Stereoscopic Photography: A Simple Introduction to Methods of Shooting: Parallel vs.

Cross-Lens Axis I think it's important to start a discussion of the two primary methods that are used for taking stereo images, and they apply to both stereo photography and cinematography. We use these methods to create the stereo effect which is a result of parallax. Parallax Parallax is the small shift in placements between objects (called homologous objects or points) within images that when delivered to their individual eyes create the stereo effect. Drop in on any of the many other wonderful web sites that talk about stereo photography or cinematography and you'll hear much talk of parallax. There are three kinds of parallax that the viewer of the stereo image can perceive. Objects with zero parallax in an image are perceived to be at the plane of the screen or stereo window. The stereo window is a term that refers to the way that a stereo images is displayed. Take a look at the image below.

This anaglyph image can be seen as a stereo window, where the image ends on the edges, the window ends. Objects in the stereo window can be seen in front of at the plane of the screen or behind. It's probably good to note that most stereo images and most stereo effects are seen behind or at the plane of the screen. Stereo effects in front of the screen are few and far between and often used sparingly in good stereography. If you look at the image without 3D glasses, the object with zero parallax will look normal without distortion or overlapping. Objects with positive parallax will be perceived as located in front of the plane of the screen and in front of objects with zero parallax. Objects with negative parallax will be perceived as located behind the stereo window and thus behind

objects with zero parallax and also behind objects with positive parallax. Methods There are two primary methods of creating parallax when capturing stereo images. The first method is by shooting in a parallel manner. This method uses two cameras that are shooting from the same optical angle. An easy way to think about this is if you were pointing two cameras at an object and you took a flat ruler you should be able to take the ruler and it would lie evenly if placed across both lenses at the same time.

There are no angular differences in either shot. This method creates the necessity of adjusting for convergence in an intermediary step between capture and display, but limits distortion of images caused by frustrum, keystone and other disparity effects. Images are usually cropped on either side after convergence adjustment to ensure the image only presents the overlap between the two cameras. The second method as several different names, some of the varying terms are directional, toe-in, intersectional and cross-lens axis. For the purposes of this article and because I prefer this term because it is so descriptive we will use the term cross-lens axis. A cross-lens axis stereo image is created by changing the optical axes of the lenses so that they are focused on the object that the stereographer chooses as the point of convergence. This method that is similar to how the human eyes converge. The lenses are turned in.

It does, however, create some unwanted effects when not used properly. On the benefit side, no cropping is generally required. That's a simple introduction to two methods of shooting S3D.