Assignment #13 3-D Anaglyphs

This is easier than it looks. We're making 3-D anaglyphs. Anaglyph comes from the Greek root words ana and gluphein, meaning "up" and "carved". Anaglyphs are more popularly known for their red-blue or red-green colors, and as the 1950s 3-D movie craze that is starting a comeback today. Ok, put on your glasses, enjoy the sample above, and then we'll get started.

Shooting:
There are a few things to keep in mind when photographing to create anaglyphs. Most likely you will need to vary your interocular distance, and photograph your subject multiple times. Here are some guidelines to help you get started:
1. You need to make 2 slightly different perspective images of the same subject.
2. Choose a convergence point, which will become the plane of our image, from which everything else will come forward or drop back.
3. Be sure to focus on, and place your convergence point in the same place in your frame in both images when shooting.
4. The interocluar distance, or distance you move the camera left or right between images, depends on how close you are to your subject. For a typical portrait shot from 10 feet away you can use the standard 2.5 inches interocular distance. This is the average distance between the pupils of human eyes.
5. A subject photographed closer should have an interocular distance less that 2.5 inches, and is known as hypo-binocular perspective.
6. A subject photographed farther away should have an interocular distance greater than 2.5 inches, and is known as hyper-binocular perspective.

Constructing the Image in Photoshop:
1. Open both images as separate layers in a new file, and label them. Red 1 for the bottom layer and blue 1 for the top.
2. Register, or align, your layers at the convergence point you used while shooting. The edges of the layers will not line up any more. That's ok.
3. Create a Black & White adjustment layer to desaturate your image layers.
4. Create a white solid fill layer on top, and then turn it off by clicking the eye symbol.
5. Select your red 1 layer, and turn off your blue 1 layer. Make sure your B&W adjustment layer is still on.
6. (Keeping your red 1 layer highlighted) In your channels window, command+click on any chanel. Forcing a transparency mask like this is the same things as creating a luminance mask based on a grayscale version of your photograph. It will appear as a selection, not a traditional mask.
7. Inverse the selection by going to your menu Select-Inverse, or use the quick key: command+shift+I.
8. Create a new blank layer above your solid white layer.
9. Open your Swatches window and select RGB Red as your foreground color, the upper-left most red swatch.
10. Fill your luminance mask with red by going to menu Edit-Fill. Rename this layer red 2.
11. Turn off all layers except for your B&W adjustment layer and blue 1.
12. (Keeping blue 1 highlighted) In your channels window, command+click on any chanel. to create a new forced transparency mask.
13. Inverse the selection.
14. Create a new blank layer above red 2.
15. Select RGB Cyan in your Swatches window.
16. Fill with mask with cyan, and rename this layer blue 2. Set the blending mode for this layer to multiply.
17. Turn on the solid white fill layer.
18. Turn on layer red 2.
19. Add a curves adjustment layer on top of everything to spruce up your photo.
20. Grab your glasses and say WOW!!!

(Keep in mind some images may require you to flip the glasses)