Erlys' great 3d work

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you remember, a few weeks back I worked on Erlys' viewer (that's 
"Erlys from Mill Valley") and I sent a few of my slides back with the
viewer.  A few days ago I received my slides back with 4 of Erlys'.
(We are starting a mini postal circuit here!)  I was going to post
these comments to Erlys but I decided to post them here because they
are of general interest IMO.

Erlys writes: "You will know immediately when you look at my slides
that I don't own any fancy equipment".  And this is the point I would
like to make... I am glad to see what simple equipment will do because
these are some of the most wonderful pictures I have seen for a long
time!!!  

As you know, I belong to 3 slide circuits and every month I get to review
in a viewer at least 40 stereo slides taken by different people.  I go to
Detroit every month where I see 60 to 80 projected competition slides plus 
usually 50 or more slides as part of a 3d program like the Detroit PSA
salon last month.  That's a lot of slides!  So, it does mean something
when I say that Erlys' pictures taken with simple equipment are some
of the most beautiful pictures I have seen!  

Here are the details:

One picture is a single camera  hyperstereo of San Francisco and the other
3 are standard Realist pictures.  Erlys writes: "I wanted to show you how
San Francisco looks in hyperstereo from the top of Twin Peaks.  You can 
see the SF Oakland Bay Bridge which passes through Yerba Buena Island
as it continues on over to Oakland."  

This is a wonderful single camera hyperstereo with just the right amount 
of translation to show everything in 3 dimensions without exaggerations. 
Some cars have moved between the exposures but they are small and do not 
bother me.  I do not know what extends beyond the 5p size mask that this 
is mounted but it will be worth trying a 7p mount just to see more of a 
great picture!!!

"The other slides I picked from my collection this morning..."  What a
great collection you must have Erlys!  And I am glad to see that your
slides are nicely mounted in Realist aluminum mounts, glass and 
aluminum mounted, protected from rough handling.

"Dreamers on the Beach" is definitely the most wonderful Realist slide I 
have seen for years.  It is taken at sunset in the beach.  The sky shows 
orange soft cloud formations.  The water has waves and it is properly 
levelled.  There are two figures in the picture.  One young woman is 
looking straight as if she is in deep thoughts.  The sun comes from the 
side with a warm glow illuminating the scene.  Sand is in the foreground.  

I showed this picture to my wife who never says anything good about my 
pictures.  She called this one "lovely and wonderful".  That says a lot!  
I see from some stickers that this picture was submitted in a slide 
competition (PSA?) and I wonder how well it did.  It does look great in 
my sharp halogenized red button viewer.

Another Realist slide "Struggling With Sails" is taken from top looking
down close at two windsurfers "struggling" to get going.  The colors
are bright and the composition (each in opposite corners or the frame)
is great.

The last Realist slide "New England Forest" is a close up of fall red
leaves, the kind of nature picture that I really like.  The background
is slightly out of focus due to the wide aperture and close focusing
used, but the main subject is holding my attention and I am not interested
in the background, plus I don't think it will show in projection.

Overall, I am very pleased to see the great work that Erlys is doing
with her simple equipment, a stereo camera from the 50s that can
be purchased for $125 and a single camera that everyone here must
already have.  If you don't take stereo pictures with what you have
or don't want to invest a small amount to get a stereo camera, then
you are missing lots of fun and personal satisfaction!

Thanks Erlys for sharing those pictures with me... I'll project them
tonight to check how they look in projection and return them on Tuesday
with some more of mine.

-- George Themelis

PS.  I do own a Realist 2.8 and a Belplasca and I am very fortunate
to have touched and used an RBT S1 Conica Hexar ($$$!) but I still
cannot take as lovely pictures as the "Dreamers".  Fancy equipment
will not give you great pictures!


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