Search the Community

My local estuary park in golden Anaglyph. Anaglyph goggles needed or red cellophane in left eye & cyan cellophane on right eye.

Anaglyph 3D IR with BG25 3mm & Digital Daguerreotype with BG25 3mm with S8612. Get your 3D Anaglyph glasses out or red cellophane on the left eye & cyan cellophane on the right eye. This Anaglyph has been made possible with a big help from member Bernard, thank you. IR Anaglyph BG25 3mm Digital Daguerreotype BG25 3mm + S8612 mono

I bought a Stitz Universal Stereo Adapter on eBay, with the intent of using it to take simultaneous captures in UV and IR, or similar two-filter-at-once combinations. I haven't had time to mess with it much, but I did a proof of concept below. Please note that that air outside is horribly smokey due to fires on the west coast of the US and in Canada, so much of the haze is not the fault of the system, but instead is the fault of the atmosphere. First the setup: And here is a photo. The two sides were independently edited in Photoshop and PhotoNinja and combined afterwards with layers. The large black line can be adjusted with the diaphragm control, but I didn't have time to adjust it.

Foot, Bernard (2020) Tulipa sp. L. (Liliaceae) Tulip. Flower photographed in reflected UV light and UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...ip-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 9 May 2019 Cultivar Reference: 1. Wikipedia (28 Mar 2020) Tulip Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyphs

Foot, B. (2020) Campanula persicifolia L. (Campanulaceae) Peach-leaved Bellflower. Flowers photographed in ultraviolet and visible light. Also with a UV stereo anaglyph and a TriColour RGB stack. https://www.ultravio...er-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 30 June 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Campanula persicifolia. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. 2. Fitter, R., Fitter, A., Blamey, M. (1996) Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, 5th Ed. Peach-leaved Bellflower, page 238. HarperCollins Publishers, London, U.K. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader-U UV-pass filter, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyph UV TriColour Blue Channel = 315nm CWL, Green Channel = 345nm CWL, Red Channel = 380nm CWL

One of the things I have been trying for some time is to get interesting UV photos of flowers in Stereo (i.e. 3D), especially in close-up and macro. In this post I'll outline the technique (happy to provide more detail if you need it), and provide some samples: you will need red/cyan anaglyph glasses (a couple of $ on ebay or Amazon) to view them. Also because of the 800 pixel-width that UVP impose, you will not get the full effect, and won't be able to do what I love - zooming in and "wandering around" the flower and looking at the detailed internal structure. If you've got some red/cyan glasses and want to look at some full-resolution files then drop me a line. And if you haven't got the glasses but would like to see any of the detailed images in 2D, let me know - but you really lose a lot in 2D. I've now got to a point where I get a reasonable percentage of successes, although some flowers make life difficult because of the amount they move during the process: some move in their entirety (wilting, esp. under the bombardment from flashguns), and some just waggle their stamens about. Dandelions are particularly irritating in this respect. This movement is a problem because it can easily take 30-45 minutes to complete one stereo shot. This is because I use focus stacking to get the image quality and depth of field, and that can mean 100 shots for each of the stereo pair of images. The traditional way to make stereo pairs is to move the camera sideways between the two images. For image distances of 1-10 metres, the sideways separation would be the inter-ocular distance of 6 or 7 cms; for greater image distances you would use greater separations (I have used 100 metres for a subject 12 miles away), and for shorter distances a smaller separation. However, for macro this does not work - with even a small separation the image disappears from the field of view. So you need to use a toe-in approach - swing the camera through about 5 degrees between the two stereo images, and then move it sideways until the image comes back into the field of view. There is nothing magical about 5 degrees - it is the angle between the line of sight of the 2 eyes for a subject at 0.5 metres. Other people use 3.7 degrees, or some other number. If you read materials about stereo photography, they often say that toe-in is a definite non-no, but modern 3D software can handle it perfectly. (I use the excellent and free Stereo Photo Maker to create the stereo image from my stereo pairs.) One of the difficulties with any kind of macro work is the shallow depth of field that you experience. To overcome this I use focus stacking - taking a number of mages focused on different planes in the subject, and combining them in software to get a single sharp image. I use Zerene software for this. This also overcomes the problem of how to focus accurately in UV, because all you need to find out is where the image starts to come into focus and where it starts to go out of focus. Another difficulty with UV+macro is getting enough light on the subject. I use 3 cheap-from-China but powerful WS-560 flashguns (with UV-absorbing "lens" removed) a few centimetres away from the subject. The repeated shooting for focus-stacking overheats the flashguns, and already three have failed for this reason. But they're so cheap (I just bought a couple new for $20 each) that they're effectively a consumable rather than a capital purchase. Let's look at some examples. They're all taken on a full-spectrum Canon EOS M, U340+S8612 filters, flash, white-balanced on PTFE. Lenses were either a Steinheil Cassar S 2.8/50mm and El-Nikkor 5.6/105mm, always stopped down to f/8. First, one that didn't work so well. This is a type of Geranium AFAIK. The body of the flower is OK, but the central area is not so good to look at. This is because of stamen movement. I mentioned above that Dandelions cause movement problems. This shot isn't too bad, but I had to crop it a lot to get rid of moving petals. Fruit blossom seems to work well - here is Quince, Pear, Alpine Strawberry. On the strawberry, you'll see a couple of tiny spiders in cyan. This is an irritant that comes from focus stacking - insects that wander around the flower while you are taking the images. In fact on this shot there were about a dozen out-of-focus spiders in cyan (i.e. on the right image) and a few in red (i.e. on the left image) which I had to post-process out of the image. Now we have a Daffodil. This works really well in a full-resolution image, with the a great wander-about capability. Here are a few shots of an Orchid - full flower and then a macro shot of the interior. I have provided a visible light shot (taken on a Canon EOS 6D Mk 2, Sigma 105mm macro lens, ring flash) of the interior for comparison. The UV interior shot is another great one to wander around. Now a Bluebell: A chrysanthemum: A daisy: A Grape Hyacinth: An "ordinary" Hyacinth: Magnolia (this is another flower that can move significantly when young - I could actually observe it twitching): Snowdrop (also good for wandering around inside): Forsythia: And finally a Sunflower:

