My Top 10 Photos for 2011
- At January 03, 2012
- By Neil Creek
- In Feature, Top Posts
13
It is a tradition for me to look back on my year in photography each January. I find it a great exercise in seeing where I’ve been, what I’ve achieved and discover any strengths I may have been neglecting. It’s also a good chance to show off my work a little :) It’s always a challenge to distil a year’s work into just ten (plus two) photos, but I really do feel I’m left with the very best of my work. I hope you’ll enjoy looking at and reading about these photos as much as I did taking them.
Read More»My Top 10 Photos for 2010
- At January 05, 2011
- By Neil Creek
- In Top Posts
- 9
2010 was a very busy year, and as a result the blog unfortunately suffered, but I can’t miss my tradition of choosing my favourite ten photos for the year gone. I tried a lot of new things this year, and spent most of my time photographing people. We didn’t get many opportunities to travel, so there are fewer nature photos, but I think my portrait work has improved. I have also started experimenting with more elaborate people shoots, as well as starting a journey of exploration into the world of artistic nude photography. (Don’t worry, there are no NSFW photos in this post!)
Read More»How to take 3D photos
- At March 21, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In 3D, Top Posts, Tutorial
- 97
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a tutorial on how to see cross-eye 3D stereo photos on your computer screen. Today I’m going to tell you how to take your own 3D photos.
The process is really very simple, and the basics can be explained in less than a minute, but to become good at taking and presenting 3D photos take a bit more time, and it’s something that really develops with practice. I hope you’ll take what you learn here and get out and get lots of practice taking 3D photos.
The typical and easiest single-camera 3D photography technique is commonly called the “cha-cha” technique, for reasons which will soon become obvious. Here’s the technique in a nutshell:
Taking the Photos
- Always take photos in portrait orientation
- Set the camera to full manual and choose the correct exposure and focus
- Put your feet square on to the subject of your 3d photo
- Put your weight onto your right foot, without lifting your left
- Take the first photo
- Put your weight onto your left foot without raising your right
- Unless your subject is very close, you don’t need to turn your camera to keep it in the centre
- Take the second photo
And you’re done! As simple as that. Simply by shifting your weight from one foot to the other, you move your viewpoint by several centimetres, sufficient to get a 3D effect. The “cha-cha” name refers to the side to side sway you do when taking the photo.
Processing
StereoPhoto Maker screenshot
Now you’ve got two photos, but you need to make one. I use a fantastic piece of free software called StereoPhoto Maker. It’s not the prettiest software, but it does a fantastic job. It can be used in conjunction with a plugin called AutoPano, that can analise the two images and automatically correct for many of the problems that can come from shooting two separate images. This includes tilting and twisting, moving forward or back between shots, and the “keystone distortion” that occurs when you turn the camera to centre the subject for close 3D photos.
- Download and install StereoPhoto Maker.
- Download and install AutoPano and link it to StereoPhoto Maker as a plugin.
Step by step
- Drag both photos onto the StereoPhoto Maker shortcut icon
- Zoom out a bit with your mouse’s scroll wheel if you need to to make it easier to fuse the pair into 3D with the cross-eye technique
- If the 3D effect seems reversed, click the swap button to swap the images correctly for a crossed eye view
- Click on the auto align button to use autopano to correct for any distortions
- Click on the Easy Adjustment button to fix the 3D images position relative to the 3D window (see below for more information)
- I find adding a border helps, so if you like, in the menu go to View – Border Options
- Check “Show Border” and adjust the border settings to your liking
- Save the image by clicking in the menu File – Save Stereo Image
- Enjoy your new 3d photo!
The 3D “Window”
The edge of the image is more than just the boundaries of the 3D photograph. In a 3D photo, it is also a “hole” into which you look and through which 3D subjects can appear. A good way to think of the edge of the image is as a literal window in your computer screen. This is one of the reasons why I find a border around both parts of the 3D image helps me, it more clearly defines the edge of the 3D window.
