ILLUSION — Optical Illusions

How to watch stereograms

- Well, there it is, I can see it! So big and with large ears, just like the real one!

- But there’s nothing there!

- Try once more. Look through it, just as there’s nothing before you…

- I’ve been looking at this for half-an-hour. I can’t do it. I see only these palms and birds!

- Don’t look at the birds, put your nose on it. No, like this… Stick it to your forehead…

- Now I don’t see anything at all.

- You don’t need to. Don’t look at the picture… Yeah, that’s it. And now slowly put it away… Not so fast! Slooowly… And don’t focus at the picture, it doesn’t exist, don’t look at it, c’mon!

- Oh, there is something, but it’s muddy and blurry…

- Keep on moving the picture but don’t focus at it and this thing will reveal itself… And? Tell me, how is it!

- Wow! I can see it! Awesome! It’s a sheep! Cool!..

- Are you out of your mind?! It’s an elephant! Don’t you see the trunk?

It happened so that I had learned about stereograms before I saw them. My namesake told me at university that there was a picture in a paper which had no definite image but his aunt could see Jesus in it. Then I thought “Oh yeah, why didn’t she see space aliens there?” Much later someone brought a stereogram album to our dormitory, where I could see the hidden image after a long effort. In some years I saw Jesus at one stereogram. Today I am greatly surprised that still there are people thinking that stereos are the mass liars’ conspiracy or just our imagination.

So what is a stereogram? Actually this word means any kind of 3D image made in any way. Our frames, known as “magic pictures”, have definite place in this classification – Single Image Stereograms. Why “Single”? Is it some kind of stereo-mono? Human and most of animals can see the world in 3D only because they have two eyes. If you watch a stereogram properly then each eye sees the projection designed for it and your brain recovers a 3D image. This ability is called stereoscopic or binocular sight. Sorry, but not everyone has this ability but it doesn’t mean that they can’t perceive 3D.

Can you watch stereograms?

 

I mean can you see the 3D image hidden in them? Why, you can’t?! No, of course you can. You just don’t know it yet. If you see the world in 3D, there is no problem to watch stereograms. It’s the same as to ride a bike. Never tried to? Then like a car. Or you don’t have any? OK, stop explaining away and just learn how to do it now! Already learned? Then teach others, don’t be a self-lover.

OK, now let’s begin with eye warming-up: open, close, right-left, left-right. Hmm… Seems like a warm-up for lids and not for eyes. Somehow we never think that our eyes also need training. That’s why eye-glasses and eye-lenses industry with laser therapy grows-up. All the abilities are getting weaker with time. If you don’t practice.

What’s my point? The point is that when watching stereos your eyes will have to do two unusual things:

1. Relax your eyes and watch through the picture

2. Focus at the image

Hmm, what’s so unusual here? You’ll have to do both at the same time. Focus here is not a point you’re looking at with both eyes. It’s a state, where every eye sees the clear image. The crystalline lens muscle is responsible for the focus (sharpness) and eyeball muscles are responsible for what you’re looking at. During all your lifetime you train your eyes to focus at the targeted object and don’t even notice that. But this is natural. And now the situation requires you to control these functions independently. And of course you can’t do it at once.

Is it safe for eyes?

 

It’s not only safe, but also useful if you don’t misuse. Some doctors use stereograms for eye training and sight correction. But just like in sports, it’s useful until you become a professional sportsman. So try not to restrain yourself, please. Moreover novices may feel themselves tired and sometimes even headache happens. But nobody wants you to run the marathon at once. Give your eyes some rest and then try a little more. Every time you will see more and more details and will switch to the stereo-picture faster.

1. Classic method.

Take a stereogram that has a strongly marked pattern repeating. It’s important that every column’s width was no more than 6 cm but no less than 3 cm. It’s easier for a novice to learn with it. Try to print a stereogram. It may be easier for you than screen watching.

…defocus the view.

