Cross View Color Chronicle
May 24, 2013 11:29 AM Subscribe
Only a lucky few MeFites have the ability to view vaudevillian, commercial actor, inventor, and photographer George Mann's gorgeous vintage Kodachrome survey of Los Angeles coffee shops in 3-D as he intended.
Stephen Colbert's book America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't comes with 3D glasses. The library copy I returned last week included two (2!) pristine pairs. Well, one pair is now gently, very gently, used... I should go check it out again to view these.
posted by maggieb at 11:51 AM on May 24, 2013
posted by maggieb at 11:51 AM on May 24, 2013
Ummm... you need a stereoscope, not 3D glasses for these.
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:01 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:01 PM on May 24, 2013
Ummm... you need a stereoscope, not 3D glasses for these.
Or you could just cross your eyes.
posted by leotrotsky at 12:03 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I find that when I cross my eyes I can get the two images to meet, sure, but the 3D is backward. If I diverge my eyes (i.e. go wall-eyed) then eventually I can get the two images to meet and the 3D is correct - but that's far harder for me to do, and much more difficult to maintain.
posted by komara at 12:10 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by komara at 12:10 PM on May 24, 2013
For example: when looking at random dot stereogram of a shark I can make the shark shape appear by crossing my eyes but it shows up as a concave shark shape resting inside a flat plane. If I diverge my eyes it appears as a convex shark shape floating above the flat plane.
With Mann's images the same applies for me - cross-eyed will make it work, kind of, but wall-eyed is "correct".
I don't have access to a photo editor at this moment but I'm curious - if you take any of Mann's images and swap the two sides will it suddenly work the other way around?
posted by komara at 12:15 PM on May 24, 2013
With Mann's images the same applies for me - cross-eyed will make it work, kind of, but wall-eyed is "correct".
I don't have access to a photo editor at this moment but I'm curious - if you take any of Mann's images and swap the two sides will it suddenly work the other way around?
posted by komara at 12:15 PM on May 24, 2013
What you need is the Stereogranimator, which unfortunately doesn't work on external images, but maybe some enterprising MeFite with a knack for GIFs would like to make some?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:17 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:17 PM on May 24, 2013
I can make the shark shape appear by crossing my eyes but it shows up as a concave shark shape resting inside a flat plane. If I diverge my eyes it appears as a convex shark shape floating above the flat plane.
That's interesting. When I cross my eyes, I see the shark as a convex object sitting above the background plane.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:18 PM on May 24, 2013
That's interesting. When I cross my eyes, I see the shark as a convex object sitting above the background plane.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:18 PM on May 24, 2013
komara: "I find that when I cross my eyes I can get the two images to meet, sure, but the 3D is backward. If I diverge my eyes (i.e. go wall-eyed) then eventually I can get the two images to meet and the 3D is correct - but that's far harder for me to do, and much more difficult to maintain."
I can't get my eyes to get that far apart and I gave myself a bit if a headache trying. Cool pictures though.
posted by octothorpe at 12:24 PM on May 24, 2013
I can't get my eyes to get that far apart and I gave myself a bit if a headache trying. Cool pictures though.
posted by octothorpe at 12:24 PM on May 24, 2013
"I can't get my eyes to get that far apart and I gave myself a bit if a headache trying."
I had to move far away from my display and I myself have a bit of a headache now, but it was ... okay, I won't say it was worth it but it was a good experiment.
posted by komara at 12:26 PM on May 24, 2013
I had to move far away from my display and I myself have a bit of a headache now, but it was ... okay, I won't say it was worth it but it was a good experiment.
posted by komara at 12:26 PM on May 24, 2013
Stereophotomaker is is free software that can convert the pictures into other 3D formats. For example, if one half were to be flipped, you can use a single mirror to view it. It can also help display on a 3D TV.
