Principles of Holography

The discovery of diffraction and interference led eventually to the holographic principle, the recording and reconstruction of the shape of a wavefront. Transmission and reflection holograms are detailed in this chapter, along with the principles of rainbow holograms and holographic stereograms and their applications. Digital holography is described in the form of multiplexed images. The psychological and philosophical implications of the holographic image are discussed with some examples from the field of creative art.

Analogue and Digital Stereo-Photography

The origins of stereoscopic imagery are discussed briefly, and a practical method of producing stereoscopic pairs of images with a single-lens camera is explained in this chapter. The history of stereoscopic cameras is summarised, and the models and formats listed. The various formats for 35 mm formats are discussed and the fundamental geometry reviewed. Instructions for the correct mounting of stereo pairs of images are given. Equipment for digital stereoscopic photography is discussed, with descriptions of available models and their control devices and associated software listed for each model. Specifically designed programs for stereo image processing are available.

Head Tracked Auto-Stereoscopic Displays

This chapter covers the work carried out on head tracked 3-D displays in the past ten years that has been funded by the European Union. These displays are glasses-free (auto-stereoscopic) and serve several viewers who are able to move freely over a large viewing region. The amount of information that is displayed is kept to a minimum with the use of head position tracking, which allows images to be placed in the viewing field only where the viewers are situated so that redundant information is not directed to unused viewing regions. In order to put the work into perspective, a historical background and a brief description of other display types are given first.

The Reinvention of Holography

In this chapter, the authors examine the concept of 3-D displays with sampled spatial spectra in discrete hoxels, reducing the redundancy present in digital holography, which prints each individual hogel. The underlying theory deals with the principles of 3-D imaging using the quantum model and 4-D (x,y,z,t) Fourier transforms. The image information is treated as a single spatial spectrum and its 3-D information recovered by digital vector treatment through hoxels. This enable the achievement of real-time communication in 3-D.

Integral 3-D Imaging Techniques

In 1891 the optical physicist Gabriel Lippmann developed a method of reproducing colour in photography without dyes, instead using pure light from the solar spectrum. Later study took his interest into the research of three-dimensional imaging via a method of integral photography in which a fly's eye lens array is used to record images in complete three-dimensional fidelity. Other noteworthy workers in the field such as Ives, Burckhart & Doherty, Bonnet and Montabello followed up the principle, but today Lippmann is acknowledged as being a founding father of the micro-lens technique for three-dimensional imaging. Advances in micro-lens production has led to the easy availability of lenticular print and consumer electronic companies are eager to develop 3-D TV system that incorporates much Lippmann theory. This chapter offers a brief history of Gabriel Lippmann and his subsequent legacy.

Models for the Behaviour of Light

In this chapter, the authors discuss models for the behaviour of light and explain the modern units of light measurement and the types of lighting used in photography. The theoretical models of Huygens, Abbe, Young, Maxwell, and Fresnel are outlined, emphasising the effects of diffraction and polarisation. They describe the structure and physiology of the human eye and the stereoscopic principle. The development of 3-D cinema and television is discussed with a summary of viewing parameters.

The Optical Wonder of the Age

The birth of three-dimensional photography was highly controversial with much heated debate and rivalry from its proponents who competed to be first. This chapter highlights the historical background of 3-D by quoting The Great Exhibition of 1850 and the birth of commercial stereoscopic photography. For the first time audiences were introduced to Brewster's stereoscope, allied to Daguerre's photographic images and so successful was public reaction that by 1852 the system had become a commercial triumph with much to be gained. During the following decade the new steam railway network rapidly engulfed much of the British Isles and Europe, making the distribution of mass replicated stereo-views within easy reach for many. Indeed entrepreneurs, such as John Nottage, commissioned sets of stereo-views and built a catalogue of more than 10,000 stereo image pairs that are still highly sought after in todays auction houses. Public interest peaked around 1870 and thereafter began to decline, due in part to the stereo photograph, or pair, becoming ubiquitous. Roger Taylor offers a glimpse into that period of history when enthusiasm for the stereo photograph has never been surpassed.

The Cultural Landscape of Three-Dimensional Imaging

This chapter explores the cultural contexts in which three-dimensional imaging has been developed, disseminated, and employed. It surveys the diverse technologies and intellectual domains that have contributed to spatial imaging and argues that it is an important example of an interdisciplinary field. Over the past century-and-a-half, specialists from distinct fields have devised explanations and systems for the experience of 3-D imagery. Successive audiences have found these visual experiences compelling, adapting quickly to new technical possibilities and seeking new ones. These complementary interests, and their distinct perspectives, have co-evolved in lock-step. A driver for this evolution is visual culture, which has grown to value and demand the spectacular. As a result, professional and popular engagements with 3-D have had periods of both popularity and indifference, and cultural consensus has proven to be ephemeral.

Principles of Binocular Stereoscopic Imaging

The relation between visual perception and the recorded image is discussed in this chapter, emphasising the historical growth of the understanding of depth perception and its visual cues. The stereoscopic principle is explained in detail, and figures are given for comfortable viewing of stereoscopic images.

The Prime Illusion

This final chapter focuses on the potential of three-dimensional imaging. In particular the medium’s ability to record three-dimensional objects, as with the holograms made of John Harrison’s famous fourth timekeeper “H4” for the Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, and the strange case of Professor Günter von Hagen and his “BODY WORLDS: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies,” who seriously explored its potential but relinquished its further exploration due to negative public opinion of his exhibitions at that time. Holographic stereograms are also discussed, in particular their ability to capture animation, as detailed in Case Study Three: Holograms of David Bowie. The text also explores some future applications of wavefront reconstruction.