Put away the stereogram at the distance of half-length of your hand. Your head and the picture should be strictly horizontal. Now try to relax your eyes and look through the picture. Imagine that it’s transparent or there is nothing at all. Probably your eyes will return to the picture and it’s normal. Your eyes are doing this all your life. But try to keep the view unfocused, scattered and a little indifferent.

…combine the repeating pattern

As soon as you learn to keep your eyes unfocused, the next step is to find an optimal distance where the near repeating elements combine. This will reveal the hidden 3D image.

…slowly find the distance

Try to move the picture really slowly from and toward yourself. The goal of these mysterious moves is to find the optimal distance at which the repeating pattern combines and reveals a blurry and muddy 3D image. You’ll feel that the picture is growing into 3D: the background will flow back and some large blurry forms will appear in front. Don’t forget that you should NOT put your eyes at the stereogram and NOT focus your view.

If your eyes jump to the picture though you’re trying very hard, take another picture. Don’t stick to one of them and give your eyes some rest.

…slow defocusing

If picture moving makes your eyes stick to it, try another method: fix the stereogram and slowly relax your eyes. You may notice that the repeating elements start doubling and moving. The more you relax your eyes the more the pattern moves. At some moment the repeating pattern will combine with itself and the muddy image will appear, like a mirage. Usually eyes capture this image for some time themselves. After some practice you’ll be able to keep the images as long as you want.

…auxiliary points

It’s much easier to “double” the view if a stereogram has auxiliary points. The distance between them equals the distance between the pattern elements. Eye relaxing or picture moving makes the pair of points double and here are four of them. And as soon as the two near points get together and you see only three now, the pattern of a stereo-picture will move and the mysterious blurry 3D mirage will appear.

…arsy-versy

You see the hidden image but it’s has no volume. It looks more like some holes cut on the plane. This means that you are looking not through a stereogram, but before it. In other words you cross your eyes – try another method of watching. There are special stereograms for the crossed view but we’ll talk about them later.

I can see 3D something, but it’s all blurry

 

If you see a 3D image and it’s all blurry – half-way passed. Don’t rush it and don’t try to focus your eyes by the power of will. Give your crystalline lenses some time to adjust. Usually the further you stereogram is from you the faster your eyes get focused. Do you wear glasses whyle reading? Put them on then. Who knows, maybe after some practice you won’t need them anymore. Just as the muddy image becomes clear and sharp you can congratulate yourself (together with me ) – you did it!

Let’s run over the main points once more:

 

1. The first stereogram must have strongly marked repeating pattern or two auxiliary points.

2. Your eyes and stereogram should be horizontal, don’t skew of bend the picture.

3. Relax your eyes. Try not to wink and don’t focus at the picture.

4. When you see that the repeating pattern starts to flow and double try to make the repeating elements or the auxiliary points get together.

5. Choose the optimal distance very slowly to prevent focusing at the picture pattern.

6. When you see the blurry volume, try to keep the unfocused eyes in the same position. Then in some time the picture will get clear.

7. Let your eyes have rest and don’t stick to one and the same picture.

If your eyes don’t want to obey you and always switch to the picture’s plane, try some other methods:

Method 2. Wall-eyed Viewing

 

Yup! There’s no mistake – walls will help us here. Inform your relatives to prevent them calling psychologist. Come up to a wall at 1.5-2 meters with a printed stereogram in your hand. Look at the wall and find there something at the height of your eye. Capture it with your view and don’t move your eyes. Now start counting from 1 to 10 and start raising the stereogram in front of your eyes really slowly! And go on counting 11, 12, 13… (but try not to fall asleep!) If your eyes switch to the picture, put it down. Then focus at the wall and try again. Try to look at the wall a bit longer fixing eye position and then again slowly raise the stereogram between the wall and your eyes.

1.1 You counted to 645 but your eyes keep jumping to the picture. Try the next method. But don’t give up when you’re half-way to victory. And be sure that the stereogram is always horizontal.

