A newbie 3D photo experience

[P3D <AndyBurr@xxxxxxx>]

The following may seem pretty dumb to the old-timers on the list, but I think
it may be encouraging to those who, like me, are new to stereography.

I've been a collector of 3D images for some time, but have never been
anything close to a photographer. I even have trouble getting a good photo
with a fully automatic camera. Since discovering this newsgroup, however,
I've been becoming more interested in making my own 3D images. I took some
weight-shift shots with the point-n-shoots we have around the house and
mounted the prints on 3.5x7 cards. The results were encouraging. 

But when local stereographer Jeff Jessee offered to lend me one of his
Realist cameras to try some shots, I was still intimidated. What's an f-stop,
anyway? He gave me a 10-minute lesson on what film to get; how to load,
advance, and rewind the film; how to select f-stop and shutter speed; and how
to get the film developed. A week later I had worked up enough courage to get
film and load the camera. A phone call to Dr. T got me the 2-minute refresher
course on "what is an f-stop, anyway?" and I was ready to go.

It turned out that for me the Realist was much simpler to use than a modern
manual camera with its expanded range of shutter speeds and f-stops. I
limited myself mostly to taking pictures in bright sunlight, but I also
experimented a little, attempting some shots in less-than-bright sunlight and
in the shade.

On Memorial Day, Jeff invited me over to help me mount my developed film. I
had purchased some of the slip-in mounts, but using foldover cardboard mounts
and tape, Jeff was able to mount the chips faster than I could with the
slip-ins. He said that if I intended to project the slides that we would have
taken more care in mounting them (and that can always be done later), but
when he projected a few through his recently acquired Realist projector (now
I know where the producers of Star Wars got their 'look' for Darth Vader!),
they seemed just fine to me.

Out of two 24-exposure rolls of Kodachrome 64, I wound up with 20+ slides
that are acceptable to my novice standards. Many of the slides were
under-exposed, but still look great to me through a viewer. (Choosing my
almost-four-year-old daughter as primary subject helped tremendously in this
regard, as did the Dr. T-supplied halogen bulb that Jeff put in my viewer.)

A few things (in no particular order) I learned from my initial experience: 
Precise focus seems to be much more critical, and more difficult to get
right, the closer the subject is.
When shooting distant objects, it's best to avoid also having close objects
in the frame.
Mounting realist-format slides for use in a viewer is not an arcane science.
Late afternoon light is much friendlier than noon light.
Objects in rapid motion are not very good subjects for the Realist.
It's not really that difficult to take 3D slides.

I'm sure that like most things, the more I learn the more I'll realize how
much more there is to learn; but right now, flush with success and the
excitement of seeing 3D PHOTOGRAPHS I MADE, I couldn't be more pleased. Many
thanks to Jeff Jessee for his kindness and generosity--and to all of you on
this list--for adding a new dimension to my life.

Andy Burr
Winter Park, FL



------------------------------

End of PHOTO-3D Digest 1354
***************************
***************************
 Trouble? Send e-mail to 
 wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
 To unsubscribe select one of the following,
 place it in the BODY of a message and send it to:
 listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
   unsubscribe photo-3d
   unsubscribe mc68hc11
   unsubscribe overland-trails
   unsubscribe icom
 ***************************