Honest Abe
 
These are stereo scans of the obverse of a U.S. penny, showing the Abraham Lincolm Memorial in Washington, D. C

A penny is about 19 mm (3/4") in diameter.

I placed the penny as far to the left and right sides of the scanner as possible for these paired scans, to exaggerate the perception of depth as much as the width of my scanner would allow.  The centers of the penny for the two scans were about 20 cm (almost 8") apart.  This spacing is about three times greater than "normal" and exaggerates the perceived depth by about three times.

These first images are scanned at 300 dpi.  Use the "wall-eye" method to resolve the left image-pair into a stereo image.  Use the "cross-eye" method for the right pair.
 



 


Below is a detail of the obverse of the penny, with the statue of Abe Lincoln visible in the center.  I scanned at 600 dpi and then sharpened the images slightly after scanning them.

The area of this detail is about 15 mm (9/16") across.  The pillars are approximately 1 mm apart, on center, and the statue is about 0.5 mm wide and 2 mm tall.

Because the depth is exaggerated, I find that I have to adjust my eyes slightly to move my focus fromthe pillars to the statue and back.  However, the effect is rather like looking at the real building from the edge of the reflecting pool, which is "behind" you as you look at the penny.  The real statue is well inside the building, probably something like 10 or 20 meters beyond the pillars.  (I should go have a fresh look at the real thing!  The Vietnam War Memorial is off to your right in this view, beside the Reflecting Pool.  Take a handkerchief when you go to see that one.  Just thinking about it now makes me weep.)

"Wall-eye method"


 



"Cross-eye method"

If you have trouble resolving the "wall-eye" images into one, it may help to hold the spine of a book near your nose, with the covers spread so that each eye sees only its own image.

For the "cross-eye" images, try holding your finger or a pencil halfway between your eyes and the images.  Focus on the finger, until you see a merged image out of focus beyond it.  Then gradulally let the image come into focus.  Finally, lower your finger to see the entire merged image.
 


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Don Maxwell