Just like a real window, you expect to look through it, and rarely do you expect things seen beyond it to come back through it at you. One nasty optical illusion that can happen with 3D photos is when part of the 3D subject “touches” the window, or worse, appears to overlap it. Have a look at the two examples below:
 The subject is placed too far forward in the 3D window, and appears to overlap the window’s edge, creating an uncomfortable optical illusion. This is most obvious on the left of this stereo photo. |
 Here the photo has been corrected, pushing the 3D subject back in 3D space beyond the window frame. |
StereoPhoto Maker easy adjustment
This problem is easily corrected in SteroPhoto Maker with the “Easy Adjustment” button. Clicking on this will show both images overlapped and tinted red and blue (if you have an pair of red/blue 3d glasses, you can do this process in 3D!). Using the slider above the image, you can adjust the separation of the two images, thus moving them backward and forward in 3D space.
It can be tricky to get the hang of how changing this slider will affect the final image, but as a tip, look at the bottom edge. Move the slider so that the red and blue images exactly overlap where they touch the bottom edge, that means that part of the image will appear at the same distance as the frame. This tip will only work, obviously, if part of the subject touches the bottom of the photo. With some practice you’ll get the hang of it.
A rule of thumb is that it’s ok for part of the image to protrude through the frame, as long as no part is “touching” it.
How to View
Now that you’ve got a whole bunch of awesome 3D photos, it’s time to share them around. Hopefully you’ve already read my tutorial on how to view cross-eye 3D photos on your computer screen, but if not, you can read it here.
If you’d like to share your new 3D masterpieces, and I encourage you to do so, there’s a Stereophotography Flickr group, and one on Yahoo too. I’d love you to put links to your 3D photos in the comments to this post, so I can see how you’ve done! I’m relatively new to 3D photography, so I’m sure there’s much you can teach me too!
This is a quick and easy method for 3D photography and has a number of advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages
- You don’t need expensive specialist 3D equipment
- Each eye’s image is captured on a full frame, so the resulting 3D image can be very high resolution
- There is no blurring or ghosting at the edge of the frame, which can be seen in many “beam splitter” attachments where the two views join
- You can take a 3D photo with any lens in your SLR kit, including macro, for extremely close 3D photos
- Many 3D attachments have very limited control over focus and aperture, with the cha-cha technique you have complete control over the settings
- You can do this with any camera, if you forget to take your 3D attachment or camera, you can still take 3D photos this way
Disadvantages
- The most obvious and critical shortcoming is that this method only works with still object that don’t move between shots
- Any movement between the two shots will cause a distracting 3D error, so people, animals and even trees in a light breeze will be difficult or impossible to shoot
- You need to take two photos for every 3D image, which takes twice as long, and uses twice as much space
- It is easy to introduce errors such as twisting or tilting the camera between shots which can cause distracting artifacts
- You need to shoot with manual settings so that there’s no accidental variation in exposure or focus
How to see 3D photos
- At February 28, 2008
- By Neil Creek
- In 3D, Feature, Top Posts, Tutorial
- 98
Photography has an inherent limitation in that cameras typically capture images that don’t have any true three dimensional depth. We have two eyes, but with the exception of specialised equipment, cameras only have one lens. There are ways to “cheat” however, and for almost as long as there have been cameras, there have been people trying to find ways to take and view 3D photos.
3D photography is experiencing a rush of interest and innovation, as more people experiment with better digital cameras, and a wave of new 3D movies, including the spectacular 3D epic by James Cameron, Avatar captivates audiences worldwide. 3D is the next big thing, and many want to create and see 3D photography, or stereophotography.
This article is not a history of stereophotography. The point is to teach you how to see 3D photos on the web. There are many different ways to see 3D, with just as many gadgets to help. The technique I will be showing you requires no special equipment. All you need to do is train your eyes to look at these images in what you might call an “unnatural” way.
-
Table of Contents
- Stereo Pairs
- How to do it
- Try it!
- Linking to this guide
- Resources
- Some more examples to enjoy
Note: This technique will be impossible for some people. If you have poor eye control, a dramatic disparity in eye function or anything along those lines, you may not be able to see the 3D effect no matter how much you practice.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, lets learn how to see in 3D!
Stereo Pairs
To see a 3D image, each eye needs to see a different view. There are ways to take photos like this, but I’ll talk about that another time. When the two slightly different images are processed, they are placed side-by-side so that the viewer can use a special “crossed-eye” technique to overlap them, and see both views together in 3D.
Below is an animation that simulates what it looks like when you view these images in 3D. The instructions follow.
