I figured it out a few years ago, but haven't heard anyone else mention it. It's a really cool hack.
It’s something I think about many times per day - I mean, I’m looking at stuff all day, and this is such a fundamental aspect of the experience of looking at something. But my impression is that most people are only barely aware of how this works?
Something zen about it...
Don't think but it just is.
My eyes did this too up close, but could focus once I backed up.
New found possible love, stereoscopic photography. Honestly the stereoscopic effect is absolutely beautiful, even more so that each individual photo
I keep seeing both images rather than a single synthezised 3D image.
Probably the dead simplest thing to do is find a thrift store vr headset designed to go over a phone and get a 3d image viewer app.
For parallel viewing, try focusing your eyes on some object in the distance while still focusing your brain, not your eyes, on the image in front of you. It can take some hours of trying if it is your first time.
I find cross-eyed viewing much easier. For cross-eyed viewing, try to focus your eyes on your nose, and then slowly try to focus your brain on the image in front of you, just like when trying look at something in the corner of your eye without side-eying. At the start, this might mean that you see two versions of the image far apart from each other. While focusing your brain on those images, try slowly focusing your eyes a bit more in front of your nose until the images perfectly overlap.
Thank you for pointing this out !
I seem to be unable to see in 3D.