A friend recently published photos of her trip to Florida, where she saw a double-rainbow at sunset. It's a nice catch, and even nicer because she caught it at sunset close to the summer solstice, where the sun sets farthest north (you can read more in the comments).
As it happens, we had a chain of thunderstorms pass through here in Maryland just before sunset. A colleague told me to come out right now! because of a nice rainbow. My colleague was right. The rainbow was brilliant, and the second rainbow was also easily detectable. In fact, the supernumerary rainbow was also evident. Even though it was still drizzly, I snapped a few photographs. So as a complement to my friend's seaside rainbow, I give you an.... errrr... another rainbow.
To spice it up a little bit, I tried a simple technique to make a 3D image for the first time, a so-called cross-eye image. To view it, you will have to cross your eyes until you see three images, and then try to focus. Click the image to see a bigger version. I usually try to "lock" onto a landmark like the lamp post or the car. For more viewing help you can read this nice tutorial by Ray Tomes. He also describes the simple cha cha you need to do to make your own 3D photos. The only trick is that the photo you take while standing on the left should appear in the right panel of the cross-eye image.
I admit, the composition isn't the best, and a rainbow also isn't the best demonstration of the 3D effect, but the 3D effect is quite stunning for all of the foreground objects. It's so easy to do, and wonderful to look at. There are lots more cross-eye photographs linked from the tutorial mentioned above.
UPDATE (25 Jun): I'm sad to report that about 3/4ths of the people that tried to view it, couldn't see the effect. It's too bad because the effect is quite striking.
3 comments:
It was indeed a sight to see. From Greenbelt, and by the time I caught it, I could only see a small slice of it, and not the double. I had been out looking for a rainbow because the conditions were right about 15 minutes before I actually spotted it by chance out a tiny window, then ran outside with Ryland. He was impressed, and we met a couple neighbors who were doing the same thing.
I can't make the stereoscopic thing work but I am trying!!! Good pics!
What a funny coincidence about the rainbows! Looks like the one outside of bldg 2 was really nice - I'm sorry I missed it! (Though glad I saw the one I did!)
Well I missed the o-riginal rainy bow, but I eventually got the crosseye thingy to work. Took me the better part of 10 seconds, though, and that's 10 seconds I'll never get back!
And what's up with using blogger? I woulda thought you'd set up your own domain, server farm, and registrar by now.
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