Creating 360-Degree Panoramas and Interactive Tours

Learn how to shoot and develop stunning 360-degree panoramas and interactive virtual tours. Get shooting tips and post-processing tricks for Lightroom and Photoshop.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know before watching the course
• Exercise files

1. Uses for 360º Images

• Commercial photography
• Personal use
• Source material for professional productions

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

• Spherical projection
• Cylindrical projection
• Cubical projection
• Resolution considerations

3. Types of Cameras for 360º Imaging

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

4. Other Essential Equipment

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

5. 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

6. Camera Settings for Capture

• Manual exposure
• Hyperfocal for everything in focus

7. Shooting a 360˚ Panoramic Image

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

8. 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

9. Additional Options for Capture

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

10. Getting Organized for Post-Production

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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