Two of my early efforts are shown below. The first is a hologram of a Steky IIIb subminiature camera, and the second is a hologram of a Mycro submini. In each case, in order to show these on the web, I have photographed the hologram twice, once from a "left-eye" point of view, and once from a "right-eye" point of view. Since the hologram contains the 3D information just like the real thing, moving the camera, like moving your head, allows you to see around and behind the 3D image! To see these in 3D, relax your eyes until you see the left image with your left eye and the right image with your right eye. This is known as "free-fusing" the images.

I made these with a 10mW HeNe laser on my pool table in the basement. If there's interest, I'll show more as I improve. (The actual holograms look much nicer than these digital photos.) email me at rpedelty@mcs.com

Hologram of a Steky IIIb subminiateure camera
 
 

Hologram of a Mycro subminiature camera

I was amazed at how easy it was to begin making holograms. The laser, film, and chemistry are all easy to come by, although finding an economical source of lasers, power supplies, and film took a bit of research. However, good results can be acheived almost immediately! (The hologram of the Steky, above, was only my second attempt!)

The film I use, Red Star Ultra, is sensitive to the red light of a helium-neon laser, but not to low levels of green or blue light. This means that all steps can be carried out under the dim illumination of an inexpensive blue "party" bulb.

1. All equipment must be set up on a vibration-free surface. I use a heavy pool table set up on soft foam pads (computer mouse pads) in the basement.
2. The laser beam in passed through a lens in order to spread it out enough to illuminate the object being photographed.
3. The film is tightly sandwiched between two glass plates and placed in the beam's path.
4. The object to be photographed is placed behind and right up against the glass plates. The object should be white, red, yellow, or metallic in order to reflect the laser light well.
5. A piece of black cardstock is used as a shutter between the laser and the film. My exposures (with a 10mW laser) have ranged from 0.5 to 10 seconds, depending on the arrangement.
6. Processing is carried out in 2 steps: a developer and a bleach-fix. A "finisher" can be used as a third step. After rinsing, the film is dried by air or hair dryer, and viewed under a bright point-source of light such as a desk high-intensity lamp or direct sunlight.