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Original reflection-hologram diagram showing a lamp and viewer on the same side of a plate, with selected light returning to the viewer and dashed extensions locating a virtual image behind the plate.
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Holography & tricky projections / 2017 · reflection hologram

Reflection holography — Cassadaga (Spirit Pond)

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A lamp illuminates a flat plate and an image appears to occupy depth. The light returns towards the viewer from a recorded structure inside the holographic material.

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Find Cassadaga (Spirit Pond) in Schreiber’s portfolio, alongside his Bowie reflection holograms and Heart Lake Denisyuk hologram. Compare the thin physical support with the pictured depth. In a physical display, move within the viewing zone while the lamp stays fixed to explore the changing perspective.

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Through Mirror · original explanatory diagram

Original file & attribution · CC0 1.0

Original explanatory diagram created for Through Mirror. It illustrates the optical principle and is not a photograph of a performance or installation. Gallery previews may be resized or converted to WebP; animated previews show the first frame.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Reflection holography — Cassadaga (Spirit Pond)?

A lamp illuminates a flat plate and an image appears to occupy depth. The light returns towards the viewer from a recorded structure inside the holographic material.

What should I look for in Reflection holography — Cassadaga (Spirit Pond)?

Find Cassadaga (Spirit Pond) in Schreiber’s portfolio, alongside his Bowie reflection holograms and Heart Lake Denisyuk hologram. Compare the thin physical support with the pictured depth. In a physical display, move within the viewing zone while the lamp stays fixed to explore the changing perspective.

What explains Reflection holography — Cassadaga (Spirit Pond)?

For a reflection hologram, the object and reference waves meet in the recording material from opposite sides. The resulting fine layers form a volume structure that selectively diffracts light back towards the illuminated side. A suitable white-light source can therefore reconstruct the image while the viewer and lamp are on the same side of the plate. Denisyuk’s single-beam arrangement is one way to make this type of hologram.

Another way to see it

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Original two-panel diagram showing an object wave and reference wave meeting at a holographic plate, then a developed transmission hologram reconstructing a virtual object for a viewer on its opposite side.

Transmission holography — Optical Interactions

Gary Fisher · Optical Interactions

A flat glass plate reconstructs light from a still life. Move sideways and the objects reveal a different view, as though you were looking through a window.

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Original comparison of rainbow-hologram viewing: two side-by-side views of a generic sphere show horizontal parallax, while vertically stacked views change from red to green to blue without adding a new vertical perspective.

Rainbow holography — Benton’s Sphere

Stephen A. Benton · Sphere, made at Polaroid

A hologram becomes visible in ordinary white light. Move sideways to explore depth; move vertically and its colour changes through the spectrum.

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Original plan-view diagram of Pepper’s Ghost: a hidden figure is reflected in angled glass, appearing as a virtual figure on the visible stage.

Pepper’s Ghost

Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper

A figure appears on an empty stage, transparent enough for the scenery to show through. Its real source is hidden elsewhere.

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Original reflection-hologram diagram showing a lamp and viewer on the same side of a plate, with selected light returning to the viewer and dashed extensions locating a virtual image behind the plate.

Reflection holography — Cassadaga (Spirit Pond)