Fantastic Day.

Foot, B. (2020) Another Example (with UV Anaglyph) of Lamium album L. (Lamiaceae) White Dead-nettle. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light with UV anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...le-uv-anaglyph/ United Kingdom 11 May 2019 Wildflower Other Common Names: White Nettle Bee Nettle References: 1. Wikipedia (02 Apr 2020) Lamium album. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. https://en.wikipedia...ki/Lamium_album 2. Foot, B. (29 March 2020) Making Stereo Images. UltravioletPhotography.com 3. Rørslett, B. (2013) Lamium album L. (Lamiaceae). White Dead-Nettle. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light. http://www.ultraviol...te-dead-nettle/ Equipment: Visual Image: Canon EOS 6D Mk II, Sigma 105mm Macro. UV images: Sony A6000 (full spectum-converted), El Nikkor 105mm f/5.6, Baader U Visual: UV (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyph:

Foot, Bernard (2020) Fragaria vesca L. (Rosaceae) Wild Strawberry. Flower photographed in visible and reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...ry-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 28 April 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Fragaria vesca. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. 2. Fitter, R., Fitter, A. and Blamey, M. (1996) Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, 5th Ed. Wild Strawberry, page 116. HarperCollins Publishers, London, U.K. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyph

Updated 2nd April 2020 - Notes on Positioning image forwards/backwards - see end of post. This post accompanies my recent one on focus stacking, and addresses creating 3D/stereo images – especially of close-up and macro images. I generally use focus stacking when creating a stereo image. Whereas differential focussing on a normal image can add something positive to the result by making the important part of the subject stand out from the rest, I find that in stereo photographs it is better to have everything in focus and let the eye wander round and pick on whatever grabs its attention. The principle of stereo photography is simple – take two images separated by the distance between the human eyes, then overlay them so that the left-hand image is visible only to the left eye, and the right-hand image only to the right eye. The simplest way to do the separation of the left and right images is to make anaglyphs: the left image contains only its red channel, and the right image contains only its blue and green channels. The superimposed images (which always have some red and cyan fringeing) are then viewed through a pair of spectacles consisting of a red filter for the left eye and a cyan (minus red) filter for the right. These spectacles are the only special equipment you need to buy. There are lots available on ebay. I have tried a dozen or so different types. The best ones I have come across cost a couple of dollars and have black card frames, and some of them are branded Sony. The others all leak light through the filters to some extent, resulting in ghost images when viewing the photograph. Price is not an indicator of how well they will work. When working close up, the principle of separating the two images by the distance between the eyes breaks down. As you get closer to the subject, the distance between the two exposures needs to be reduced. The problem is that when you get really close, you can't get the same bit of the subject to appear in both the left and right images. So a different approach is needed. The method that works for me is to swing the camera between the two exposures. I always take the right image first, then swing the camera clockwise (when viewed from above) through 5 degrees, and then move the camera sideways to the left to bring the subject back into frame for the left-hand image. To effect the swing through 5 degrees, I use a tripod panoramic head like this: https://www.ebay.co....igAAOSwpdpVXu-2 I also have a Benro geared tripod head that should be able to do this, but it's more difficult to read 5 degrees off the scale. To move the camera sideways to the left I use a slider. You can use the Velbon Super Mag Slider that I mentioned in the post on focus stacking as this allows both forward/backward and left/right movement. But the amount of left-right movement may be too restricted for some shots. So you can also use some of the lower cost slider rails – although they are not so well engineered and not so good for fine forward movement for focus stacking, they are quite adequate for coarse left-right movements. I often use one of these (with the forward/backward slider removed): https://www.ebay.co....kMAAOSwWxldF4iy Another approach that I have read about, but not tried, is to have the camera fixed between the right and left exposures and to have the subject on a turntable which is rotated by 5 degrees between the two exposures. If you read texts about stereo photography they will almost certainly say that you must not use a toe-in technique like I have described above. This may have been true in the days of film because the perspective would be different between the two images making it impossible to get a good overlay. But in the digital world, modern software seems quite capable of handling this. For close-up and macro work, each of the right and left images is a focus stack to get the whole of the subject in focus – so it could involve 200 separate exposures to create