Disclaimer
Tribute to early stereo photographers

 

Disclaimer

Nothing on this web site is original (not even the bits that are.) Whenever I "invent" something I later find it has been done before.

Internet links are notorious for dying and may be deleted if they wake up dead when  I access them later, so good ideas are not always attributed.  Pictures are better than words and are always attributed, if they are not from the author's cameras. This is not an academic treatise and no attempt is made to give a list of references.

Here are notes to jog my memory and if others find them useful (as several did on the first edition) then jolly good.

If you find errors, feel free to let me know via Linkedin or Flickr

I no longer give my home email address, because it was plagued by spam when I did so previously.

 

William Williams (1859-1948)

He was a Welsh Railway man from Napier (my childhood town) who first made stereographs in the century before last. Before any of us were born, his image quality was already superb and viewing his work is still an inspiration.

 

 

 

 

Edgar R Williams stereograph of a man making waling sticks, Leith, Dunedin, around 1899

 

Unidentified elderly man making walking sticks,
alongside a house, up school creek, Leith, Dunedin, (1899?).

Click the image to see the original

 

Alexander Turnbull Library Reference number: 1/2-140223-G 1 b&w original negative(s). Stereographic dry plate glass negative. Part of Williams, Edgar Richard 1891-1983 :Negatives, lantern slides, stereographs, colour transparencies, monochrome prints, photographic ephemera (PA-Group-00076) Photographic Archive.

This, from the original negative, has not been transposed, as is necessary when printing for Holmes cards, which would have been the usual way to show a stereograph in 1899. Modern stereoscopists are used to this format, which is viewed on computers by going cross-eyed (X view).

Wiggle is another way to see stereoscopic pairs, and an example for an 1887 Williams image is given here

 

 

 

William Williams photographer, Edgar Williams subject

 

Edgar Williams                                                                                             Edgar Williams

 

Photographed by his Father, William Williams, January 1906. Pounawea, Catlins River

 

View the image through red/cyan anaglyph goggles. red/cyan anaglyph gogglesThe left image is anaglyph 3D.

You can also see the cross-eye version, from the non-transposed original, by going cross-eyed. The cross-eye method works better on this stereo pair if you are also wearing red/cyan goggles.

This presentation method for old, monochrome, stereo pairs almost preserves the original look, while making it possible to see in 3D for those not into optical gymnastics. It may be original (but probably not!)

Old stereo cards are still available in second hand shops and there are internet groups specialising in them.  They are always transposed and are viewed with parallel eyes (explained later).  Correction for stereo window was well understood by better old time photographers, but not all, and was normally applied to the prints. Window correction is not done here, to preserve the original negative's format.

Click for the original on Flickr . This version has been modified by me (with permission from the Turnbull Library).

 

 

 

 

T.R. Williams

An earlier stereoscopic Williams is celebrated in a book by Brian May and Elena Vidal: "A Village Lost and Found"
An English village from the 1850's was illustrated with stereoscopic cards, which have been gathered together and republished, along with an ingenious stereoscope, which folds flat for the book. Recently it has become possible to purchase Brian May's folding stereoscope separately.

 

 

Sir David Brewster
Click the picture for more information

Soon after Wheatstone described stereoscopic vision, using geometric shapes, Brewster introduced stereoscopic photography. It has been impossible for me to get a copy of his book, where he first described the 2 degree or 1/30 rule for stereo base, but it is now available in electronic format.
(This link kindly e-mailed by David Romeuf)

 

Sir David Brewster

 

 

 

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