Create in 3D: A PHANTOGRAM

PhotoED Magazine
Aug 3, 2017
2 min read

Updated: Nov 9, 2019

A quick and easy technique for creating phantograms. All you need is: A slide bar, A tripod, PhotoShop & your camera.

Concept and object selection Start with a target or reference rectangle of known size, such as a standard size piece of paper. Phantograms are designed to be viewed at a 45° angle — viewing them on a vertical monitor will not work. Select a size that can be easily printed. For this exercise, a sheet of white letter-size paper is used (size 8.5 × 11 inches). The angle at which the object is photographed is going to be the same as the viewing angle (45°). Select an object/subject that has some height and stands up from a flat surface. The entire object must lie within the reference rectangle when viewed from the camera position. Camera position is about 1 metre from the object horizontally and 1 metre vertically. This will give the camera a position of 45° to the object. Setup and shooting Centre and level the camera on the slide bar so that the object is centred in the viewfinder. Adjust view so that the entire rectangle is seen when the camera is shifted 3 cm to the left and 3 cm to the right. Shift camera 3 cm to the left of centre and take the first image. Shift camera 6 cm to the right and take the second image.

Processing (using Photoshop CS5) Open the left image. Select the crop tool and make sure the Perspective box (far right of the menu - Fig. 1) is checked. This will allow each corner to be moved to the corners of the reference rectangle. Do this as accurately as possible - hint: use the magnify tool.

Crop the image and save as the left image. Do the same for the right image and save as the right image.

Resize image to reference rectangle. Go to Image > Image Size. Deselect Constrain Proportions and enter Width: 8.5 and Height: 11 inches. Do the same for the right image. (Fig. 2)

Making the anaglyph and viewing With the left image open, select the Red channel (Fig. 3). Select all (⌘+A) and copy.

Open the right image with the Red channel selected and click on RGB box in the top left to view all channels. Paste. The phantogram effect is achieved.