Viewmaster

A front blew in this morning, and by noon you couldn't see a thing at Cabrillo. Unlike other foggy times, it stayed blowy, and the blowier it got, the denser the fog got. Visitors struggled to keep their clothes on. After awhile even I couldn't take the winds another minute, and left early.

Needless to say, there was no view. Normally, I take snapshots as I'm pushing my cart around, gathering differing viewpoints and juggling ideas for composition. And I cheat: I always carry a ViewCatcher, this little photography tool. It's particularly helpful someplace like Cabrillo, where there's such a feast of visuals to gorge on. A ViewCatcher makes me focus. Like Adderall for the eyes.

Although practicing composing with a tool like this helps develop skills for 3-d work, too, most of the information out there about viewpoints in composition refers to 2-d work. It translates just fine to 3-d. Here's an excellent posting on a photographer's blog about viewpoints and composition...much more thorough than I could write. Or would want to write.

Specific to painting, my friend Terry Miura also has a great post here about differing POVs.