P3D Good Old Henry

[Ray Zone <r3dzone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ray Moxom wrote:

>THE PERFECT STEREOSCOPIC PICTURE
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>"A perfect stereoscopic picture should be one that, when seen in an
>instrument, it would appear that we are looking at nature itself,
>without the interposition of any medium, and produce the same appearance
>as, for instance, if we were looking at a view through an open window."

>The above rather poetic quotation is from an article on Stereoscopic
>Transparencies by Henry C Delery that was published in the 1913 American
>Annual of Photography.

>Henry Delery was expounding the virtues of stereoscopic transparencies
>at a time when the vast majority of stereographs were in print form -
>and he was discussing monochrome stereographs!

>While I like both slides and cards, I tend to agree with good old Henry
>- a good stereo slide is more realistic than a good stereo print.  Don't
>you all agree?

No, Ray, I'm sorry.  I don't agree on two counts:

	1.  Good old Henry is suggesting that the highest function of
stereography is to replicate reality (as it is perceived by us humans with
approximately 2 1/2" interocular depth perception).  If that is the case
then we don't need stereography at all!  Why not just look at "nature
itself" or directly at "a view through an open window" without the use of
any "medium" or "instrument" of any kind?

	No, I agree with Stan White who has stated that the essential
difference between 2-D imagery and 3-D is "qualitative and not
quantitative."  Stan says that "the medium of 3-D is itself surreal."
There is a unique magic to the self-contained visual inclusiveness of the
3-D photograph that is not strictly about "reality" as we generally suppose
it to appear.

	I love 3-D because, through the use of those marvellously
artificial instruments  (stereoscope, anaglyphoscope, lenticular sheet or
holograph) I am able to gaze upon what seems to be another world, even if
the view depicted is the street just outside my door.  Through these
transformative visual instruments the familiar world undergoes a sea change
into a fresh discovery.  With the "interposition" of these media we are
able to encounter the world anew.

	2.  After shooting a few thousand slide transparencies with a Kodak
Stereo camera, I am now shooting negative print film to produce
stereocards.  Looking at stereo transparencies in a hand-held viewer or
projected polarized slide show is just as (marvellously) artificial as
looking through a stereoscope.  And besides, the stereocards can be copied
onto slide film at any time.

Respectfully,

Ray Zone

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The Ray Zone Theory of Relative Numbers:  1 + 1 = 3 (D)
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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 3158
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