Picture this: Couple shoots in stereo

In a perfect world, today's edition of the paper would arrive with a set of special glasses.

That way, you could enjoy the three-dimensional photography of Steve and Betty Drinkut.

The rural Pennville couple has been fascinated by stereo photography for more than 40 years, and as today they're applying 21st century technology to an art most often associated with the 1800s.

"Grandmother and Grandad had a stereopticon," Betty, a teacher at Marion High School, recalls. If she was visiting her grandparents, it wasn't unusual to spend time looking at the twinned photographs of Civil War scenes, slaves working in cotton fields, or President Teddy Roosevelt.

Steve's introduction was more typical for someone growing up in the 1950s. "I was a View-Master kid," he says.

The View-Master, like the 19th century stereopticon or stereoscope, used two images - photographed from slightly different vantage points - to create an illusion of depth.

First invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone, stereoscopy fascinated the Victorians. A stereopticon and a set of stereographs were a middle class household staple and provided long hours of enjoyment in an era before movies, TV, or the Internet.

The View-Master was a popular childhood toy that allowed kids to see 3-D photos of scenes from all over the world.

For most folks, both the stereoscope and the View-Master would be nothing more than curiosities or antiques.

But the Drinkuts have always wanted to bring the techniques of stereoscopy into the present.

"It all started in geology class," says Steve, now a meat and poultry inspector for the state. As a student at Ball State University, he had a geology textbook with 3-D black and white images that required a pair of polarized glasses to view.

"Steve decided then to take some pictures of his own," says Betty.

At first, he used what is called a side-step or cha-cha technique: Taking a photo, then stepping to one side and taking a second photo of the same thing from a slightly different position. He'd then mount the prints side by side on a card similar to those for a stereoscope and view the finished 3-D effect.

By providing two different perspectives, one for each eye, it's possible to create depth perception in the brain.

He later bought an attachment for a 35 mm camera that split the image. Later cameras had attachments for two separate images to be taken simultaneously through two different lenses.

One of the keys to stereo photography is to have the right distance between the two lenses when the photos are taken. Typically, for a subject three to ten feet away, that would be two and a half inches or about the distance between an adult's two eyes.

For subject matter farther away, a formula must be used to get the right distance between the lenses.

"I've boiled that down to one inch for every yard," says Steve.

They continued to experiment with stereo photography, and in the 1990s discovered they were not alone. That chanced upon a meeting of the National Stereoscopic Association in Fort Wayne and quickly joined.

"We said, 'Wow, this is for us,'" recalls Steve.

Today, the Drinkuts are working with the latest in digital photo technology, with pairs of Canon Powershot cameras mounted on an aluminum tube that allows the distance between the two to be adjusted. A unique bit of computer technology allows both shutters of the two cameras to be tripped simultaneously.

"The quality of the pictures is so much better," says Betty.

Some of their stereo photos have been converted to anaglyphs, producing the kind of 3-D image seen in 3-D comics. Others are side-by-sides viewable with special glasses on a computer screen.

Betty's goal now, with so many technical issues resolved, is to make better and better photographs.

"Betty likes the competition," says Steve. "She's entering competitions left and right. ... I'm just a point and shoot kind of guy. She's got the eye."

The next step on the horizon may bring stereo photography back to America's living rooms, just as it was in the era of the stereopticon, Steve says.

Fuji is marketing a point and shoot stereo camera that will interface with the new 3-D television sets expected to hit the market in the next few years.[[In-content Ad]]