What is 360 degree Photography?
A 360 degree panorama image may be flat like the one above
But with the right software, it can also be round and come with the added benefit of interactivity. You can zoom in and out and as you move your mouse, finger or even your Virtual Reality headset, you can discover more of the image.
I’ve created the image with my regular Nikon D810 DSLR camera, so I’ve still managed to keep the level of detail and awesome picture quality that it gives but I’ve had to add a couple of specialist pieces.
First is the Rollei 200 Mark II Panoramic Tripod head, this is essential to help me take images that are free from the Parallax effect. The Parallax Effect? What on earth is that?
Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects show a larger parallax than farther objects when observed from different positions, so parallax can be used to determine distances. Source: Wikipedia.
If you stick your arm out in front of you, put your thumb up and after closing one eye, line it up with an object in the distance, keeping your arm still and closing one eye and opening the other, your thumb will appear to have shifted position when in fact it has not, it’s the change in your line of sight that has made the difference.
The adjustments on the tripod head mean the camera can be moved to allow for that apparent shift and its effect is then removed, allowing the images to be correctly captured and then easily stitched together in post-production.
The lens I’ve used is a Nikon 10.5mm fisheye which has a 180-degree field of vision, so technically I’d only require 4 images to capture an entire room, also as the view is so wide, I needed to be sure that I didn’t accidentally include myself in any of the images. I’ve taken an image every 60 degrees from 0 to 360 to make it easy to put together plus the ceiling and floor shots too.
I use Photoshop to not only gently adjust the lighting etc but to remove all signs of the tripod in the images that were taken looking down.
Then the images are run through PTGui, a specialist software that analyses the images and then puts them together seamlessly, there are some manual adjustments that can be made but I’m sure you won’t be interested in those!
This technique is perfect for showing off the interior of St Mary’s Church in Nottingham’s Lace Market and the event space that you can hire at The Wine Room, City (https://thewineroomcity.com/)
For the immersive experience head over to my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/steveedwardsphotography
It would also be helpful to show meeting rooms, offices, event spaces and even shops too. Get in touch if you think this would benefit your business – steve@steveedwardsphotography.com
