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

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - What you should know before watching the course
03 - Exercise files

1. Uses for 360 Images

04 - Commercial photography
05 - Personal use
06 - Source material for professional productions

2. The Types of Images We're Going to Create

07 - Spherical projection
08 - Cylindrical projection
09 - Cubical projection
10 - Resolution considerations

3. Types of Cameras for 360 Imaging

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

4. Other Essential Equipment

15 - Choosing a tripod and a leveling head
16 - Choosing a panoramic tripod head for 360 photography
17 - Remote control of the camera
18 - Using a gray card

5. Positioning the Camera on the Tripod Head

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

6. Camera Settings for Capture

24 - Manual exposure
25 - Hyperfocal for everything in focus

7. Shooting a 360 Panoramic Image

26 - Evaluating the shot
27 - Preparing the camera
28 - Shooting strategies for a 360 panoramic image

8. Shooting a 360 HDR Spherical Panoramic Image

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

9. Additional Options for Capture

33 - Getting your camera elevated with a pole
34 - Using a helicopter or drone
35 - Going handheld

10. Getting Organized for Post-Production

36 - Transferring data to a drive
37 - Creating stacks with Adobe Bridge
38 - Creating stacks with Adobe Lightroom
39 - Adding essential metadata

11. Developing Panoramic Images with Adobe Photoshop

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

12. Developing HDR Spherical Panoramic Images with Advanced Tools

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

13. Processing Panoramic Images with PTGui

51 - Processing RAW HDR files, part 1
52 - Processing RAW HDR files, part 2
53 - Creating and combining bracketed HDR images in PTGui Pro
54 - Output options in PTGui Pro
55 - Batch processing the Images in PTGui, part 1
56 - Batch processing the Images in PTGui, part 2

14. Processing Panoramic Images with HDRsoft Photomatix

57 - Combining bracketed panoramas in Photomatix
58 - Choosing a processing method in Photomatix
59 - Batch processing the images in Photomatix
60 - Post-processing
61 - HDR-then-Stitch workflow
62 - Convert spherical to cubical, part 1
63 - Convert spherical to cubical, part 2

15. Viewing Interactive Panoramas

64 - Viewing on your own computer
65 - Sharing your panoramas online with Roundme
66 - Sharing your panoramas online with Spinattic
67 - Uploading and viewing a virtual tour
68 - Creating a virtual tour to host on your own server, part 1
69 - Creating a virtual tour to host on your own server, part 2

Conclusion

70 - Goodbye