a single stereo pair. Once you have got your two images, you need to overlay and colour them. You can do this manually using software like GIMP, but it's far easier to use specialist stereo software – I use the excellent and free Stereo Photo Maker (https://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/). This has loads of options for overlaying the images, so make sure you select the anaglyph options. The software handles the overlaying of images, cropping them, rotating them and correcting perspective. Just make sure that is has correctly chosen which image is left and which is right. Stereo Photo Maker always gives an acceptable image. However, you may want to experiment with various options and effects. In particular, you can slide the left and right images sideways with respect to each other to make the image recede or appear to come through the screen towards you: this can give dramatic effects as you can see in these examples – the first image is as created by default by Stereo Photo Maker, and the second has been adjusted so that the flower appears to be coming through the screen towards you. But you need to avoid violating the rule that says parts of the image near the edge of the frame do not appear to be crashing through the window frame. In this example, the central flower is coming though the screen at you, but left and top edges of the image are uncomfortable to view. A couple of tips when viewing the stereo images. Firstly, you can often magnify the image on the screen to some extent so that you zoom into the image, and then you can scroll around the image. This gives the feeling of being within the flower and flying around it. Secondly, you may get a better viewing experience (especially if you have zoomed into the image) by moving yourself a bit further away from the screen. Update 2nd April 2020 - Positioning the image After writing the post I realised that I should add some comments about how to make the image appear to be further forward or backward. I referred to this above but didn't provide a good explanation. Ths is important when manipulating the stereo image to get the right effect, and is quite easy to get your head around. So hopefully these notes will be useful to those who want to give stereo a try. When you overlay the left and right images, they can only be made to overlap perfectly (i.e. with no colour fringeing on the anaglyph) at one point (actually a plane) which corresponds to a certain distance into the 3D image. By moving the images left or right relative to one another the plane of perfect overlap moves forwards or backwards. So you can choose at what depth in the image the plane of perfect overlap is set. Now this plane of perfect overlap is highly significant: it appears to the eye (or, more correctly, to the brain) to be at the same level as the "window" - i.e. the frame around the image, which is of course on the screen you are viewing. So if the plane of overlap is brought forward (by moving the left/right images sideways relative to one another), the image appears to recede behind the screen, and if the plane of overlap is moved back then the image appears to be coming through the screen towards you. So you can use this to get dramatic effects of having part of the image coming through the screen towards you, simply by moving one of the left/right images to the left or to the right. But if you overdo it, you could make the image unpleasant to view as the brain tries to interpret what you are throwing at it. Now, there is a rule which must not be violated. If you look at the parts of the image that are touching the edges of the window, they must be at or behind the level of the window - i.e. the plane of perfect overlap must be in front of the parts of the image that touch the edges of the window. To try to illustrate this. let's say you were taking a picture of someone outdoors pointing at you and you wanted their pointing arm to appear to come through the screen towards you. That's easily achievable. But you must not increase the effect to the extent that things like the horizon or buildings or trees or other parts of the subject's body that are touching the edge of the window appear to be coming through the window: the brain cannot interpret this as it cannot understand a horizon coming through the window, and you will get an unpleasant viewing experience near the edge of the image. So anything that touches the edge of the window must be at or behind the window. Anything inside the frame which does not touch the edge of the window can be made to poke through the window towards you without causing any problem. If you're photographing flowers, you can have the flower coming though the window at you, but you must ensure that leaves etc. in the background stay the other side of the window. If you are using Stereo Photo Maker (and I strongly recommend that you do) and use the Auto facility to align images (which I always do), then the software ensures that this rule is not violated. However, you can then adjust the relative position of the left/right images by using the left- and right-arrow keys on your keyboard. So you can make part of the subject come through the screen (or, if you wanted, recede away from you). This may cause a rule violation, but: you might get away with it if the image near the edge is indistinct (dark or out of focus) you may be intending to crop the image to cut out the surrounding parts which are causing the rule violation.

