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.

3D wooded path

For more 3D images I suggest looking at these books.

Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3-D!

California in Depth: A Stereoscopic History

The Civil War in Depth: History in 3-D

original stereo images

3D: Bekka on the couch

3D Regina offering a beer

A Photography Mission

Statue of Fray Junipero Serra

I woke up this morning with a plan. A mission. I drove into Hollywood to shoot a bunch of photos for this blog. I was going to talk about taking better vacation photos. But alas, tourists, film crews, and even trees thwarted my plans. Nothing I wanted to shoot looked good today. So I got angry, and headed home. I missed my exit, got stuck in traffic, and ended up on the other side of the San Fernando Valley. It was hot out, and I was a bit hot under the collar. Then I took a moment to breathe.
I started taking photography seriously when I was in film school. It started out as a way to see how different emulsions reacted to different conditions without having to spend a lot of money on motion picture film. (I would buy Kodak motion picture stock in 35mm still camera spools from the now gone RGB Labs in Hollywood). I soon fell in love with photography. I found it calming to go out and shoot. I liked capturing the world the way I saw it. I could spend hours taking pictures of architecture, landscapes, whatever. just me and a camera. This morning, the love was missing. It felt more like a job. something I had to do, and I didn't like that.

Fountain at Mission San Fernando

So I calmed myself down, and decided to head over to the San Fernando Mission The Mission San Fernando Rey De Espa was founded in 1797, and since I am a bit of a historical nut, it had been on my list of places to photograph.
The place has been restored and  is still a working church. The grounds are very well kept, and it leads to a nice dichotomy as seen in the picture to the right of the very old and weathered fountain in the middle of the well manicured lawns.

Blacksmith Tools

There is also a nice museum housed in one of the buildings.There are some great displays on Life in California in the early 1800's Including this great display of blacksmith tools in the photo on the left.
Walking around This historical place, looking at photos from the 1800's and taking my own photos made me forget the stresses of the morning, and reminded me why I love photography.

The Cross in front of Mission San Fernando Rey De Espa

So I guess if there is a lesson or tip in this post, it is to shoot what you love. Shoot what you see, and shoot what you feel. People will hire you, or follow your blog, or buy your prints because they like the vision you present. In this age of auto focus, and auto exposure cameras, It is your vision that makes your photos unique. When you start trying to shoot what you think someone else wants you to shoot, then you are not shooting with the vision that they wanted.

All photos in this post were shot on a Canon T2i

*check out my website daviddefino.com
*follow me on twitter 
*buy accessories with my photos
*check out my Deviant Art

*Video added 10/8/2012

A Bit More In Depth with Depth of Field

Cherry Tomatoes (shallow focus)

Depth of Field is what looks like it is in focus in your shot. A camera can only focus on one specific point at a time.This is called a focal point, and it is the one place where a point will render as a point on your photograph. All the objects closer or farther then that point will render as a blur in the shape of your camera's aperture. (This blur is sometimes referred to as a circle of confusion). The Depth of Field is the area where those blurs will be so small, that they will still appear as a point to the viewer. A shallow focus, or narrow Depth of Field, (as illustrated in the photo to the left) will direct your viewers eyes right where you want them by leaving little else in the shot in focus. This is very useful when photographing an object, product or anything else that you want to be the center off attention in you photograph.

Depth of Field is affected by many factors, most of which are easily controllable. Since the out of focus area is simply a blur in the shape of your aperture, changing your f-stop will change your Depth of Field. A smaller iris (higher f-stop) will have greater Depth of Field, A wider iris (lower f-stop) will have a shallower focus. You can compensate for the different f-stops by using a different shutter speed, changing your ISO, adding or removing Neutral Density filters, or adjusting the light on your subject.

          300mm                  75mm (enlarged)      75mm (full frame)

Focal length is also a large determining factor in Depth of Field. The wider the lens you use, the greater the Depth of Field will be as long as you stay focused on the same distance away from you. (ie a 24mm lens at f5.6 will have a greater Depth of Field then a 70mm lens at f5.6 if they are both focused to 10' away). The photo on the left shows how the perceived focus increases as you "zoom out".  The background foliage is far sharper in the wider shot.

The San Fernando Valley (deep focus)

The distance from you to your subject will also play an import role in Depth of Field. If you are focused on an object 10' away, and then walk closer and (using the same focal length) refocus on the same object at 4' away your depth of field will have decreased. The picture to the right is a very wide shot focused to infinity with a relatively tight aperture (f/8). This creates a very wide depth of field (also called deep focus). Compared to the photograph of the tomatoes where 1 inch threw things way out of focus, this photo seems to hold sharp for miles.

The last factor for depth of field that I am going to discuss here is acquisition size. Whether it is the size of your piece of film, or the size of your digital sensor, the smaller the size, the greater the Depth of Field. It is because of this, that your cell phone camera, with its wide lens and tiny sensor, takes picture that seem like everything is in focus. Standard 35mm still pictures use an actual frame size of 24mm x 36mm. The Canon 5D , and many other "full frame" digital cameras have a digital sensor that is also 24mm x 36mm. 35mm motion picture film uses a frame size of 13.5mm x 24mm which is closer to the advantix C still film format which measures 14.9mm x 22.3mm. This is also the sensor size on a Canon 7D (making it a better choice to match a 35mm motion picture look). An Iphone 4s uses a sensor that is 4.54 mm x 3.42 mm. Far smaller then even a Kodak Disc camera that used an 8mm x 11mm frame size. That is why focus is rarely an issue with a cell phone camera. the tiny sensor size, combined with the usual wide angle lens makes for a very large Depth of Field.

