Monday 19 July 2021

Telling Stories With 360 Degree Virtual Tour Photography

 It's a lot like film making really, you need a beginning a middle and an end. It's story telling. You do that with still images too, a travel story, fashion story, lifestyle, the photographer illustrates 'the story' with pictures. Virtual tour panorama photography – yes it really needs a better name, VR maybe? Maybe not.. Anyway, this photography combines aspects of film making and the traditions of still photography whilst being something uniquely different. A 21st century hybrid photo that is completed and experienced with a computer and software. Without which you are back to a flat static photo. 

Virtual Tour Architectural Heritage Photography  - Vaculuse House, Sydney
Architectural Heritage - Vaculuse House, Sydney
 With the computer a mobile phone, tablet or OCULUS type headset device you have an immersive experience a lot like a movie. Some would say it puts you the viewer at the centre of the experience, and I would certainly not argue with that. The 'tour' part simply means multiple pictures joined together, creating a loose narrative. Movies.. are also still pictures joined together. Pictures in a sequence running at X number of frames a second, to create the illusion of movement in time, like magic! Though you need the machinery to make it happen.

One of the great things about, lets just call it Virtual Tour Photography (VTP). Is that you can create a story, a narrative that is not locked into a fixed timeline the way a film is. With a film you start at the start, and after how ever long the director decides, you arrive at the end. And if the film stops moving what you have is a still photo again!

Architectural heritage photography by Hi-Fidelity 360

The 360 degree VTP image is not fixed to a timeline and it's not a fixed point of view, look up, down, in front, behind, anywhere you choose – when you choose – for as long as you choose. Narrative, the sequence of images can also be decided by the viewer. If you want to you can; make a movie from the many views provided by a single 360 VTP image. Budding film maker Robert Luxemburg took a single Street View image and directed and narrated a Jean Luc Goddard style short film from it! He really did, it's called Jean-LucGodard and Anne-Marie MiĆ©ville on Google StreetView. Is it really them? For me; well that's another story, I do think it's true. Most impressively it makes the point, that any 360° image can be animated into a movie, and it's possible to link the pictures together into that fixed movie narrative too.

It's a cute and clever little film but what can I say, the image quality is just terrible! I guess that's what you get when you 'acquire' your picture(s) from a car that drives around with a camera on top, collecting 'data' - which is how Google sees pictures.

So lets think about quality too. The novelty of the VTP wears off pretty quickly when parts of the picture crash into each other, overlapping walls, floors and details; distorting important parts of the picture when the scene should be smooth, mesmerising, perfect. Accurately presenting the reason it was commissioned for in the first place. Small rooms can be particularly challenging to 'gather data' from in the way that people view the world, as can be seen in this 'Arts & Culture' picture supplied by Google from inside the historic Macquarie Lighthouse. More of a pictorial mash-up than immersive educational experience.

Macquarie Lighthouse Stairs (with errors) Looking Up - By Google Maps
Macquarie Lighthouse Stairs (with errors) Looking Up - Screenshot from Google

Quality is important and quality takes many forms starting with the vision for a project. As the saying goes, 'if you don't know where you are going you will probably end up somewhere else'. So a clear vision from the beginning about a projects end result is important.

Then there is the look and feel of the project. I started shooting my Ocean Pools project in Sydney during the southern hemisphere's winter months. Why? Because I would have less people in the pools and populating the landscape, and winter light in Sydney is just glorious. Soft and very clear with beautiful blue skies. Details are revealed without the issues of the harsh summer sun - with it's very bright highlights and deep shadow. When shooting 360s outdoors you will always be shooting directly into the sun, and away from it on every shot. This is something that can often be avoided with traditional photography. It took me quite some time to work out how to deal with sun flare, along with the extreme highlights and shadows of most pictures – oh for that even softer European light!

Bronte Ocean Baths - 360° Sydney Ocean Pools Series
Bronte Ocean Baths - 360° Sydney Ocean Pools Series

Then there are the artistic and creative choices about how the picture should look after processing. HDR – High Dynamic Range – has been quite popular with some 360° photographers. It's hardly surprising given the difficulties of balancing the dynamic range, the light and shade of a picture that sees everything. Though to my eye, most HDR simply looks artificial. And I like my pictures to look like the subject that is the place. Ideally looking at it's best, but treated in such a way that when I see it in real life, I don't feel like I've been hoodwinked or cheated. Fortunately as a commercial photographer I have both experience and tools at my disposal to fulfil this optimised 'natural' vision for the finished image.

