Top 10 Amazing Stereo Images

1. dangorironhide - December 12th, 2007 at 7:34 am

Ack, I cant see any of them… Is there a different way of doing it?

It reminds me of those magic eye things, but I can do them…

2. john doan - December 12th, 2007 at 7:36 am

what exactly am i doing here

3. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 7:37 am

dangorironhide: you just have to persevere with them - I find the cross eyed trick works best for me - keep staring when you get the third image in the middle and don’t move your eyes - the image will sharpen up on its own

4. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 7:38 am

John - staring cross eyed at the images so you get a third image in the middle - keep looking at it and you will get a three dimensional image.

5. dangorironhide - December 12th, 2007 at 7:43 am

Wow, I got it now! I think I might have been too close to the screen before.

6. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 7:46 am

dangorironhide: pretty amazing huh?

7. Lauren - December 12th, 2007 at 7:49 am

These are really good! The only one I had difficulty with was Mount St Helens.

The one from Lisbon I think is my favorite!

The best way to see them is the crosseyed way in my opinion. Make sure you aren’t too close to the screen.

8. bucslim - December 12th, 2007 at 7:49 am

.yaw taht kcust er’yeht won ,elihw a rof seye ym dessorc I .thgir saw mom ym ssueg I !tihS

9. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 7:59 am

Lauren: that is my favorite too

bucslim: hehe - did you do that yourself or did you software?

10. TerranRich - December 12th, 2007 at 8:08 am

He did it himself, because there are a few errors. kcuts, not kcust.

Also, just cross your eyes. You have to have some control over how far you can cross your eyes. (I’m quite talented in that area, so these stereoscopic images are perfect for me.)

11. Son of a … - December 12th, 2007 at 8:13 am

The images seem like they’re trying to converge while I’m starring at them, but it’s just a jumbled mess! As soon as the images start making since my eyes begin to water and I lose it!…. I feel like that guy in Mallrats, you know, the guy that can’t see the sailboat. lol

12. InconsistentAngelThings - December 12th, 2007 at 8:15 am

Thats sweet, I didn’t know that could happen! I think the clouds were the best, but they were all pretty cool.

It took a bit of effort to get my eyes to focus right (maybe 10 sec of strain) but after that I was able to keep the focus all the way through the page…

13. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 8:24 am

TerranRich: oh -duh - maybe i should have just checked like you did

Son of a…: you will get it - once you get it the first time it gets easier for the rest as InconsistentAngelThings has said

14. Ravyn - December 12th, 2007 at 8:36 am

These are all crossed-eyed stereos. The ones you find in the magic eye books are the parrallel veiwers (the pics of all the dots)

I can see these just fine but I have never been able to see those damn magic eyes. Well with the exception of one that was in .gif form online that was animated….THAT was awesome

15. Ravyn - December 12th, 2007 at 8:39 am

Jamie, bucslim, Terran: I used to type backwards all the time in a certain IRC. It drove everyone nuts cause they had to sit there and figure out what I said and I was just pounding it out faster than they could keep up. lol…

Good Times semiT dooG

16. Juggz - December 12th, 2007 at 8:46 am

Cant do it!

17. chershey - December 12th, 2007 at 8:48 am

I’m getting the third image, but it won’t stay sharp. It’s like a dumb teenager in the production booth at a movie theatre…

18. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 8:53 am

Ravyn: I have a lot of trouble with the magic eye books too - but I find these all quite easy. And I would be driven nuts if you kept typing backwards too!

Juggz: keep trying - you will get there

chershey: heh - persevere on it - it is the best one.

19. Juggz - December 12th, 2007 at 9:02 am

man ive been starring at these for quite a while now and i just cant do it, i tried with and without my glasses, i tried different distances to the screen. I have never been able to to the magic eyes either maybe its just me.

20. Emily - December 12th, 2007 at 9:05 am

awesome! you need to do a second list of these!

21. bucslim - December 12th, 2007 at 9:11 am

A note from Ken Gumby (Esq) “MY BRAIN HURTS!!”

22. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 9:17 am

Juggz: they do say that some people can’t do them - I guess you are one It is a shame because the effect is amazing.

