I guess the extreme would be to have two pictures taken on opposite sides of the object

actually, the extreme would be multiple pictures with a view to every side of the object's surface. If your brain could compute that into a single image it would be truly amazing... I would imagine it could with proper training and the right method of displaying the image. EDIT or would that be a step too far - I mean it's hard to conceive of seeing the back and front of something at the same time - though I guess what we do naturally is the same but on a smaller scale?