Anamorphic images have been around for centuries. There are several types, the most common being of the cylindrical variety. A silvered glass cylinder was placed on canvas, paper or whatever and a picture was drawn or painted whilst looking at the reflection in the cylinder. These images were viewed in the same way, by placing the cylinder on the painting and looking at the reflection from about a forty five degree angle. Anamorphic images were mostly used for fun and entertainment but were also used as a means of sending coded messages during war years. Another example of an anamorphic image, this time of the stretched variety would be those elongated words such as 'HALT' that you would encounter when coming up to a road junction. Several years ago, I came up with a way of turning any image, be it a famous painting or an ordinary photograph into a cylindrical anamorphic image. This was achieved by using a piece of software available for an early Acorn Archimedes computer. The software in question didn't really have an anamorphic function, I was just lucky in that I 'tricked' it in to action. The picture at the top of this page was produced in this way, printed out to a printer, stuck on to a sheet of paper and actually painted over whilst looking at the reflection. You too can see this image! Download the image, print it to a printer, preferably in colour, buy a small piece of mirror foil, wrap it around a large marker pen and secure it with tape and you're ready to view. Position the pen somewhere in the circular area toward the back of the picture and look into the reflection.

Happy Viewing!