How Stereograms Work

See our gallery of stereograms.

Stereograms work on the theory of parallax, or difference between the image each eye sees.

Stereograms work on the visual properties
of parallax incorporated into the image.

A Quick Example

Find a place where you can sit still with several objects close by. Close one eye paying close attention to the relationship between the objects and what you see behind the objects. Now close the other eye and compare the image. You will notice that the relationship between the objects and what you see behind the objects is slightly different depending on how far away the object is.

The objects that are closest will move profoundly, whereas objects further away move much less.

Parallax

The phenomena of seeing distance from two separate viewpoints is called parallax.

See our gallery of stereograms.