What are stereoview photos? To answer that question, let me begin by asking you a couple questions first. Is the earth flat? What about the moon--a photo of the moon, that is? More than likely you're not a member of the Flat Earth Society, but if you answered the second question honestly, then odds are you're an honorary member of the Flat Photo Society. As the Apollo 15 astronaut in the image below would attest: the earth isn’t flat, but rather, is spinning like a tiny blue marble through three-dimensional space. However, when looking at this photograph of James B. Irwin on the moon, you might as well be a one-eyed cyclops. Like all typical portrait and landscape photos, it lacks realistic depth and curvature, the image looks essentially the same whether viewed with one eye or two.

David R. Scott photographer, Courtesy of NASA

This shortcoming was overcome however in 1838 when the flat, fledgling world of photography took a giant leap forward due to Sir Charles Wheatstone. In a paper to the Royal Society in England, Wheatstone argued that the key to our ability to see the world in three dimensions is our "parallax vision" in which both eyes (on average spaced 2 1/2 inches apart) each separately views a scene at a slightly different perspective. A stereoview is a double-image drawing or photograph that imitates our parallax vision and works in conjunction with a stereoscope, an optical apparatus that has two slightly magnified eye pieces to aid in focusing each eye--the left eye on the left image and the right eye on the right image. When looking through a modern stereoscope (Wheatstone's prototype perfected by Brewster in 1849) at a double-image stereoview, the two images become one, which magically springs to life with three-dimensional fullness and depth, giving the viewer the uncanny feeling of actually being there, in situ. Such 3d is convincingly genuine, NOT pseudo artificial 3d.
The depth of a stereoview scene, which often contains multiple levels of depth, prompts exploration of the image with it's well-delineated, separated details that traditional single-lens photography cannot capture. Stereo-photography offers a more enriched and participatory viewing experience, including the phenomenon of not just being an outside observer but intimately entering into and becoming a part of the scene. With all these appealing advantages, stereoview 3d became tremendously popular, often touted as a way to see the world without ever needing to leave your house.

During the late 19th and early 20th century, stereoviews were the rage until another visual medium–the television–was invented and mass produced, replacing stereo imagery as the most popular type of optical entertainment. Even today though a form of stereoscopy is still well-known and sold in countless stores and gift shops: the View-Master. The View-Master utilizes a round cardboard disc comprised of seven pairs of stereoview images. This disc is rotated in a special viewer in order to progressively view each of the seven stereoviews. There is however a major drawback: size. The three-dimensional picture is only half the size of the 3d image seen with a traditional Holmes-style stereoscope. In order to fully experience the ample detail and realism of stereoview photography, purchase either a large stereoscope or inexpensive handheld viewer and immerse yourself in the most wonderous, realistic form of photography ever invented.
                                         

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