Holograms & Ghosts

Here are some of the pictures of the holograms, as I was using a laptop I was unable to get a 360° view as the keyboard was getting in the way.  With these ones of the fist I also realized after I'd taken the photos and videos that some of the photos are facing the wrong way so it doesn't look like you're looking around the hand the way it should. 
I haven't figured out yet how I could display my holograms other than setting up a computer monitor in the dark for people to look at.

I made some with glow sticks but I didn't really like them as they're not very interesting.

I took more videos of the flowers too but I'm still not completely happy with them because I had to use the laptop which got in the way and the camera was also a tiny bit shaky. A few people have mentioned to me that the flowers kind of look like/remind them of fireworks.

I made an 8 sided hologram generator too. I wasn't sure if it would work, keeping the same angles but it did.  When I took the photo below I had forgotten to turn the flash off on my camera but I thought the picture was still interesting because of the way the flash reflected off the plastic which also reflected off the screen. I think the reflections on the screen in this picture look kind of celestial, which I really liked.

I made the hologram of the hand waving by taking pictures of a hand waving from four different angles. I think it turned out alright. 

The hologram images reminded me of ghost images which I thought was interesting as the holograms are made using reflections and I have read a lot of superstitions relating to reflections or mirrors which often involve ghosts or spirits.
Some people used to be afraid of looking in a mirror at night in case they would see a ghost. Others believe that mirrors are portals for the dead or the devil or that they are a prison for spirits or souls which get trapped in them and you can capture a ghost using a mirror. Some people also believe you can contact the dead using mirrors. I wonder if these ideas have anything to do with how reflections look in transparent surfaces?

Holograms

I made holograms using the method shown in the video linked in my last post to get a better idea of what it looks like in reality.

It worked well but it is very small so I decided to do it on a larger scale and using my own images.
I made a bigger 'hologram generator', this time the top edges measured 18cm but I kept the proportions the same.

They took a while to make as I had to edit all the photos to make the background black and I also had to make them so that there was an image on each of the four sides in the right place and the right size for it to work. I took series of continuous  photos so that I could create gifs with the pictures to make moving holograms.


Click here for the animated gif
Click here for this one

I need to make better videos/pictures of this working. The above video was taken using the hologram generator and my computer monitor at home which has a stand that prevented me from laying it down horizontally. I need to find a monitor that will be suitable for this so I can set up for pictures and videos. I'm also going to try printing the images and use a lightbox or projector beneath them to see if that will work although, I will still need the monitor to view the animated images.

I think the 'hologram generator' could be better if it were made out of a thicker/more solid plastic. The plastic I used bends a bit which causes the reflected image to distort slightly. I think this problem only appeared when I changed the scale as it made a bigger surface area. I also think black paper on the top and bottom might work better than white as the white does cause a bit of a reflection off the plastic. I plan to make one of these with more sides an perhaps a conical one too so I will try to improve them with what I've learned from this.

I found it really interesting that you can create what looks like a three dimensional object by using clear reflective surfaces.