Anaglyph images are used to provide a stereoscopic 3D effect, which is a technique capable of creating the illusion of depth in a picture. Although these kinds of images aren’t new, it’s easier than ever making them thanks to digital photography and Photoshop! In today’s tutorial, we’ll be walking you through the process from start to finish.
Our Perception
Each of our eyes captures an image with a slightly different viewpoint, and our brain puts them together calculating the distance between the object and ourselves. Something like the following:
The colors are used for illustration only. I wanted to show you there is an intersection of our sight, and there are some small parts which only each eye can see. You can easily illustrate this by looking in front of you and closing one eye at a time.
In today’s Premium tutorial, we’ll be trying to recreate this using some crafty photographic and post-processing techniques!
Taking & Processing the Pictures
We’ll start out by explaining how to capture the perfect pair of images for this technique, outlining the calculation required and the best process to follow.
It’s Photoshop Time
Whether or not you’re a Photoshop pro, our simple series of steps is really easy to follow. We’ll correctly align the two images, and then colour them to properly achieve the 3D effect. Two examples will show you the process for both a black and white image, and a colour one.
If Things Go Wrong…
It’s hard to always capture the perfect image – or series of images – for this technique, and things often go wrong. We’ll walk through common problems, and use another example to show how they can be easily rectified.
Software Alternatives
I had the opportunity to try two pieces of free software for achieving this effect, both of which are really easy to use – as easy as selecting the pictures and pressing a button! Although I haven’t used them much, they can be a decent alternative for those who don’t own Photoshop.
We offer a brief overview of both pieces of software, and clearly explain how they work!
Making Your Own Glasses
Don’t have your own 3D glasses? Not to worry – it’s time for some manual labor! We’ll give you a full list of materials, and even provide a downloadable template to create your own pair of glasses. You’ll be enjoying your fantastic 3D image in no time at all…