Emily: you bet I will be

bucslim: It can’t be worse than the headache I now have after looking at millions of these to pick the ones I liked most!

23. Ravyn - December 12th, 2007 at 9:19 am

Juggz: Try this…

1. Put your finger between your eyes to where it is touching your nose.
2. Focus on your finger until everything in the background is a blur.
3. Slowly pull your finger away from your nose towards the screen keeping your focus on your finger.
4. Stop your finger half way between the screen and your face.
5. Keep you focus about that point as you change from your finger to the screen.

You should see 3 simular images. The middle one would be the one that you are looking for.

24. JMurf - December 12th, 2007 at 9:23 am

can’t do them either, it feels as if one eye is crossing more than the other

25. Ruairi - December 12th, 2007 at 9:42 am

Brilliant! So simple, yet…

26. Denashi - December 12th, 2007 at 10:35 am

Awesome!

My favourite is the Lake Palanskoye picture, you can really see the height of the mountains around the lake!

27. bucslim - December 12th, 2007 at 10:41 am

Ravyn, what happens when if my finger pokes my eye first? Can I see the images through the tears?

28. Blogball - December 12th, 2007 at 10:44 am

Hey I’m finally good at something! All of those years of daydreaming and staring into space finally pays off!
I had no problems. Just stare at it till your eyes cross and you will see three images then just focus on the middle one. Good luck all you non- daydreamers out there.

29. Enjay - December 12th, 2007 at 10:59 am

I seem to have the opposite experience to most people…I can see magic eye pictures no problem, but I just can’t get these at all! I tried Ravyn’s advice but the moment I take my finger away my eyes automatically focus back onto the image. I’ll keep trying though, because I didn’t used to be able to see magic eye pictures, but when I managed it the feeling was great and I just wanted to view more! As a pointer, roughly how far should your head be from the screen?

30. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 11:07 am

Blogball: well done

Enjay: I can do it close or far - I think you need to experiment - start about where you normally sit maybe.

31. Ravyn - December 12th, 2007 at 11:07 am

bucslim: lol…I said BETWEEN your eyes, not IN your eye…but I am sure that the tears will act as a spare lens to help you focus a bit better

Enjay: Most people have to train their eyes to obey their mind. The mind is used to readjusting focus to what is more. If you have your head about 2 feet away from the screen and then pull your finger from your nose towards the screen stop about halfway or 1 foot (2 feet is a normal comfort distance most people sit anyways…you should sit as far as comfortable but not so far you can not get your finger half way….that last part was in there for the knotheads who like to come up with those scenerios)

32. Enjay - December 12th, 2007 at 11:14 am

Incidentally, if I used a pair of 3D glasses (I’m sure I have some somewhere) to look at the images, would they work or are these designed specifically for freeviewing? Maybe it would help if I knew what I was looking for…I tried the tutorials, and I managed to see the trees and house image in 3D using the parallel method but I don’t seem to be able to do it when there isn’t a clear gap between the images.

33. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 11:15 am

Enjay - they won’t help - you need special images to use those glasses.

34. Ravyn - December 12th, 2007 at 11:26 am

the images that the 3d glasses are intended for have three overlapped pictures one in cyan, one in magenta, and one normal. The glasses work as a filter so one eye is seeing the normal image and the cyan image while the other eye sees the normal and magenta. The brain is trained to find the middle ground and sees all three images but fuses them together since it only sees half of each colored image. The cyan and magenta then being there but not pronounced form a depth of sorts.

Basically it is decieving the mind to see what is intended.

35. BrotherMan - December 12th, 2007 at 11:28 am

These are just like those 3D images that were so popular back in the mid 90’s. I saw them all over shopping malls everywhere I went. If you have ever seen the movie Mallrats where the big dude is trying to stare at the picture to see the boat and can never seem to see it then you know which pictures I am talking about.

You just have to focus your eyes. Don’t try to MAKE them focus. Just let them focus. Maybe it’s me but I think it is easy.

Cool post! Thanks!

36. Ravyn - December 12th, 2007 at 11:34 am

Brotherman: That is the Magic Eyes I was refering to. Those require parrellel veiwing. Or in basic focusing on a point beyond the picture. Since my eyes are they way they are, they are not capable of veiwing like that. Cross-eyed veiwing is just the oppisite where your focus point is between you and the picture. My eyes have been trained to veiw that way.

