Up-scaling Your Loreo-Format Prints
People who profess to love stereo photography are constantly trumpeting the idea that stereo should somehow become part of the photographic mainstream. Unfortunately, too many stereo photographers, like most photographers, are more than a bit arrogant. In photography, mainstream means simple, affordable cameras which people use to take - horror of horrors - snapshots! No company in recent memory has done more to promote mainstream stereo than Loreo Asia, Ltd. , based in Hong Kong. They have several models of point-and-shoot stereo cameras (center) and multiple models of their "Lens in a Cap" system (right) that replaces the lens on an SLR film or digital camera. These all work by placing the stereo pair within the boundary of a standard 35mm frame:
The advantage is obvious - the film and prints are processed at any photo outlet and there are no "stereo mounting" issues, since both pairs automatically appear in the proper relationship when the film is printed in the normal fashion. The result is a narrow vertical image format, which is quite challenging with respect to composition. Loreo makes several models of inexpensive viewers for looking at your photos. If you most the photos on-line they are also easy to freeview if you keep the total image size within reason. Just for the record, older technology beamsplitters such as the Pentax unit shown in the left (above) produce photos with the same format.
This equipment is all reasonably-priced and works quite well. Unfortunately, the print format is instantly recognizable and the stereo snobs will immediately assume that you aren't a "serious" photographer. My personal perspective is that we all have to start somewhere and nobody in their right mind is going to try something as exotic as stereo photography by dumping a fortune on camera gear. This page will be devoted to upgrading the quality of your Loreo-format prints and, if you desire, even hiding their oh-so-common origin!
No matter how carefully the equipment is constructed, it is impossible to get perfect alignment of the stereo pair on the film or digital sensor. Add to that the fact that you cannot manipulate the stereo "window", a critical problem if you have things in your image that were closer to the camera than the experts advise. All of this can be avoided if we first do a high-quality scan (600 dpi or higher) when the prints come back from the processor. This was what was done with the sample shown above. The raw scan has a resolution of 3552 x 2356, but, of course, is shown here at much lower resolution.
Save the scan as a JPEG image
Fire up a copy of Stereophotomaker Software and use the Load Stereo Image option to load the scan you just saved.
Now the huge range of alignment options in the software can be used to correct any mis-alignment of the stereo pair. You can also do image enhancements (contrast, brightness, and color correction) - very handy for the cameras with limited exposure range! Finally, the the vertical overlap zone at the center of the frame is a bit too prominent, you can do some judicious cropping to eliminate the problem. Stereophotomaker may be free, but it is also the nicest stereo editing program available, so don't expect to learn all its features overnight!
When you have the image the way you want it, save the "master" copy under any convenient file name. Using the image above, here is where I ended up:
While this print may look similar to the one shown ealier, the alignment issues are gone, the "window" has been properly set, the the central "overlap zone" has been cleaned up. You can stop here if you wish and have the print file printed at any 1-hour photo outlet. The result is a nicely corrected Loreo-format print! However, with the "master" file as a starting point, you can easily hide the "humble origins" of your picture.
For example, if you follow the instructions on my Easy Holmes Stereoviews page, you can create essentially perfect Holmes-format stereoviews:
If the instructions are followed properly, you can print the pair on a standard 4x6 print and either use your Loreo viewer or paste the print on 3.5 x 7-inch card stock and view it with a standard Holmes stereoscope. You will immediately step up to the big leagues and nobody will be able to tell that the original image didn't come from a fancier system!
If you want to make your on-line samples look like they came from scans of Realist film or slides, use the resize option in Stereophotomaker to set the image width to 1700 pixels. Now use the custom cropping features and set the crop area for a width of 1700 pixels and a height of 1774 pixels:
The result is instant "Realist format" for your on-line postings. If you start with the same 1700 pixel image width, but set the cropping window to 1700 pixels wide and 1133 pixels high, the result will look like it came from some type of full-frame camera system:
The bottom line is to take lots of pictures, work to enhance you skills, and use whatever format you want to post your work. Later on, you may choose to upgrade your camera system, but as long as you are learning and having fun, who cares!
Ralph E. Taggart (taggart@msu.edu)