How to do it
- Sit square in front of your monitor, with the image directly in front of you, at about arm’s length
- Sitting further back makes it easier – you don’t need to cross your eyes as much – but makes the image look smaller
- Make sure you keep your head level horizontally, tilting your head will prevent you from merging the images
- While keeping the stereo pair of images in the centre of your vision, slowly cross your eyes
- The stereo pair will go out of focus and you will seem to see four images, as shown in the animation above
- If you find it hard to cross your eyes, it can help to hold a pen in front of you and look at the tip with the stereo pair in the background
- Gradually cross your eyes more and more – if using a pen to assist, start it close to the monitor and move it towards your nose
- Continue crossing your eyes more, untill the centre two of the four images overlap and you see three blurry images, as in the animation above
- Try and hold the centre image together – it is possible to “lock” it in place and see it as one image
- The “locked” centre image should appear in 3D!
- Now the tricky part, focus – while holding the 3D image in place, relax your eyes – drop the pen from your field of view if you are using it
- If you can keep the 3D image locked and relax your eyes, it should eventually pop into focus, as in the last frame of the animation above
When overlapping stereo pairs without special glasses, you can get the 3D effect by crossing your eyes or diverging your eyes. I prefer the crossed eye method. I find it easier to control, and it is possible to view larger 3D images than with the diverging technique.
What you are doing here is causing your eyes to look at a space between you and the monitor, but focusing the lenses on the monitor. Our eyes never naturally need to do this, so it can be tricky to do at first.
Try it!
Try and see the 3D effect yourself with the stereo pair below.
How did you go? If you were able to see the effect, congratulations! It really is very striking isn’t it? If you couldn’t manage to do it after trying for a while, leave it aside and try again tomorrow. It can be tricky to get the first time, but the majority of people can do it. If you find you are unable to see the 3D effect no matter how many times you try, then it may be that you are one of the few who for whatever reason will never be able to do it. I have no idea why, some people can’t curl their tongues! *shrug*
Linking to this guide
If you take 3D photos yourself (I teach you how in this article), then please feel free to link to this article to give your viewers a clear, straightforward guide to seeing your 3D images. Just copy and paste the following code into the image description on Flickr or whatever image sharing service you use:
Resources
Some more examples to enjoy
Connect with me online
10 things I hate about Flickr (and its users)
Flickr has changed the way I share photos online, and has made building my blog and the community around it that much easier. But there are some things about Flickr, and the people that use it, that really get on my nerves. I want to get these off my chest, but don’t be to offended if I pick on your way of doing things, it’s not personal :)
Poetry in photo descriptions
If I like your photo, I want to know more about it. I don’t want to read death metal lyrics or emo goth poetry. It’s pretentious, it’s lazy, and it’s unfortunately become cliche. Please do us a favour and tell us your thoughts about your photo. They’ll be more personal and more relevant.
One or two word comments
On the flip side, a little more thought about comments on others’ photos would really be appreciated as well. Frankly, I don’t care if you think my photo’s “Awesome!”, I care even less if you think it’s a “Cool photo”. I’ve put a lot of work into it, I’d genuinely like to know what you think of it and why. If you’re going to comment, why not take the extra 30 seconds, engage your brain, and say something insightful.
Space separated tags
As far as I know, the standard way of delineating keywords (what your parents called “tags”) in all metadata is with commas. So why did Flickr have to use spaces, and quotes around tag strings? Now whenever I want to transfer keywords from one app to another, I have to strip out the commas and add quotes. And I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to re-enter Flickr tags when I forget not to use commas.
HDR done right. CC kennymatic
Overdone HDR
Yes, it’s amazing what you can do with processing software these days. Yes, it’s cool to see detail in the sky and in the shade. Yes, HDR has a place in artistic photography. But for goodness sake, please stop with the over-saturated, flat, dirty, haloed, massively compressed dynamic range novelty photos you can’t seem to get enough of. Very rarely is the HDR “effect” a successful artistic statement in itself. Good HDR is usually invisible. Subtlety is your friend.
Disrespectful comments on artistic nudes
The human body is the most beautiful thing in this world, and a truly skillful photographer can capture that in a photo. It takes talent, technical mastery and an understanding of beauty to make an artistic nude photo. It also takes courage, patience and great communication for a model to make it work, in partnership with the photographer. So please! Show some damn respect! No one wants to know what you want to do to the model. And what on Earth do you think sharing your lustful thoughts will get you anyway? It’s not like the model’s going to call you because you demeaned and degraded her with your filthy fantasies. For goodness sake, grow up!