If I try looking at the picture from Mallrats (where the image ment for the right eye is on the right and the left eye on the left) I can not see it. These pictures are set that the image for the right eye is on the left and the left eye on the right.

Wow I talk to much…

37. Miss Destiny - December 12th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

I can’t do it… but still a great list! The images look neat on their own.

38. Mom424 - December 12th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Tres magnifique,
My eyes actually snapped into focus for the one with the tree, i thought they were stuck, had to force them back under my control.
I can never see the “3d” ones made up of layers either, these were easy and impressive,,,just relax
good list

39. Mom424 - December 12th, 2007 at 1:21 pm

by the way, number 7 is difficult, the image is too
narrow, and my eyes are too old

40. Sarah - December 12th, 2007 at 1:33 pm

The only ones that worked for me were the clouds and the thing in boston…

41. Amanda - December 12th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

I love this! It took me a few tries to do it, but I’ve always been good at crossing my eyes… so I just crossed them until a third blurry image appeared between the other two and waited. I can’t believe it worked! Definitely a great list Jamie.

42. Ashley - December 12th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

So frustrating….

I can do magic eyes without any trouble at all but these are just painful >.

43. Shane S. - December 12th, 2007 at 3:20 pm

We made our own stereo images in my Geography classes in college. It was like doing 3D mapping before GPS and Geographic Information Systems came along.

44. jfrater - December 12th, 2007 at 3:25 pm

Shane S: how did you make them? I was very curious while looking these up.

Mom424: hehe - that happened to me too - I was worried the wind would change and I would be stuck like that for life!

45. Kelsi - December 12th, 2007 at 3:47 pm

I think I strained my focusing muscles. I’m gonna have to take a break and come back later, hahah!

46. Nelia - December 12th, 2007 at 4:28 pm

I kick ass at magic eye… but this just does seem to be working out. Ravyn’s finger trick worked the best. But even when i do see a third image, it is so blurry that it doesn’t look cool. I’ve gotta little bit of an impression of it a few times, but nothing distinct. I blame astigmatism and the fact that it is finals time, and i have don’t nothing but type on a bright white computer screen for three days.

47. Paramnesia - December 12th, 2007 at 8:29 pm

I can’t do it, I can never do things like this =( I really want to see.

48. Versailles - December 13th, 2007 at 12:20 am

The only one that I can consistently see is number 7.

49. Damian - December 13th, 2007 at 2:37 am

I think 10 and 4 are made for parallel viewing, and the rest are for crossed eye viewing. Cross-eyed being eaiser for most people i think

50. Damian - December 13th, 2007 at 2:45 am

But number 4 is hard to see parallel (atleast in the larger version) because the centers of each picture are almost as far apart as my eyes. Also wouldn’t it be impossible to do parallel if the centers were farther apart than your eyes? I couldn’t even focus (parallel) on the ones that were too far apart.

51. NZSpringy - December 13th, 2007 at 4:29 am

I’ll try again in the morning

52. njadams10@yahoo.com - December 13th, 2007 at 1:13 pm

the clouds, the rock and the country side are the best.

53. Shabab - December 13th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

AAAAAAARRGGGGHHHHHHH…..MOTHER******!!!!!!
this is the most painful and headache causing list ever….and the fact that half the ppl commenting CAN do it isnt helping either….

54. Shabab - December 13th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

Yatta!!!!

hehe posted too soon…shouldve read the instructions properly….well its not THAT amazing….i guess i was expecting a lot after all that staring

55. mattayeaux - December 13th, 2007 at 2:55 pm

These are really amazing. I want MORE NOW! Thanks.

56. Idreno - December 13th, 2007 at 7:11 pm

At first, I could only do some and not the others - and then I figured out that as soon as you manage to get one example….keep your eyes and the distance the same and just scroll up and down and you should be able to see all of them - just prepare your mouse first!

57. Idreno - December 13th, 2007 at 7:14 pm

To elaborate since I just realized I wasn’t clear:
I found that not all the images were viewable when opened in separate windows - some images I think are too wide to cross over each other when you cross your eyes.
Stay on THIS page, cross your eyes to view a simple image, like Number 7, and then once you view the 3d image, scroll up and down to view all of them. I find that this works without much effort.