Perhaps the final piece of the quality puzzle is that old axiom of 'less is more'. In this case key shots in key places. Where you put the camera, one's point-of-view has always been one of the most critical skills for photographers and cinematographers alike. Never has this skill been more important or the lack of it more apparent than in 360 degree photographs. There is literally nowhere to hide, so the position of the camera is paramount to ensure the picture looks good, interesting and exciting, up down and all around. It's a huge call and one that takes time to develop an eye for. 

Mutitjulu Waterhole walk beside the rock, strong light, red sand, scrub and trees Uluru. Virtual Tour of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and Sails Resort
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park - Virtual Tour

Once the pictures have been decided, made and processed. Then they can they can be used to create the story you have planned to tell. That story can and should be more than a so-called 'virtual tour'. After all it's your story, the story of your place, the history, the elements, the people, the experiences. VTR, Virtual Tour Photography made with a vision for the project is a movie like, cinematic experience where the viewer chooses the timeline and level of engagement, done well it's like being there. 

 I've been putting together 360° stories that highlight a place or places, a hotel or destination to show how a presentation can work, and work for you. The pictures illustrating this blog post/article/essay all click through to the full 360° multi image story, the whole Virtual Tour.. Done with vision, your story will be memorable, the audience with be interested and your customers engaged. Contact me to discuss creating your story in 360 degrees.


Sails Resort and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Virtual Tour

Telling Stories in Pictures the World Over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia & The World.
0433 796 863

Sunday 25 April 2021

Personal Project : Hyde Park Barracks Art Installation

 I love a good art installation! A few mornings ago I logged into Facebook and as I scrolled down I came across a post by my friend, artist Marlene Sarroff, one of the people who do help keep me up-to-date on art. Right there in my 'feed' were 25 shots Marlene had taken of Australian artist Fiona Hall's 2021 installation 'Who goes where?' 300 signposts depicting people transported to Sydney, which ship and from where and why. Every post represented someone who had passed through the Hyde Park Barracks between 1819 and 1887. I had made one 360° shot of the front of the barracks in 2018 while I was still figuring out just how the circular panorama worked. It was OK for helping my being Street View verified by Google - but I wanted to get back and photograph this important historic building with my now greatly improved skills. I am also a fan of Fiona Hall's art so, seeing Marlene's shots galvanised me into action and I set out that very day.

Panoramas of Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, Australia
Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, Australia

I started out front and in the five or so minutes it took me to set up the the light travelled across a third of the front of the building! It's already moving that fast. I will most likely return for a full light on the front shot though I don't mind the mystery of this shot. Next was the north side in full light, in amongst the signposts themselves. This makes for a highly interactive experience of being in amongst the art installation, something I think 360 does best.
Who goes here? Art Installation by Fiona Hall at Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney
Who goes here? Art Installation by Fiona Hall
Followed by a shot from out front on Queens Square, looking through the gates, across to Hyde Park, back to St Andrews then north to the Morton Bay Fig trees obscuring The Mint.
Hi-Fidelity 360° Panorama of Queens Square, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney
Hi-Fidelity 360° Panorama of Queens Square, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney
 


Can you believe it's now only 2:28 PM on the 23rd of April! Twenty minuets from the first shot and I sat on a bench briefly thinking about what would make a good sequence from the relationship between the art and the historic site.
Who goes here? South View, Art Installation by Fiona Hall at Hyde Park Barracks
Who goes here? South View, Art Installation by Fiona Hall at Hyde Park Barracks


One last shot from the south side, there's some construction work on access to the Registrar-General's Building - so I have shielded the worst of that with the trunk of the tree. I'm happy with the outcome and the  quality of the 360's do click the image below to see them in all their Hi-Fidelity 360° glory, double click (fast) to go fullscreen.

Visit High-Fidelity 360° to learn more about how your business can benefit from 360° panorama photography.

 Telling Stories in Pictures the World Over..

Kent Johnson, Sydney, Australia & The World.
0433 796 863

Tuesday 16 February 2021

Innovation - Why Technology Does Not Equal Design?

