Chicago Stereograms – an experiment with GIFs

‘Stereoscopy is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. Any stereoscopic image is called a stereogram’ – via Wikipedia

While I was quickly flipping between two consecutive frame from my recent night flight, I thought it looked a bit 3D, and then I realized I could turn it into a GIF. Well, it turns out the slight perspective change experienced when circling a building via helicopter can produce the perfect stereoscopic frames if you’re shooting them in quick succession. When I figured this out, I went to town digging through my RAW images from previous flight to create a bunch of stereograms. Some people love them, some get motion sick. While I can see both sides, I think it’s a pretty interesting way to re-purpose existing photos.

From what I’ve experienced, the effect is most enjoyable if you focus on the portion of the image which is moving the least – where the image appears to pivot. Here are a few of my favorites…