58. NZSpringy - December 13th, 2007 at 8:57 pm

It hurts toooo much I still can’t do it even following all the directions here. Anyway I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas ( I don’t care if it is politically incorrect)and Jamie I hope you have a great trip. Be prepared for a hot and humid visit.

59. Juggz - December 14th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

still cant do it

60. Paramnesia - December 15th, 2007 at 7:57 am

Me too Juggz.
I can’t figure out the techniques, maybe my eye’s are just stupid.

61. bobletto - December 17th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

the tree works best for me

62. Ravyn - December 17th, 2007 at 2:09 pm

i think the reason they all work easy for me is because my eyes naturally cross when I focus a little to long on anything. So much so that I can force them to do it without strain. Normal eye muscles are not supposed to work against each other so it is harder for them to understand what you are making them do, and they fight it. You probably get the middle picture to come up but the second you have it and you try to see the image your eyes automatically refocus themselves and you don’t get the chance. It is the chewing gum while walking, you can’t force you muscles and see the picture at the same time.

It is actually a very good thing

63. suzi - December 22nd, 2007 at 2:27 pm

I’ve tried so much my head hurts. Still can’t do it. It starts to…then snaps back. I’ll try again later.

64. jocsboss - December 23rd, 2007 at 12:53 pm

It’s really easy to make these, you know. Just shoot one picture, lean to the right about four inches (10 cm) and shoot the next. Put you images side by side. Works every time and is so easy. If you want to exaggerate the 3D effect just move over more than 4 inches.

65. jfrater - December 23rd, 2007 at 12:56 pm

jocbsboss: thanks for telling us how - I would really love to have a go at it

66. jocsboss - December 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pm

If you are serious about trying it here are a couple of hints:

1.) High contrast lighting makes it easier to see the effect, on-camera flash makes it more difficult.

2.) Match the corner of your shot. Make note of what is in the corner of the first shot (top, bottom, doesn’t matter) and make sure that it is the same in your second shot.

67. jfrater - December 23rd, 2007 at 2:44 pm

jocsboss: I definitely am - thanks for the tips. Is there some special software to help with it?

68. jocsboss - December 23rd, 2007 at 3:13 pm

Nah, I use Photoshop but I don’t think you need anything that powerful. I just create a new document twice as big as one picture and drag them both into it.

Couple more tips - shoot vertically (note most of the images here) and try not to use too wide angle of a lens.

If you think about it for a sec there really is no secret. You are just trying to duplicate what your eyes see, which is why you take your images about 4 inches apart. that is about the space between your eyes. So you are essentially taking a left eye image and a right eye image.

Another hint for beginners looking at these stereo pairs is to put a flat divider vertically and perpendicular to their face between their eyes. You can use anything; piece of cardboard, your hands, roadkill, whatever

69. jfrater - December 23rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm

jocsboss: I have a 50mm lens and a wide angle lens - do you think that a 50mm would give too much bokeh to make it suitable?

70. jocsboss - December 23rd, 2007 at 4:51 pm

Jamie: If you are using 35mm film a 50mm lens is near perfect. I’m not real sure if it would give too much bokeh, but then that’s something that I’ve not had a lot of experience with

71. Liceo Piovesan - December 29th, 2007 at 9:44 am

To make easier to se 3D cros eyes pictures I developed a the schematic diagram uploaded in the panoramio site http://www.panoramio.com/photo/827056 you can use it with the picture http://www.panoramio.com/photo/826745 . This one is easier to se because the diferent color of the shirt help to do.

72. travis reece - December 29th, 2007 at 11:42 pm

YEEEEESSSS! I FINALLY SEE THE COUNTRYSIDE AFTER LIKE 20 MINS OF STARING!

73. jfrater - December 30th, 2007 at 3:00 am

Liceo: thanks for that - very very helpful! And congratulations on image 6 - it is stunning! Stereo or not, you have a great eye for an incredible picture.

Travis: it feels great when you finally see them eh?

