How to View Stereograms
Stereogram Viewing Instructions and Practice
Method 1 – The guiding dots
1. Some stereograms have two guiding dots at the top. Scroll down below and find the practice image with guiding seashells.
2. Relax your vision and unfocus your eyes. Look through the little shells.
3. The shells will double and will appear blurry. They will start moving towards each other.
4. Relax your vision little less or little more so that the two shells fuse into three.
5. Once they snap together, the coloring pattern will reveal the 3D image.
6. Keep looking at it this way until your focus adjusts and the blurry object becomes sharp and recognizable.
Here’s a practice image with guiding “dots” (the shells).
* Click on it if you need the full version for practicing. You can use the screen version or print it on a sheet of paper.
Tips:
• Your eyes will naturally try to refocus back on the page. If this happens and you see only two shells again, start over.
• If two shells still don’t fuse into three, slowly move the page closer to or further away from you. At the optimal distance, they will snap and then you can increase the distance for better clarity.
• If you can see the hidden object, but it’s always blurry, slowly move the page even further away and allow your eyes some more time to focus.
• Try other method:
Method 2 – Use the target behind
1. Pick some static object in your room, It should be 4..6 foot away from you, at eye level.
2. Hold the stereogram in your hands so that you can still see the target object right above it.
3. Start moving the stereogram up slowly, but keep looking at the distance where the target object is, and the hidden 3D object should appear at the same distance.
4. Keep looking this way until your focus adjusts and the blurry object becomes sharp and recognizable.
* If it doesn’t work right away try distance to the target object.
Method 3 – Reflection
1. Put your stereogram behind a glass frame or window or laminate it with a glossy plastic.
2. Turn on a lamp behind you so that you can see its reflection in the glass.
3. Then look at the lamp in the reflection and the hidden image should pop up right where the lamp is.
4. If it doesn’t work right away try different angles and distances with the lamp.
Method 4 – Touch the nose
1. Place the page so close to your face your nose touches it. Relax and unfocus your vision, try to lock it like that.
2. Then start moving the page away from you very slowly without changing the stare. Your eyes will naturally try to refocus back on the image, so if this happens, start over.
3. Keep moving the page away, even if you notice some transformation or even blurry shapes.
4. Stop at about reading book distance and keep staring. Keep looking this way until your focus adjusts and the blurry object becomes sharp and recognizable.
* This method could produce the “double object” artifacts.
Method 5 – Tired of reading
1. Place the stereogram at a book reading distance and unfocus your vision. Pretend that you are tired of reading and your eyes can’t focus on the text anymore.
2. This should help to stare through the page. Keep staring until a blurry 3D effect will start appearing.
3. Once you can see a blurry 3D picture, keep looking at it this way until it becomes sharp and recognizable.
Method 6 – Blink Your Eye
1. This method is not very common, but it could work if nothing else worked. Close one eye and look at the stereogram with only one eye open at a reading distance.
2. Try not to concentrate on the stereogram and relax your focus so that the picture appears blurry.
3. After a few seconds open the eye which was closed and a blurry 3D image might appear.
4. Keep looking at it this way until it becomes sharp and recognizable.
* This method could produce the “double object” artifacts.