A great gizmo to use is a Wheatstone Viewer which you can make or buy from DX.com or Berezin
posted by Sophont at 1:26 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
A great gizmo to use is a Wheatstone Viewer which you can make or buy from DX.com or Berezin
posted by Sophont at 1:26 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's amazing to think there was once a time when everyone in L.A. didn't have full sleeve tattoos.
posted by roger ackroyd at 1:35 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by roger ackroyd at 1:35 PM on May 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
The old crossing of the eyes trick worked for me, though Bob's was "home of the Boobs" for a few seconds.
posted by malocchio at 4:06 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by malocchio at 4:06 PM on May 24, 2013
I was wondering about "onanza airlines" for a bit.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:38 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:38 PM on May 24, 2013
Also, once I had one set in "focus," it was pretty easy to view all the pictures on the page with almost no refocusing. YMMV.
posted by malocchio at 4:54 PM on May 24, 2013
posted by malocchio at 4:54 PM on May 24, 2013
Seeing all these restaurants brings back so many memories! This just made my day, thanks.
I started writing a long and rambling trip down memory lane but I condensed it down to a few key points:
I started writing a long and rambling trip down memory lane but I condensed it down to a few key points:
- This photo of Lawry's got me thinking that an FPP on the history of Restaurant Row might be interesting, and a quick google search brought me to more of George Mann's photos, including this George Mann archive which includes a Restaurant Row collection.
- Many, many years ago I worked with a guy named Randy. He had just moved to L.A., and we quickly became good friends. He was living in North Hollywood and used to tell me about this great diner in his neighborhood called Orms, so the first time I went to his house I suggested we eat there. When we got to the diner I saw that it was actually Norms but the N on the sign was missing. He never noticed, and being new to the area he didn't recognize it as Norms. (I know you probably had to be there but it cracks me up so much I just love telling the story.)
- This is exactly what the Norms sign looks like on acid.
My lazy, lazy eye has doomed me to an inability to see these or any of the apparently wonderful hidden-picture puzzles, alas.
posted by dhartung at 2:27 AM on May 25, 2013
posted by dhartung at 2:27 AM on May 25, 2013
The multiple-exposure neon signs at night are wonderful, preserving the stereo information from each exposure.
I think they're all wide-eye view. You can get the images to fuse cross-eyed, but the effect is pseudo-stereo. For cues as to actual image order, look for a foreground object and see how it shifts against a background object. For example:
tiered dress (look at the man's head) and short hair (look at the beer bottle in her right hand).
The multi-exposure images are almost immune to being wrong-eyed.
posted by the Real Dan at 11:21 AM on May 25, 2013
I think they're all wide-eye view. You can get the images to fuse cross-eyed, but the effect is pseudo-stereo. For cues as to actual image order, look for a foreground object and see how it shifts against a background object. For example:
tiered dress (look at the man's head) and short hair (look at the beer bottle in her right hand).
The multi-exposure images are almost immune to being wrong-eyed.
posted by the Real Dan at 11:21 AM on May 25, 2013
What a cool surprise to see the extraordinary George Mann (and some of my work on him) show up here. We got the chance to introduce his lost L.A. photography to a new audience on the On Bunker Hill blog three years ago this week, and recently collaborated with the Reel 3-D folks for the presentation at the Central Library where the images were projected in three dimensions. (If the darkness of that footage is too off putting, there's also video of this gallery talk at Gary Leonard's, focusing on Mann's color images of Bunker Hill.)
The novelty of his three-dimension photography is delightful, but as an L.A. historian, I simply love the oddball and under appreciated stuff he captured, in glowing color and often from fresh angles. I am particularly fond of a neon, plastic and incandescent drive-in sign that once illuminated the lot that would become Tower Records, Hollywood. As far as I can tell, nobody else ever photographed the short-lived Jack's Jackburger, and it's only one of the greatest signs I've ever seen.
posted by Scram at 8:51 PM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
The novelty of his three-dimension photography is delightful, but as an L.A. historian, I simply love the oddball and under appreciated stuff he captured, in glowing color and often from fresh angles. I am particularly fond of a neon, plastic and incandescent drive-in sign that once illuminated the lot that would become Tower Records, Hollywood. As far as I can tell, nobody else ever photographed the short-lived Jack's Jackburger, and it's only one of the greatest signs I've ever seen.
posted by Scram at 8:51 PM on May 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
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These are glorious.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 11:40 AM on May 24, 2013 [2 favorites]