Foot, Bernard (2020) Galium odoratum (L.) Scop. (Rubiaceae) Woodruff. Flower photographed in visible and reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...ratum-woodruff/ Location: Date: 25 May 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Galium odoratum. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. 2. Fitter, R., Fitter, A. and Blamey, M. (1996) Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, 5th Ed. Woodruff, page 194. HarperCollins Publishers, London, U.K. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyph

Foot, Bernard (2020) Lilium sp. L. (Liliaceae) Lily. Flower photographed in visible and reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyphs. https://www.ultravio...ly-uv-anaglyph/ Date: 16 November 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Lilium. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyphs

Foot, Bernard (2020) Helianthus sp. L. (Asteraceae) Sunflower. Flower photographed in reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...thus-sunflower/ Location: High Wycombe, UK Date: Nov. 2017 Wildflower or Cultivar? Unknown Reference: 1. Wikipedia (28 Mar 2020) Helianthus. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Helianthus Gear: Canon EOS M, Cassar S, U340+S8612 UV: f/8 flash @ ISO-100 UV Stereo Anaglyph

Foot, Bernard (2020) Cydonia oblonga Mill. (Rosaceae) Quince. Flower photographed in visible and reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph and TriColour RGB Stack. https://www.ultravio...oblonga-quince/ Location: Date: 16 March 2020 Cultivar Reference: 1. Wikipedia (28 Mar 2020) Quince. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Visible Light UV Light UV Stereo Anaglyphs UV TriColour Blue Channel = 315nm CWL, Green Channel = 345nm CWL, Red Channel = 380nm CWL

Foot, Bernard (2020) Bellis perennis sp. L. (Asteraceae) English Daisy. Flower photographed in reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...sy-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 23 April 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Bellis perennis. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. 2. Fitter, R., Fitter, A. and Blamey, M. (1996) Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, 5th Ed. Daisy, page 244. HarperCollins Publishers, London, U.K. Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash) UV Stereo Anaglyph

Foot, Bernard (2020) Lotus corniculatus L. (Fabaceae) Birdsfoot Trefoil. Flower photographed in visible and reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...il-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 25 May 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Lotus corniculatus. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. 2. Fitter, R., Fitter, A. and Blamey, M. (1996) Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, 5th Ed. Birdsfoot Trefoil, page 136. HarperCollins Publishers, London, U.K. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyph

Foot, Bernard (2020) Berberis vulgaris L. (Berberidaceae) Common Barberry. Flower photographed in visible and reflected ultraviolet light together with UV Stereo Anaglyphs. https://www.ultravio...ry-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 6 May 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Berberis vulgaris. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA 2. Fitter, R., Fitter, A. and Blamey, M. (1996) Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, 5th Ed. Barberry, page 82. HarperCollins Publishers, London, U.K. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyph

