The 3 Roads to 3D Photography

The 3 Roads to 3D Photography

There are now so many ways to capture and view the world around us as holograms, so we thought we’d break them down to show you that it’s easy to enter the world of 3D photos, whether you have a depth-enabled camera, a regular digital camera, even if you don’t have a camera at all!

Here are the three main approaches to 3D photography that you’ll be able to enjoy on your first day with Looking Glass Portrait:

1) Depth-enabled cameras

As much as we loved the memes, the cameras on the latest iPhones are all you need to take incredible high-fidelity depth photos. If your phone can take a Portrait mode photo, then all you need to do is pitch those photos into Looking Glass Portrait (via HoloPlay Studio) for instant holographic viewing.

Want to take things a step farther? Check out these tips for editing holograms from Portrait mode photos.

2) Regular Digital/Mirrorless cameras

Where digital cameras provide 2D snapshots of a moment, light field images provide a much fuller picture. All you need is a rail setup that can capture a scene from multiple perspectives, and our software will patch those perspectives together to create a single holographic image. If that sounds good to you, then you may like our Holographic Capture Bundle.

3) No camera, no problem!

If you can take a photo, you can make a hologram. But let’s say that you’re a person that doesn’t have a camera of any kind in 2021, it’s still all good. If you can save a photo, you can still make a 3D photo, just ask our new holographic friend Dr. Fauci.


Thanks to our new web-based service that infers depth maps from any 2D image, you can turn essentially any photo into a 3D hologram. Don’t believe us? Check these babies out:

Trust us, you can easily spend hours converting photos you find on the internet. For a more personal experience, try scanning a photo from a family album and seeing how your memories come to life, like this one of Shawn from his third birthday:


There you have it folks, three approaches to 3D photography. We can’t wait for you to give it a shot. If you’re curious to sample the Looking Glass Portrait experience, Look no further than this Tested segment with the one and only Norm Chan!


Lastly, a note about production.

If you were wondering... Yes! The literal Looking Glass Factory is all set up with our team working around the clock (socially distanced & on reasonable shifts) to assemble Looking Glass Portrait units for you all :D

(Left) Fei through the Looking Glass / Donald (Front) installing mirrors & Oscar (Back) installing the touch buttons.
Portrait, Portrait, on the wall. Who's the fairest of them all?

And of course, it goes without saying, we are SO EXCITED (!!!!!!!!!) to get your Looking Glass Portrait units to you in June — we promise it'll be worth the wait.

The team @ Looking Glass Factory

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