Shooting a Macro Phantogram

Hello Friends,

Clearly I'm someone obsessed with the what happens to a 3-D image when reversing out the effects of perspective. I thought to share a little about my process in shooting macro phantograms.

My dog Pepper and I spent a lot of the early Covid pandemic months walking our neighborhood looking for interesting, intricate natural subjects. In addition to my Panasonic Lumix GX7 macro camera and a couple of 3-D lenses modified by George (Dr. T) Themelis, I carried a nested set of various size frame sides. Ray Zone called this approach "an analog solution to a digital problem." The frame sides become an integral part of the image, as I use their corners to crop and effectively reverse out the effects of perspective. The top image here shows what it looks like, my left hand holding the frame around the subject and my right lining up the camera and shooting.

These images are of Lantana growing in front of our house, a fairly common decorative plant in our neighborhood. The bottom image is a different shot than the one at the top, it's the one from that sequence of shots I included in Macrophant 3D. Also notable is the anaglyph conversion of the bottom image performed by Jim McManus, which made viewing it, despite a lot of red, pleasurable with little retinal rivalry. If you have any interest or questions about what goes into a macro phantogram, please email me back, or perhaps check out the website I created for the book at http://macrophant3d.com.

I've had a rant brewing in me for some time, but I'll try to be brief, and if you're actually reading this I suspect I'm just preaching to the choir. I was raised to the belief that there was something special in our American culture and freedom, and the lofty notions of equality stated in our Declaration of Indepencence and Constitution.

I later came to realize that much of it is just an illusion in a nation much like all others, deeply mired in inequality and racism. Even so, Winston Churchill once said that: "democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried." Authoritarianism is on the rise, and our great democratic experiment, once the envy of the world, is currently in grave danger of failing. I wish I had some good advice to pass on as to what to do, but I really don't, other than to suggest we all keep our eyes and hearts open.

One notable minority political party here, whose over-riding philosophy seems to have become opportunism and cementing power, relies heavily on slogans such as "law & order", "freedom" and "pro-life". Their actions promote the opposite. Law and order to them is relevant only when their person or property is threatened. Freedom to them is largely their freedom to carry big guns and dominate women and people of color, and is free of personal responsibility to the society and others around them. And pro-life is the biggest lie of the three, applying only to the not-yet-born.

OK, that's it. Not very pithy, but what the heck. So on to the task of trying to sell a few books.

Again I suggest that you share your love of 3D with people you love and like with a gift that might actually have them say WOW. If you haven't yet seen Macrophant 3D, it's a beautiful new book. All the images are viewable as large anaglpyhs as well as RLR 3-sets for parallel or cross-eyed viewing.

All my Phantom3D® books and note cards are around half price through to the end of the year. Order them at http://3ddigitalphoto.com/Products.asp

Macrophant 3D at $20/each
Pop-Up 3D at $10/each
Phantograms from Nature at $15/each
Crossview 3-D at $10/each
and
All note cards at $2/each

Use Promocode: WOW to get these prices.

If you have any thoughts or questions, you can call me at 562-400-5055.

Happy holidays, stay warm.

Barry Rothstein

I send out a weekly email of these. If you'd like to be included, please go to the contact page and send me an email.

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