Gaudy large banners and “awards”
How wonderful, fifteen users loved my photo so much they awarded it the “Most Awesometastic Flickr Masterpiece Photo Award”, complete with a giant sparkling, shiny, flashing banner. And yet they didn’t say anything about the photo? Really, I don’t give a damn about your invented ‘awards’, and I really hate the comments on my photo getting clogged up with huge icons that look like they were stolen from a circa 1998 web site. Martin Gommel, a friend and much respected photographer says it best: “Please do not add any badges, banners or awards. I know that finding the right words isn’t easy, just try it, I believe in you ;)”
Comments that are only group invites
I have a little more patience with group invites on my photos, IF they are: relevant, subtle and accompanied by a personal, considered comment on the photo. But if you want to spam your group by copy/pasting an ad, especially one with a banner, without adding anything thoughtful to the comments, then you can be sure I’ll ignore the invite, and probably avoid your group in the future. The same goes if you pollute the comments on others’ photos. You’re only advertising your group as something I want to avoid.
Vignette done right. CC !!!! scogle
Vignette
Almost as bad as overdone HDR, this cliche post-processing trick is a fad that needs to die. I hope you realise that vignette was originally a defect in cameras, and we can be grateful we don’t have to suffer it willingly now. Like HDR, it can be done well. Skillfully applied, vignette can evoke a certain mood, closeness, or age, and can direct the eye into the composition. Unfortunately it’s rarely done skillfully. I swear some people run ALL their photos through a Photoshop vignette action before uploading. By the way, if your photos have vignette because you’re experimenting with older cameras that generate their own vignette – Awesome! You rock :)
Culling? What’s that?
Just because you can take hundreds of photos of the same thing, doesn’t mean you have to share it with the world. That gorgeous photo of a bowl of strawberries, doesn’t look so gorgeous after the tenth nearly identical photo. I take as many photos as anyone, maybe more, but the idea behind that is to cull all but the very best. It’s one of the secrets to looking like a good photographer. If you upload them all, you’re letting the secret out, and everyone will know you just got lucky with one of the shots. That is, if they’re not bored to tears and leave before they get to that one great shot in twenty.
No reply notification on comments or discussion
This is without a doubt, my biggest Flickr peeve. The thing that makes Flickr so attractive, and so successful, is the incredible community that has built up around it. Flickr have done a lot of great things to encourage the free exchange of ideas and images, like groups, maps, discussion boards, photo pools etc. But when it comes to communicating between users, they’ve really dropped the ball.
When I make a comment on someones photo, sometimes I’ll ask a question, or I’d like to see what others have to say. But what if I forget to check it later? Well tough luck, I’ll never know. This is a problem with one photo, but I comment on hundreds! There’s no way I’ll ever be able to follow up on all the comments I’ve made. Yes, I’m aware of the “Comments you’ve made” feature, but it’s clunky at best. This problem is even worse in group discussions. With no reply notification, no one knows when a thread has been updated, and very quickly, a discussion group can end up looking like a ghost town.
Flickr builds communities. CC mikebaird
There’s a critical mass for a community (for example a Flickr group) to be successful. That critical mass can be achieved a LOT sooner if the community members are able to easily and quickly respond to new discussion amongst members. Forum software developers know this, and subscriptions and notifications are essential included features even on the most basic software packages. There’s even a comment notification plugin for wordpress.
Flickr would do well to encourage the development of communities by enabling reply notification. If they did, you would surely see a rapid snowball effect as people spend more time replying to comments and discussions, which in turn would bring more people online to reply to those, and while they’re there, reply to others that they have yet to participate in. This positive feedback loop would result in a rapid growth of traffic, and a greater “pull” for new people to sign up, so they can participate. Surely Flickr wants more members and more active members?
From a purely selfish perspective, I want to know when people reply to my comments, and as the admin of the group Learning Photography with Neil Creek, I want to reach critical mass sooner rather than later.
Come on Flickr, pull your finger out.
It’s not all bad of course. You can read my post about the “10 things I love about Flickr (and its users)“.