Canon Camera, Hackers Manual

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7.7 Stereo photography
217
7.7.2 Producing and viewing composite stereo images
Once you have created pairs of stereo photos, you may want to compose
them into a single file so that they can easily be deployed and viewed. One
program that can do exactly that is
StereoPhotoMaker, which is available
for free on the Web ( http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr ). If you are inter-
ested in stereo photography, it is also worth visiting the parent page ( http://
stereo.jpn.org/eng) for even more tips and tools.
Simply download the ZIP file and extract it into a folder of your choice.
To align the stereo pairs automatically, the StereoPhotoMaker needs an
additional component
5
, the free program Autopano from http://autopano.
kolor.com/ . Unzip the downloaded ZIP file and copy autopano.exe into the
installation folder of the StereoPhotoMaker . This program is good enough
to correctly align images that are shot hand-held.
After installation, simply start the StereoPhotoMaker with a double-
click. Then you can drop a pair of stereo images into the image area, invoke
Adjust > Auto align, and then invoke one of the Stereo > Gray Anaglyph or
Stereo
> Color Anaglyph functions. Press Enter for full screen view, turn
down the room light, put on the red/cyan 3D goggles
6
, and your computer
screen becomes 3D. With File > Save Stereo image, you can save the anaglyph
to a new file that can be viewed with any image viewer. StereoPhotoMaker
can, of course, do much, much more, but this is the shortest way to your
first 3D photo. Not only red/cyan goggles are supported, but also 3D shut-
ter glasses that synchronize your view with quickly alternating left/right
images on the screen. Another option for producing 3D images is the
AnaglyphMaker from www.stereoeye.jp/software/index_e.html.
7.7.3 Stereo focus stacking
A problem with close-up stereo photography is the narrow depth of field.
In contrast, when you view a scene, your eyes scan it and adapt to the vary-
ing distances. Your brain does the composition.
We already know that we can do something similar with focus stacking
(section 4.6.3). The question is: can we combine this technique with stereo
photography? Yes, we can—focus-stacked 3D is possible and does, in fact,
enhance the 3D impression. First set up your camera (or your cameras) for
stereo work. If your camera has a manual focusing mode, switch it on. Then
go to
ALT > MENU > Brackt/Override, enable the entry Focus override, choose
an appropriate Focus step-size, set the Focus mode to Manual, and select
5 The same componenent is used in the Hugin panorama stitcher (section
6.1).
6 You can easily make 3D glasses yourself. See www.videojug.com/film/how-
to-make- 3d-glasses.