Creating 360-Degree Panoramas and Interactive Tours

Course details

Learn how to shoot and develop stunning 360-degree panoramas and interactive virtual tours. Whether you're shooting real estate or outdoor landscapes, the process starts with great raw images. Ron Pepper and Rich Harrington discuss the gear you need to get good 360-degree shots, including camera, lens, and tripod options, and share tips for shooting both standard and HDR images. Then they demonstrate post-processing techniques that use popular applications like Photoshop, Lightroom, and Photomatix Pro, and dedicated stitching software such as PTGui. Once the images are developed, you'll discover how to share interactive images and virtual tours online with services such as Roundme and Spinattic or your own web server.

Learning objectives
Uses for 360-degree images
Creating spherical, cylindrical, and cubical projections
Shooting 360-degree images with different types of cameras and lenses
Choosing a tripod
Controlling the camera remotely
Positioning the camera on the tripod head
Setting up the camera
Shooting 360-degree images
Using a helicopter or drone
Stacking photos
Developing panoramic images in Camera Raw and Photoshop
Developing spherical panoramic images with Lightroom
Processing panoramic images with PTGui and Photomatix
Viewing and sharing interactive panoramas

Concepts

Introduction

Welcome
What you should know before watching the course
Exercise files

Uses for 360 Images

Commercial photography
Personal use
Source material for professional productions

The Types of Images We're Going to Create

Spherical projection
Cylindrical projection
Cubical projection
Resolution considerations

Types of Cameras for 360 Imaging

One-shot cameras
Fisheye lenses with DSLR cameras
Standard wide-angle lenses on DSLR or MFT cameras
Telephoto lenses for gigapixel images

Other Essential Equipment

Choosing a tripod and a leveling head
Choosing a panoramic tripod head for 360 photography
Remote control of the camera
Using a gray card

Positioning the Camera on the Tripod Head

Understanding what parallax is and how no-parallax point helps
Using an L-bracket
Using a multirow system
Using a single rail or dedicated on-lens rotator
Building a stable platform

Camera Settings for Capture

Manual exposure
Hyperfocal for everything in focus

Shooting a 360 Panoramic Image

Evaluating the shot
Preparing the camera
Shooting strategies for a 360 panoramic image

Shooting a 360 HDR Spherical Panoramic Image

Why shoot HDR panoramas
Determining the dynamic range and setting the bracketing method
Shooting strategies for a 360 HDR panoramic image
Shooting strategies for a 360 panoramic multirow image

Additional Options for Capture

Getting your camera elevated with a pole
Using a helicopter or drone
Going handheld

Getting Organized for Post-Production

Transferring data to a drive
Creating stacks with Adobe Bridge
Creating stacks with Adobe Lightroom
Adding essential metadata

Developing Panoramic Images with Adobe Photoshop

Developing with Adobe Camera Raw
Repairing lens distortion in Adobe Camera Raw
Merging a panorama in Adobe Camera Raw
Using the Photomerge command
Determining the layout method for your panorama
Post-merge cleanup

Developing HDR Spherical Panoramic Images with Advanced Tools

Processing RAW files
Combining bracketed images
Merging your HDR panoramic images in Lightroom
Post-merge cleanup in Photoshop, part 1
Post-merge cleanup in Photoshop, part 2

Processing Panoramic Images with PTGui

Processing RAW HDR files, part 1
Processing RAW HDR files, part 2
Creating and combining bracketed HDR images in PTGui Pro
Output options in PTGui Pro
Batch processing the Images in PTGui, part 1
Batch processing the Images in PTGui, part 2

Processing Panoramic Images with HDRsoft Photomatix

Combining bracketed panoramas in Photomatix
Choosing a processing method in Photomatix
Batch processing the images in Photomatix
Post-processing
HDR-then-Stitch workflow
Convert spherical to cubical, part 1
Convert spherical to cubical, part 2

Viewing Interactive Panoramas

Viewing on your own computer
Sharing your panoramas online with Roundme
Sharing your panoramas online with Spinattic
Uploading and viewing a virtual tour
Creating a virtual tour to host on your own server, part 1
Creating a virtual tour to host on your own server, part 2

Conclusion

Goodbye