How to Create Animated 3D Stereo Photos

Stereo photography creates a single three-dimensional image using two ordinary 2D images. Although there's several ways to achieve this effect, most require 3D glasses and/or a special display device. This article focuses on a technique which requires nothing more than an ordinary digital camera and photo editing software. It works by combining two separate photos into a single animated image (often using the standard GIF format), as shown below. While this clearly isn't recommended for all your photos, it's certainly a fun trick to experiment with when you want to create a different look. Move your mouse over each image above to see the 3D effect. Images courtesy of StereoPhoto Maker (left) and Jim Gasperini (right).OVERVIEW: 3D VISION &...

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F-Stop Stacking: Depth of Field & Corner Sharpness

Image stacking can be a powerful technique for improving the quality of a photograph. This tutorial discusses a technique which stacks images taken at different f-stops in order to overcome blurriness caused by diffraction and/or to improve corner sharpness — while also maintaining a vast depth of field. We refer to this as "f-stop stacking". It's perhaps most useful with landscape photography, and is also one of the easiest stacking techniques to implement. EXTENDED DEPTH OF FIELD EXAMPLEIn a nutshell, here's how it works: several photos are taken at different f-stops, then a final composite is created using only the sharpest portions of each image. The result is a photo with an extended depth of field that looks natural, because sharpness...

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Extending Depth of Field Using Focus Stacking

Focus stacking is a powerful technique for extending a photo's apparent depth of field. It's perhaps most useful in close-up and macro photography, since the camera lens's highest f-stop is often insufficient to render everything in focus. It can even overcome the otherwise unavoidable sharpness loss from diffraction. However, focus stacking is also quite a complicated technique to master. Continue reading to learn more about this powerful tool. Photo taken under full moonlight atop Clare Bridge in Cambridge, England. Two focusing distances were used: one for the sphere and the other for the background. WHEN TO USE IMAGE STACKINGWhen a photographer requires more depth of field, they typically just increase the f-stop setting of their camera...

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