Hauron. The first motion picture anaglyph appeared in 1889 created by William Friese-Green and was publicly exhibited in 1893. The anaglyphic films then boomed in the 1920s, in 1954 a particularly successful anaglyphic film was released titled ‘The creature from the Black Lagoon’ and by 1953 anaglyphs were appearing in newspapers, magazines and comic books getting more and more successful and increased quality.

Aidavdbrake

Landscape anaglyphs

When looking through the following landscape anaglyphs I notice they aren't made in the same way as the anaglyphs in the tutorial I looked at, the way I made my landscape anaglyph. In the tutorial only the foreground is duplicated and made 3D, where as in these anaglyphs the whole scene is made 3D with the effect being applied across the entire image. It's hard to see if the entire image is duplicated and offset as a solid block, or if the images are made in layers with each layer being offset by a different amount to change the perspective and intensity of the illusion from foreground to mid to background. Either way the effect is very successful in these images.

I think the composition of the original photograph is quite important to the success of the anaglyphic effect. There needs to be a strong and distinctive foreground, mid-ground and background through out the images. The images with something that start in the foreground and then use leading lines to bring the eye through to the mid and background are particularly effective, the road and bridge images for example utilise this and particularly stand out to me. The image by Joel Fletcher demonstrates the strong foreground composition utilising the rock formations and gradually fades away. I think these kind of images, this image and the road image, work well because there are other indications of depth perception, the large rock formations in the foreground (the wide road) and they gradually get smaller as you look towards the background. I think the most successful anaglyphs will be those that utilise as many methods to create depth perception as possible (vanishing points, colours [darker foregrounds/lighter backgrounds], etc), in other words, composition of the original image is key.  

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Joel Fletcher

Raf Pauwels