An optical scanning holography system which requires only a two dimensional scan to record three dimensional information from a fluorescent specimen wherein the optical scanning holography is based on scanning the specimen with a Fresnel zone pattern and detecting and decoding the fluorescent light reflected from the specimen. The flourescent light reflected from the specimen contains three dimensional information about the specimen so that once the fluorescent light is detected and decoded a three dimensional image of the specimen can be obtained and displayed using only the two dimensional scan.