Technology marches forever onward at what can seem like an ever maddening pace. For decades now becoming more central to our lives in nearly every thing we do; with Siri, Alexa and "Hey Google" personal assistants bringing that relationship ever closer.

Computers, and Information Technology (I.T.) and User Experience (UX) are part of the design world too. It's no surprise that designers produce work on computers. Photography too, is now largely computer based, especially once you have made your picture. Though I do most of my own I.T. I am not a professional, though I enjoy some of the technical aspects and 'know my way around', the nuts and bolts of it all. One of the things I loved about traditional photography was the mechanical side and marrying that to the creative ideas I had. Cost wise, getting the technical side right and the creative side right too; was paramount. Failure at the technical or creative side, could easily see you out of the game. Which made making the right choices very important.

The computer makes everything seem possible. I mean, I won't have to look for a publisher to get this article out. I'm typing straight into Blogger. When I'm ready I just need to hit the button that says 'Publish', and I'm done! Though the story might be better if it had an editor look it over first.. Everything has crossed over. Computers have made it possible for me to write, with less catastrophic spelling than you would see if you read my hand written notes..

There's opportunities for pretty much everyone to have a go at pretty much anything they choose to have a go at - digitally, these days. And that's a good thing and something I am very grateful for.

Though I am not sure I would be able to build another web site completely from scratch. Mobile first, tablet then desktop, responsive design. Actually I think most 'responsive' design websites look pretty much the same. Why? The phone's screen does not have a lot of real estate to spare. Navigation? Look for three bars... But I digress; or do I.. Some technology innovations can make you look bad. In the case of my website, with a phone you may need to pinch on the screen, and that works fine, but apparently it's not fully mobile compliant - so Google reminds me of this every once in a while via email, (not any more, I updated to full responsive in late 2019) and the threat of search downgrading if I don't make a change. But I still like my design. And as I said to a friend recently, "well it may not be mobile friendly, but it's not mobile hostile either!" So that's one way technology can make you look bad.

Another way technology can make you look bad is when the presentation of the technology is overpowered by the technology itself. As a photographer in the fashion trade, I used to refer to this as the dress wearing the model, as opposed to the other way around. It does not work, no matter how beautiful the garment is, or the model, it just doesn't look good, like kids dressed in their parents clothes, cute maybe, but not to be taken seriously. This is something 360° photography is having to deal with right now. Part of the issue is that 360° photography is technology driven at virtually every stage. It's the first of a new kind of 'captured' photography that cannot be experienced on paper; well not as an interactive photosphere. It is very different.

Movies. Films were new once too; and potentially difficult to understand. I remember as a young art student studying filmmaking, being told of film's evolution. At first, if characters went from place A to place B - the journey must be shown too, on foot or by car, train.. so as not to confuse the audience, as to how they got there, in the next scene. Now we don't bother. Well. Have you ever taken a Virtual Tour made to Google Street View's a-picture-every-three-feet specification? It's ridiculous! Like wierd software trying to make a movie with no script. No director, and no ideas. The sequence of images attempting to be a narrative of a place; ends up a complete mess that says nothing at all.

If the photographer does not have a vision for the picture they are making, the picture will not present itself as an effective vision of the subject or the place. To anyone. This idea is so basic, it's hardly discussed within creative circles at all, where understanding and investigation of your subject is taken as a given. But when you have imaging based in technology and not design, the aesthetics and the psychology of why an image works are easily - no pun intended - completely left out of the picture.

So these are the issues confronting those who want to innovate by using 360° photography. Without a doubt the benefits of being able to show more, more effectively are inherent in the new medium. Making the the right choice? Well these are still marketing pictures. And your clients are as time poor and discerning as ever. Engaged they click in, otherwise, they will click away. So you need captivating pictures, seamlessly implemented that show what you have, directly, succinctly, creatively. No one has time to click through 5, 10, pictures of your foyer and a sea of indecipherable ugly arrows or symbols everywhere; just to find the front desk. It's a waste of everyone's time and a production expense you don't need.

And when you have good design, you don't want a bull in a china shop approach to displaying that good design. What you want is a quality presentation that highlights your good taste, as seamlessly and as effectively as possible. Not just what you know, it's what you show. Quality, efficiency, and good design.

Some things never change.

https://www.hi-fidelity360.com/