Yosemite in 3D

Carleton Watkins was a critically-acclaimed landscape photographer in the 19th century. His photos of Yosemite are considered groundbreaking examples of stereoscopic photography. Smithsonian has a feature on Watkins and a pleasant narrated slideshow about his Yosemite 3D photographs. From Smithsonian:

In July of 1861 (Watkins) went to Yosemite--with a dozen mules to carry his mammoth plate camera, which uses 18 by 22 inch glass plate negatives; a stereoscopic camera; tripods; glass plates; chemicals; other supplies and a tent for a darkroom. The trails into and through the valley were spectacularly scenic, but also treacherous.

Watkins returned from Yosemite with 30 mammoth plate and 100 stereoscopic negatives. They were quickly revered as images of superb technical and artistic quality. Watkins explained that he was just able to select the spot which "would give the best view." He was also a patient and precise camera and developing process technician. One reviewer admired Watkins' photographs for their "clearness, strength and softness of tone." In part because of Watkins' Yosemite pictures, in 1864 Congress passed and President Lincoln signed legislation preserving Yosemite Valley. The law was an important first step in the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. In 1865, Mount Watkins in Yosemite was named after Carleton Watkins.

Carleton Watkins (Smithsonian)

[#1 posted by jesseg , June 30, 2008 8:55 AM]

you can see them in 3-d by looking at them cross-eyed until the two images become one.

[#2 posted by airship , June 30, 2008 9:55 AM]

Need a View-Master version to be truly cool.

[#3 posted by Anonymous , June 30, 2008 9:58 AM]

For higher resolution images, do a search for Carleton Watkins on this page: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/pphome.html

Here is a good example:
http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/stereo/1s00000/1s01000/1s01300/1s01378v.jpg

[#4 posted by romulusnr , June 30, 2008 10:39 AM]

It'd be awful nice to see them in fullscreen rather than 400x600.

[#5 posted by hep cat , June 30, 2008 12:27 PM]

I'm always amazed at the early photographers who did this.

The article makes it sound so easy , as though hauling around 18 by 22 inch glass plates on mules were a big deal. Well probably it was , but actually using them would get you arrested for terrorism today.

The process went something like this. Dissolve gun-cotton in ether and alcohol in a dark tent, pour it onto the glass plate , let the ether and alcohol evaporate. Place the glass plate into silver nitrate dissolved in water ( the silver nitrate would get absorbed into the photographers bloodstream and would make their capillary blood vessels in the skin and the eyeballs turn permanently black ) then put the wet plate into the camera , make the exposure before it dries, then develop it in pyrogallic acid acid and fix it with cyanide.

So there you have it, working in a dark hot tent breathing ether, staining yourself black while mucking around with high explosives , pyrogallic acid ( probably the nastiest stuff of all ) and cyanide.

Sounds like a walk in the park.
Oh wait , it was a walk in the park too.

[#6 posted by ron___b , June 30, 2008 1:29 PM]

Interestingly enough, I was playing with converting stereograms to animated video just the other day - here's a fun example:

http://digitalcomposting.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/stereogram-to-animation/

I'll have to see if I can get something similar with one of these yosemite pix.

[#7 posted by ronyu02 , June 30, 2008 1:38 PM]

@jesseg,

I've tried -- you should actually use the parallel viewing technique for this one. Or, switch the two images then use the cross-eyed technique. Whichever's easier.

[#8 posted by amuderick , June 30, 2008 5:17 PM]

If you think digital is the cats meow, then you've never seen a medium-format stereo pair. Forget cross-eyed on-screen viewing at 72DPI...looking at one of these is like the holodeck on Star Trek.

http://www.3dstereo.com/viewmaster/cam-tl120ii.html

If $1700 is too pricey, you can get 90% of the way there with this:

http://www.rus-camera.com/camera.php?page=other&camera=sputnik

[#9 posted by romwell , July 1, 2008 1:29 AM]

#7, you beat me to posting that the photos are in parallel view =) Most 3D stereo are parallel view, just as they come out on the film: left picture corresponds to left eye/lens. In cross-eyed view the pictures are swapped.

Here's how to view cross-eyed, with an excellent example:
http://dogfeathers.com/3d/lookcrossed.html

[#10 posted by romwell , July 1, 2008 1:43 AM]

Also, for everybody who might find the above procedure difficult or too annoying to do for every image, I highly recommend the small, powerful and free stereo pair viewer/editor
Stereo Photo Maker:

http://stereo.jpn.org/eng/stphmkr/

Just save your stereo files and use Stereo Photo Maker to:
-view as stereo pair as is
-swap left/right image in pair
-view as anaglyph with red-blue or red-green glasses you got from a movie theater (!!!)

It can also do a gazillion of other things, yet somehow the install is 621Kb.. It's my favourite tool for 3D photography, so I just have to tell everyone =)

[#11 posted by romwell , July 1, 2008 1:47 AM]

And one last happy note. The article talks a lot, but I couldn't find the link to the actual photos, just crappy slideshow. The photos are actually stored in Library of Congress website (Oh, joy!)

Here's the link to all of them:

http://tinyurl.com/6qrdc8

There you shall find previews, and ability to download 150kb JPEG's and full uncompressed(!) huge 35mb TIFF scans for all your printing/viewing/editing joys.

[#12 posted by romwell , July 1, 2008 2:00 AM]

OK, one last note: IMHO, the easiest viewing experience is downloading a bunch of these photos from the LOC site into a folder, open one with Stereo Photo Maker, hit X to swap the images in the pair and view cross-eyed. Then for the next image hit Space, the software will open the pair cross-eyed so that you don't have to cross/uncross eyes between the pairs.

As a side note: Damn ! The photos are so great !
You simply cannot feel the scale when you view them in 2D.

[#13 posted by gigarizel , July 1, 2008 5:54 AM]

Here is a 21st century Yosemite 3D project being done in gigapixel resolution. http://www.xrez.com/yose_proj/Yose_index.html