Stereograms
Art • August 27th, 2006The first time I saw one of these things, I was in college. People were crowded around a couple of framed images for sale, and you could hear silence followed by sudden expressions of excitement as soon as someone was able to “get in” and see the hidden 3D image. You could also hear the frustration of those who couldn’t see beyond the psychedelic shapes.
As soon as I was able to “get in” for the first time, I became a natural, always able to take any of these and see through it to find the prize. Many people relied on tricks like focusing on their own reflection on the glass, or starting with the image really close to the eyes and pulling away slowly. But I was proud to be able to just stare through and get there pretty quickly. So I bought one for myself before the rave would pass.
I must confess that over time, trying to see the image again became a bit more difficult, and finally, yesterday I had to use one of the common tricks to get back in. I was curious to see if a digital image of it would preserve the effect. I guess this shows my ignorance on the subject. In fact: Yes, a digital copy of the original still shows the 3D image. If you want to try, you can see a larger version of the above piece here (Much easier to see than the small one).
Trying to investigate a little more about the subject I found several resources on the Internet. For instance, I found that in general they are called stereograms, and the piece shown on this page is an autostereogram since only one image is used. Many other resources discuss stereo pairs which in order to see, you must cross your eyes, and sorry: That hurts too much!
At some point during my struggle trying to see the 3D image, I focused the wrong way and ended up seeing the image reversed. That is, I saw the background jumping in front of the foreground. I didn’t know that was possible. Today I’m having no problem at all. I guess it’s simply a matter of practice.
