July 2008, Lake Michigan: A technician from the Advanced Imaging & Visualization Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and underwater archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) experimented with techniques for producing three-dimensional, photo-mosaic images of shipwrecks. Lake Michigan’s clear water and exceptionally well-preserved shipwrecks provided perfect testing grounds.

Careful planning. Evan Kovacs (left), ­operational scientific services contractor at the WHOI lab, and Keith Meverden, WHS underwater archaeologist, discuss the day’s work. “We’re always looking for the shot that people say we can’t get,” Kovacs said of WHOI’s optics lab.

Getting the data. Keith Meverden, WHS underwater archaeologist, carefully steers the imaging rig over the deck of the Walter B. Allen, off Sheboygan in Lake Michigan. Funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant, the work documented the condition of seven deep-water shipwrecks while testing the 3-D imaging technology. After working out kinks in customizing lenses, processing chips, and lighting systems, software will be written to convert the video data into three-dimensional images.