74. Vasco Pires - January 8th, 2008 at 4:04 am

This is a good list, though photos number 10, 4 and 5 are in paralell view, the others are in crooss eyed view. Photo nº5 is very difficult to see

75. littleboots - January 13th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

lol if my kids walked in right now they would think i was on glue…lol i will persevere, am almost getting it…

76. sharlu - January 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

woah! now that was cool

77. jocsboss - January 13th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

So where are the top ten jfrater stereo images? You’ve had just about a month. We’re all waiting with bated breath.

78. Volkan Yuksel - January 16th, 2008 at 7:17 am

Please correct that Number 1 image by Wei O’Connell is not from Boston. It is from Chicago Millennium Park. Most of these images are from Panoramio

http://www.panoramio.com/tags/3d/

Cheers, Volkan

79. bdizzle - January 18th, 2008 at 8:29 am

this is really cool!

can i use some of these on ebaums?

80. sarah - January 20th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

this one is pretty good too

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1887001

81. fishing4monkeys - February 8th, 2008 at 4:11 am

I absolutly cannot get the Mt. Saint Helens one!

82. Lizim - February 10th, 2008 at 2:03 am

That was so much fun! Unfortunately I can no longer see straight.

83. sɐɯoɥʇ - February 19th, 2008 at 12:40 am

˙sʇɹnɥ pɐǝɥ ʎɯ

˙ʞɔnnnnɟ ˙ƃuoɹʍ ʎlqıɹɹoɥ ǝuoƃ sɐɥ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos

84. boomshine87 - February 29th, 2008 at 5:39 am

I don’t get it, i can’t do it, what am i actually supposed to see here?

85. fLozano - March 8th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

Cool, the dust on my monitor looks 3D.

86. andy one eye - March 13th, 2008 at 8:45 am

im screwed then,i only got one eye!!!!

87. Pensivepoet - March 28th, 2008 at 4:27 am

Argh. Nearly had it. My eyes keep fading back to normal.

88. ChipStephan - April 6th, 2008 at 9:45 am

Good List, but Vasco’s (#74) right about 10, 4, and 5. You have to use the “magic eye” method to see those properly. Number 9 is Mt Watkins at Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park, CA.

89. infallibleangel - April 15th, 2008 at 6:45 am

The cloud one is pretty good… a lot of them are kind of flawed, though… as if they were just practice.

90. Stephen - April 25th, 2008 at 11:28 am

argh, cant really say i enjoy this list:P it rather pisses me off. lol

only way to cross my eyes is to look at my nose. =_=

i might as well have had one eye like andy, wouldnt make a difference here.

91. infallibleangel - April 29th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

yeah… it looks like they got a lot of them backwards… the stuff that ought to be in the background is showing up in the front and vice-versa.

92. Volkan Yuksel - May 1st, 2008 at 2:37 pm

@infallibleange : The ones appears to be in reverse dept (including mine the #2) are meant to be observed with Cross-Eyed technique. When you look at these kind of stereo view images with parallel viewing technique, they will appear in reversed depth order as you are mentioning. Cheers from Chicago, Volkan

93. infallibleangel - May 1st, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Oh. I do not know how to do the cross-eyed technique then. I thought the two (parallel and cross-eyed) were the same technique with the same results, but just a different process of achieving it. Like a Magic-Eye.

I wasn’t aware that there were more than one effect…

94. infallibleangel - May 1st, 2008 at 3:01 pm

Hey… I’m in Chicago as well!

95. Taran - May 6th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

The cross eyed one works best for me. I know a kid in my school who could raw these and they looked all 3d and what not. There’s a bit of a trick to it, but when you get it, it’s really cool. Not to mention your eyes feel really weird. haha

96. diogenes - May 17th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Oh no! My eyes are stuck in crossward fasion and I’m entering into the matrix!
hhhheeeelllppp.
spiraling into the vortex…if only I can straighten my line of vision.
nope.
good bye cruel world.

97. miss-erica-court - May 25th, 2008 at 7:26 am

only got it to work a couple times

but number one is amaze if you get it to work…
woooo

98. miss-erica-court - May 25th, 2008 at 7:32 am

PLEASE POST MORE OF THESE

99. sugarmouse - June 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 am

Boo - I can’t see these things because I see images separately and my poor brain won’t put the two together. I can see things through 3d lenses tho.