*There is a nice Depth of Field calculator here
*There are Depth of Field equations here
*visit my website at daviddefino.com

Film is Knocking at The Door

Ezra Buzzington and Elina Madsen as John and Wilma Hopper

A few years back, I received a call from Chad Ferrin about a film he was making called Someone's Knocking at the Door. Chad asked me to be the Gaffer on the film (I had been the Gaffer on Chad's 2 previous films Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! and The Ghouls ) More importantly (to this blog) Chad also asked me to shoot some stills for the picture. A scene in the file room required photos of patients to be attached to the files, and Chad wanted the photos to be of the rest of the cast. Beings as these photos were supposed to be from files dating back decades, we felt it was appropriate to shoot them in black and white, on film. I decided to shoot with my Bronica 6x4.5 and use Ilford HP-5 Plus Film. (The Actors in the above shot are Ezra Buzzington and Elina Madison. They play the villains in the film.)

Some of the cast of Someone's Knocking at the Door

I processed all the film myself using D-47 developer, and printed the shots in my darkroom on Ilford paper. (You can see the Ezra, and Elina prints in the trailer below). I believe that as long as I can get the film and chemicals, I will continue to shoot black & White film when the opportunities arise. There is something magical about setting your enlarger, exposing the paper, putting it in the developer bath and watching your image appear. I prefer the glow of the red darkroom light to the glow of my computer monitor any day... or maybe it's just the fumes from the developer getting to me.

Director Chad Ferrin takes a breather

Then there's the grain. Besides shooting the file photos, I was also able to shoot some behind the scenes photos during production. For this, I used a Canon 35mm, and Ilford 3200 speed film (I also had a Canon XTI dslr along for color shots). There is something special about the grain in 3200 speed film. It's like printing a picture on sandpaper. It gives film that gritty, organic look that sets it apart from digital. Face it, Digital noise is ugly, film grain is beautiful. The shot to the left was taken during the morgue scene. the make-up team is putting finishing touches on the back of actor Jordan Lawson, while Cinematographer Niklas Larsson looks on. Director Chad Ferrin rests on an apple box.

Lew Temple as Coroner Collins

This next shot was taken during rehearsals and features the coroner (played by Lew Temple) facing the camera and one of the detectives (played by David Z. Stamp) with his back to us, as well as the before mentioned Jordan Lawson on the table. Also shot on 3200 speed Ilford film the grain, and shadow value adds to this shot, giving a different vibe then is in the actual scene in the film (part of which can be seen in the trailer below).
Although digital imaging has risen up to take the place of film as the main source of image acquisition these days, I feel film will continue to be a viable option. It will always have a unique look, and will therefore always be used when that look is needed.
So I end this post with a digital shot. The fat man, like film, wandering off alone.

Det Fuller walking alone.

Check out the trailer for the film below, or pick-up a copy if you haven't seen it.

Everyone Needs Some Good Glass

 I was in San Francisco last weekend for business, and I managed to slip away for an afternoon of photography at the Golden Gate Bridge . I was shooting on my Canon T2i , and I had my standard 35-70mm EF lens with me, and I also had an L-series 24mm FD mount lens (with a Fotodiox PRO Lens Mount Adapter adapter).  The Fotodiox adapter has an extra element in it to correct for the difference in mounting position between the EF/EFS mount and the FD mount. I have been told that glass degrades the image a bit. However, the L-series being 3 stops faster makes it worth it in my book. I used all manual settings while using the L-series lens, and landscape mode with the EF. I found the images quite similar while shooting in broad daylight. In fact I may like the cheap zoom better. (I think the Canon software was the real winner here, the auto settings just did better then I did with the manual settings)

The L-series lens really began to shine when the sun went down. Although it is a faster lens, I shut the iris down as far as I could for depth of field, and let the camera determine the shutter speed. The top photo was shot with the L-series Lens, the bottom was shot with the zoom.The zoom lens was set to fully automatic, and shot at a 4.5 for a 3.2 sec exposure, while the L-series lens had a 32 sec exposure at an f16.

In these shots (taken of San Francisco from Ft. Baker), it is clear to see that the L-series lens is considerably sharper.

In these photos of the iconic bridge, (taken from a fishermans' pier in Ft Baker) the quality of the L-series lens is obvious. Although for ease of use, and flexibility, the cheap zoom is a great lens to have, I Think my L-series prime will always be in my bag when I am planning on shooting long exposure night shots.

*If you would like to purchase a print of the Golden Gate Bridge, I have them for sale (along with other prints of my work) at Deviant Art.

*The star pattern you see on the shots from the L-series lens are the result of the iris being stopped all the way down to f16. The "star light" is actually the light bleeding through the blades of the iris. The zoom lens was shooting at f4.5 (almost wide open for that lens) so you have a rounded light pattern in those shots.

Using the HD video mode on my Canon, I also shot this video of the Golden Gate Bridge. See if you can tell which lens I was using for these shots.