A Look Into The Depths (Illustrated) Part One

by Stuart Stiles

Overview

Stereoscopic art resembles sculpture, however in stereoscopy the representation of real, or imagined worlds, is seen in flat images, like are those made by the lenses of the eyes of the beholder. Sculpture is three dimensional; stereoscopic art is two dimensional; yet both of these art forms lead the observer to see a space that has width, height and depth.

This book provides examples and explanations of stereoscopy.

Written and photographed by a teacher who is sharing his learning, as he is learning from his students and his critics. He has found that the best way to learn something is to try to teach about it.

Stereoscopic art has the advantage of being a process that can be performed, experimented with, and discovered from the artifacts of the history of its development.

Some surprises in stereoscopy excite wonder. How could a man who was blind in one eye provide insights into a visual process that requires two eyes to see it? How could scientists be the inventors of an art form? Why would a comment that is said to have been made by a Queen arouse so much popular interest in a device that might well have ended up just another odd scientific inventions in a museum? These and other questions arise in the pages of stereo views, ordinary photographs, and comments in this book about looking at the depth of stereoscopic images.

Much of the material here was produced during teaching and learning events. Classes for senior citizens at a community college, workshops for children by the local interactive museum, exhibitions by undergraduate students in psychology courses (topic: depth perception!); attendees at a county historical society Victorian Days festivities; participants at New York Stereoscopic Society, National Stereoscopic Association, and the International Stereoscopic Union; and the author's family (all of whom were shown stereo productions in viewers, on computer monitors and on the stereo theater screen) are the audiences with which the author has shared the stereo images in this work.

The author claims no formal training, no acclaimed expertise, nor other credentials, nor recognitions for the photography in this book. The cameras used are all either antique, commercial grade, and often just plain inexpensive contraptions. Still the stereo effect seems to be acceptable and to the point of the lesson.

Some of the technical, conventional and explanatory language in this book is less precise than some writers employ in stereoscopy If the usage in this book is confusing, or thought to be misleading, the author is open for help. A revision of the book will probably be made.

This book is part of a series of three volumes. Part One is "Binocular stereo vision." Part Two is "Science and art of stereoscopic images." Part Three is "Participation in stereoscopy."
A brief lesson is also available on Nook Press, "A Guide to Free Viewing of 3D." This may be helpful for viewing the images in stereoscopic publications, without having the necessity of using a stereoscope.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940016513010
Publisher:	Stuart Stiles
Publication date:	06/30/2013
Series:	A Look Into The Depths , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Professor Stuart Stiles taught psychology at Orange County Community College, State University of New York, in Middletown, NY for thirty three years. He has served as chair of the faculty of psychology, and as chair of the faculty division of social and behavioral sciences.
He started the hobby of stereo photography, as he neared retirement. Stereoscopic vision is so closely related to psychology of perception that play and work merged.
Unlike senses that have specific receptors that initiate signals called sensations, depth is not a sensation that issues from activation of a receptor by an energy known as depth. It is a complex perception that the brain constructs from many forms of sensory input. The topic provides challenging subject matter for critical thinking by introductory level students.
Student projects led to public exhibits, very similar to science fairs. Students explained the topics of depth perception, as they demonstrated them to other students, teachers, and visiting stereo photography experts.
Prof. Stiles compiled and annotated a collection of stereoscopic images from the Victorian era resort at Saratoga Springs, NY.
He joined the newly forming New York Stereoscopic Society, the National Stereoscopic Association, the Stereoscopic Society of America, the International Stereoscopic Union, and stereo organizations at Sidney Australia, and Portland, OR. He moderated two Yahoo groups on the Internet.
His most recent publication, 2012, is a historical fiction set in the 1880s at Mt. McGregor, but even this has a section in which a prominent stereo photographer explains his technique to a "thirteen year old" boy. Even that book has some of Stoddard's stereo views in its illustrations.
Prof. Stiles has written a supplement to publications that contain stereoscopic images. "A Guide to Free Viewing of 3D" can be obtained from Nook Books.