#sterography

Okay, yes, ha ha, the SI Swimsuit cheesecake video, but let's accept that if there's anything 3D should be good at it's capturing the human form. As evidence I submit the vast catalog of statuary from the classical era. While this, uh, "documentary" is ostensibly about the industrial production of pinup photography it serves much better as a tragic parable of the perils of long lenses for stereo imaging.

Long focal-length lenses are the bread and butter of the fashion photography world. Their narrow field of view is perfect for creating graphic backgrounds which nicely isolate subjects, and the perspective compression has a flattering effect on faces.

Unfortunately that same perspective compression is the death of volume. You can see this readily enough in a monoscopic image and especially well in sports photography where focal lengths can get extremely long. Look at that quarterback sixty yards away about to fire off a pass, and then look over his shoulder at the people in the seats another fifty yards behind him and notice how they're almost the same size as he is. Our loss of perspective information, one of our depth cues which uses relative size to judge distance, compresses the world into flat, diorama-like planes of indeterminate spatial separation.

In stereo imaging longer focal length lenses (we're talking, like, over 40mm for a super-35mm image plane) start to squeeze all of the "roundness" out of objects. This is a poor aesthetic choice, in my opinion, for shooting compelling stereo images of voluptuous bodies.

SIS2011:T3DE must have been an extremely frustrating experience for supervising stereographer Matthew Blute. I know he's a very talented guy because I've seen stereo footage from the Russian movie Stalingrad, which is currently in production, and it's spectacular. I have to assume the DP insisted on using long lenses to better match the look of what Sports Illustrated photographer Bjorn Iooss was using on his DSLR for the stills while Blute wrung his hands over how all the models, volcanic rocks, waving foliage and crashing waves were being squashed into cardboard cutouts. There is a painful irony during a filler segment where everyone on screen is talking about the glorious, lush, tactile tropical location and the audience is essentially shown bent postcards at arm's length.