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.
 |
| Architectural Heritage - Vaculuse House, Sydney |
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!
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 Miéville 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 - Screenshot from Google |
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 |
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.
 |
| Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park - Virtual Tour |
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..