Foot, Bernard (2020) Malus domestica Borkh. (Rosaceae) Apple. Flower photographed in reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...le-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 21 April 2019 Cultivar Reference: 1. Wikipedia (28 Mar 2020) Apple Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Ultraviolet Light UV Stereo Anaglyph

Foot, Bernard (2020) Pyrus sp. L. (Rosaceae) Pear. Flower photographed in reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...om-uv-anaglyph/ Location: Date: 21 April 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Pear. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. Ultraviolet Light UV Stereo Anaglyph

Foot, Bernard (2020) Veronica officinalis L. (Plantaginaceae) Heath Speedwell. Flower photographed in visible and reflected UV light together with UV Stereo Anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...ll-uv-anaglyph/ Other Common Name: Common Speedwell Location: Date: 1 May 2019 Reference: 1. Wikipedia (29 June 2021) Veronica officinalis. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. 2. Fitter, R., Fitter, A. and Blamey, M. (1996) Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, 5th Ed. Heath Speedwell, page 224. HarperCollins Publishers, London, U.K. Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash) UV Stereo Anaglyph

Visible: UV: UV Stereo Anaglyph: UV Tri-colour [blue = 315nm CWL; Green = 345nm CWL; Red = 380nm CWL):

Foot, B. (2020) Narcissus poeticus L. (Amaryllidaceae) Poet's Narcissus. Flowers photographed ultraviolet light with UV anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...us-uv-anaglyph/ United Kingdom 19 Mar 2020 Wildflower Synonyms: Autogenes angustifolius Raf. Autogenes poeticus (L.) Raf. Helena croceorincta Haw. Helena purpureorincta Haw. Hermione purpurocincta (Haw.) M.Roem. Narcissus angustifolius Curtis ex Haw. Narcissus hellenicus Pugsley Narcissus majalis Curtis Narcissus majalis var. plenus Haw. Narcissus obliquus Tausch Narcissus ornatus Haw. Narcissus patellaris Salisb. Narcissus purpureocinctus (Haw.) Spach Narcissus recurvus Haw. Narcissus tripedalis Lodd. ex Schult. & Schult.f. Narcissus tripodalis Salisb. ex Herb. Stephanophorum purpuraceum Dulac Other Common Names: Poet's Daffodil Pheasant's Eye Nargis References: 1. Wikipedia (02 Apr 2020) Narcissus poeticus. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. https://en.wikipedia...cissus_poeticus 2. Foot, B. (29 March 2020) Making Stereo Images. UltravioletPhotography.com UV (Baader U): UV Stereo Anaglyph:

Foot, B. (2020) Malva sylvestris L. (Malvaceae) Common Mallow. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light with UV anaglyph and UV Tricolor Stack. https://www.ultravio...vestris-mallow/ United Kingdom 04 Nov 2019 Wildflower Synonyms: Malva ambigua Guss. Malva mauritiana L. Malva erecta C.Presl Malva gymnoscarpa Pomel Other Common Names: Common Mallow Cheese Mauve des bois References: 1. Wikipedia (02 Apr 2020) Title_of_Wikipedia_Entry. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. https://en.wikipedia...alva_sylvestris 2. Foot, B. (29 March 2020) Making Stereo Images. UltravioletPhotography.com Visible: UV (Baader U, flash): UV Stereo Anaglyph: UV Tri-colour (Blue = 315nm CWL; Green = 345nm CWL; Red = 380nm CWL):

Foot, B. (2020) Aquilegia vulgaris L. (Ranunculaceae) Common Columbine. Flowers photographed in visible and ultraviolet light with UV anaglyph. https://www.ultravio...ne-uv-anaglyph/ Location? 19 May 2019 Wildflower References: 1. Wikipedia (28 Mar 2020) Common Columbine. Wikimedia Foundation, San Francisco, CA. 2. Foot, B. (29 March 2020) Making Stereo Images. UltravioletPhotography.com Visible Light Ultraviolet Light (Baader U, flash) UV Stereo Anaglyph

Just been to Sicily on holiday. On the flight into Catania, I tried taking a few stereo shots in IR. First some clouds - the first shot is for red/cyan anaglyph spectacles, and then there is a pair if you prefer the cross-eye approach. And here is a view over Catania to Mount Etna: