Chiricahua Mountains Flyby

Reproducing what a weight shift control light sport aircraft pilot sees while flying can be difficult. Video cameras produce 2 dimensional images but humans are 3 dimensional creatures and aviation is a 3 dimensional activity. It is possible to create 3 dimensional videos using a variety of techniques but viewing these videos requires special glasses.  Apparent depth in a 2 dimensional video can be increased in several ways allowing the viewer a more 3 dimensional experience without resorting to special glasses.

Two techniques for increasing depth in an aviation video are:
1.  Relative motion
2.  Brightness and contrast

Relative motion, when objects in the foreground move at different rates relative to objects in the background.  The difference in relative movement tends to separate objects in the video giving an appearance of increased depth.  Straight edges in the foreground tend to enhance this effect.  In the case of the video below, the camera is fixed to the wingtip and there is no motion of the aircraft and long straight edges along the wing.

Brightness and contrast, by differentially increasing the brightness and contrast of the foreground object (the aircraft) it lifts this part of the image away from the background mountains increasing apparent depth.  To accomplish this aspect of post production the video was duplicated and in one copy the aircraft was masked and in the other the background was masked.  The brightness and contrast were increased in the copy where the background was masked and the 2 copies composited to produce a final version where the trike was brighter and contrast increased relative to the background mountains.  This modification also increases the apparent difference in relative motion reinforcing the increased appearance of depth.

In the video below, the original video is shown in an inset box at the lower right while the full screen view is the modified video.  Note how increasing the brightness and contrast in combination with the relative motion of aircraft against the mountains has an increased appearance of depth especially along the wing edges.