1.2 Eyes don’t switch to the picture but still there’s no 3D image. Now try to move the picture slowly from and towards yourself several times. At some distance the image surely appears.

1.3 If you see the 3D image and it’s blurry, give your eyes some time to focus.

Method 3. Bury nose

 

No, it’s not sleeping time, you’re just getting started! Take the stereogram and put it on your face. Don’t be shy, it’s not a picture of young Michael Jackson. Stick it to your forehead as psychics usually do when trying to guess, what is on it. I suppose you won’t see anything. Of course if you’re not a psychic. Relax your eyes. All the same you can see nothing. Now move the picture away very slowly and try not to notice it and (I hope you’re not tired of it yet) don’t focus at it. At some distance you’ll see the 3D image.

Method 4. Reflection

 

Put the picture on a glass (e.g. of a door). Now look at the reflection on the glass. Now your eyes are surely watching behind the picture and now you need to adjust the distance at which the hidden image will appear behind the glass. If you can print a stereogram on a special transparent film (almost all laser printers can do that) try to learn with it. Watching through a translucent picture is easy. Don’t forget that picture and your eyes must be horizontal.

Method 5. Eye in a pile

 

This way is not very nice but it helped some people to learn watching stereos. You’ll have to cross your eyes hard and when everything is doubled and unfocused – relax them. It may happen that during refocusing your eyes will get into the right position and you’ll see the image. But it also may happen that the image will appear arsy-versy (see Bugs).

Method 6. Eyeglasses

 

Even if your eyesight is perfect ask someone to give you his or her glasses with positive diopters. Now try to look through the picture. The enlarging glasses should make it easier. As soon as you see the 3D image, try to do it without glasses. Besides at times of stereo-madness in `90-s there was a company producing glasses with special prismatic lenses for stereograms.

Method 7. Learn using anaglyphic stereo-glasses

 

Have you ever heard of anaglyphic glasses? They are the ones with red and blue filters in cardboard rim. It’s the easiest way of watching stereo-images at the screen. Maybe you have some glasses after watching Spy Kids 3D or with some books for kids. I thought, why shouldn’t we try use them to learn watching common stereograms?

Anaglyphic pair

The idea is simple – put on your glasses and look at the lower stereography of this stereogram. You should see a 3D couple sitting at the bank of North Shore of Oahu (Hawaii). Now look at the waves on the background and you can easily see the hidden image on the top. Repeat it for several times, this should work. When the stereo-picture is locked you may take off your glasses but don’t change eye position and the upper image should remain in 3D. With time you’ll be able to watch other stereograms without glasses with eye of a master.

Bugs

 

It may seem that you see the image in 3D and it is sharp but something’s wrong. Instead of a complete figure you see doubled and even tripled silhouettes, cut into some shapeless pieces. This means that you worked too much and split your eyes too far. So far that not the near patterns got together but the patterns located even further from each another. You need to watch not so far or find a stereogram with a wider pattern but no less than 3 cm.

Another case is if the hidden image is not exactly in volume. It seems to have some holes on the plane. All the convexes become concaves and vice-versa. That means that you’re watching not through the stereo, but before it. And that’s why you see the inversed image. In other words speaking, you cross your eyes instead of looking into far. Try the method #3. Interesting that there are stereograms for this type of watching but they are not so significant.

I’ve never seen stereos and I won’t do it ever…

 

There’s a small probability that you can’t see stereo physically. It happens to people with broken stereoscopic perception. Sorry, but the weak connection between their watching channels don’t let them see the world in volume and they even don’t get driver’s license. But still there’s one way for them – animation.

Animation stereogram

In some cases this eye malfunction can be fixed and watching different stereograms is one of the ways to cure it.

Still nothing works? We have one more interesting post about stereo photos.

So you did it? Let’s go and see the great collection of stereograms at our web-site.