Stereophotography

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A photographic technique that captures two images from slightly different angles to create a perception of depth and three-dimensionality when viewed together
2. The method of producing paired photographs taken from distinct viewpoints to simulate binocular vision, allowing an illusion of three dimensions
3. A process involving capturing dual images from offset positions to enable 3D visualization by combining them for depth effect

Etymology: Stereophotography is a compound built from two parts with long pedigrees. The first, "stereo-", comes from the Ancient Greek "stereós", meaning "solid" or "firm", the same root that gives English words describing three-dimensional bulk. The second, "photography", combines the Greek "phôs" (light) with "graphḗ" (writing or drawing), so the whole word literally means "solid light-writing." The compound is a modern coinage, built in English from those classical building blocks rather than handed down from antiquity. Nobody in Athens or Rome ever made pictures that appeared solid, so the term's Greek elements were recombined only once photography itself existed and the technique of paired images had become a recognised practice. The result is a name that describes the method neatly: two flat photographs, each seen by one eye, are fused by the brain into a single image with depth.

Synonyms: stereo photography, 3D photography, stereoscopic photography