cloud stereography

[P3D <koganlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

	I have never replied to anything on this list before, so I don't know 
if I am doing it correctly, but I guess it's worth a try.
	Franz wrote concerning cloud stereography:
"The only solution to this problem seems to be, to do it in one shot. But
what equipment does it need ?  Since some of the objects are kilometers
away, and we want to see the shapes of the individual mountains, 2
separated cameras are necessary, I assume." 

	I have made approximately a hundred or so of these images, with maybe 
10 of them meeting the standards I have set for myself. I use 2 medium 
format cameras (Rolleiflexes, Yashicamats, and others) for most of the 
images that I make, including these. I usually put the cameras on tripods 
with one person on each camera. I tell the other person what to center in 
the viewfinder. (Medium format gives enough image area so there is enough 
room to crop the part that is not common to both negatives, as opposed to 
35mm slides.) The camera positions have varied from 50 to 150 yards 
depending on how far away the clouds looked to me. I have made a few 
successful images without using tripods. My assistant was 150 yards away on 
a busy highway (395 in the Eastern Sierra of California) so we couldn't 
communicate by voice. I lowered my hand and we each counted to 5 silently 
while centering on the predetermined spot, then released the shutter. I had 
to crop approximately 20% of the image, but it resulted in one of my 
favorite hypers of clouds over Mono Lake. When the scene isn't quite so 
distant and I don't have an assistant, I have set up the cameras on tripods 
and released one shutter using the self timer and run to the other while 
counting the time it takes the self timer to release the shutter.
	These techniques are admittedly burdensome, but we have to decide the 
parameters and compromises that are right for us to obtain the results we 
require. They wouldn't work very well for slide shows, but I am interested 
in making a few prints that are as good as I can make them.
					David Lee


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