Grand Canyon stereos

I took these stereo pairs from Mather Point on the south rim, using the old "weight-shifting" method: take a picture, then shift your weight to the other foot and take another. Hey, it worked well enough for the Apollo astronauts to make stereos on the moon!

If you don't know how to "free-view" stereo pairs without a viewer, you can find directions in chapter 8 of Fritz Waack's book "Stereo Photography." Quoting Waack, "Relax your eyes and focus into the distance - in a certain sense on infinity - and then slide the two pictures into your viewing area, trying to see them in focus. You will now recognize three pictures: your two photographs on the left and right and the spatial image in the center (fig. 8.19). If the middle picture still appears double, try to resolve this problem by slightly raising, lowering or tilting the picture. Sharpness is achieved by moving the picture farther from the eyes or closer to them." (Note that cross-eyed viewing, the other free-viewing method, will not work with these pictures.)

For more information on stereoscopy, visit the National Stereographic Association's website. And for some truly spectacular stereos by Boris Starosta, see the Stereoscopy.com gallery page!