Stereoscopic Photography for Miniatures? Who Knew?

Messing about online the other night I discovered a neat little miniatures blog called the Wily Brush. Reading through the site I came across this particular post about stereoscopic photography for miniatures.  What a great idea!

While those of us of a certain age most likely played with a View-Master back in the day and are thus vaguely familiar with stereo photography, I never would have thought of using the technique to photograph miniatures.  I'm not sure how common the practice is or how useful it would be for showcasing painted miniatures, but it's worth a look... even if for nothing more than entertainment.  After following the link, stay around and explore the website for a bit.  The guy swings a mean brush!

Word of warning though.  Getting the images to "combine" and produce a 3D image was rather difficult.  I don't know if it was just me or if others have had issues.  The author gives a trick at the bottom of the page on how to get your eyes to work (reposted below) but I still had trouble.  What finally worked for me was following his instructions until just before the end.  Instead of trying to cross your eyes, try simply unfocusing them as if you were staring off into space.  Worked for me.  You mileage may vary though.

One tip if you’re having trouble seeing the 3d image. Close your right eye and cover the left image with your left hand (so you can only see the right image with your left eye). Then close your left eye and cover the right image with your right hand (so you only see the left image with your right eye). This will remove the ‘duplicate’ images, leaving the stereo image when you crosseye it. Hope that tip helps, even if you see the stereo image without it, it makes it look nicer.