Persistence of Vision: How to make 3D Anaglyphs

a 3D light in front of a bookshelf

3D. It's all the rage with Hollywood. Have you ever wanted to shoot your own 3D? The process is quite simple, and you don't even need a 3D camera. You can do this process with 2 cameras mounted side by side. If you are going to mount 2 cameras side by side, you must have them both pointed slightly toward the center. this is called convergence. 3D mimics your 2 eyes, and both of your eyes focus on the same object, so you need to have the cameras pointed at the same object. (for best results, try an object in the distance, and then experiment.) All of the photos in this post, were shot with a Stereo Realist camera on Ilford 35mm film.

The Capital Records building in 3D

However you go about getting your stereo pair of images, the next step is to bring them into Photoshop . Once in photoshop, take your left picture, and add a new layer above it. go to your color selector, and choose color #00FFFF (bright turquoise). Fill this new layer with this color. Next, duplicate the turquoise layer, and invert it. This should give you a red layer. Take your right image, and paste it between the turquoise and red layers.
Your photo should now have 4 layers. on the bottom is your left image. above that is your turquoise layer. Above that is your right image. On top is the red layer.
Go to your top layer, and change the blending mode to screen. Now combine your top 2 images into 1 layer. hide that layer.
go to your turquoise layer, and turn its blending mode to screen. combine it with your left image.
Turn your right image back on, and switch its blending mode to multiply.
You now have a 3D Anaglyph. Put on some 3D glasses and enjoy.