This paper discusses a technique which uses Compton scattered gamma radiation to obtain high contrast, highly spatially resolved, three‐dimensional images in optically opaque objects. A highly desirable property of this technology is that this method allows the acquisition of radiographs without the necessity of placing the object between the source and detector. This paper describes a prototype apparatus which is capable of obtaining images with a spatial resolution of about 1 mm at a depth of 25 mm in steel of normal density with the source and detector both on the same side of the object. Some modeling calculations, reconstruction algorithms, and data verifying the performance of this technique will be presented as well as details of how the efficiency and throughput of this system could be increased by over two orders of magnitude. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.