ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How to create 360° panoramas

Updated on February 10, 2011
Church of St. John the Baptist 1 360 VR by 360VRs.com
Church of St. John the Baptist 1 360 VR by 360VRs.com | Source

With the advent of digital photography and panoramic stitching software becoming available, 360° panoramas are becoming ever more popular. They are particularly a popular format when viewed on a computer using panorama player software, allowing a viewer to to look around a scene, as if they were actually there at the time the photo was taken.

Types of 360° panorama

There are two types of 360° panoramic images - cylindrical and equirectangular. Equirectangular covers the full sphere, 360° horizontally by 180° vertically, while a cylindrical panorama only covers 360° horizontally, with the amount covered vertically being variable.

Photographing a 360° panorama

To create a 360° panorama, you will first need to take a number of photos while rotating the camera around a fixed pivot point. The photos must overlap with each other slightly, around one quarter overlap works well. The overlap is needed so that when stitching the photos together on the computer, the stitching software can work out where each photo stitches together.

The photos for creating a 360° panorama can be taken handheld, by holding the camera in one place and rotating it in a full 360° circle. However, unless you are very experienced with taking handheld panoramas, you will get vastly better results if you use a specialist panoramic head and a tripod.

Parallax error

The reason that a tripod and panoramic head is recommended is that it reduces parallax error. Parallax error is where the relation between an object near the camera and an object some distance from the camera changes as you rotate the camera.

Here is an example of parallax error
Here is an example of parallax error
Zoomed in, you can see the foreground object (the post) moves in comparison to the background object (the fence).
Zoomed in, you can see the foreground object (the post) moves in comparison to the background object (the fence).

The larger the distance between the foreground object and the background object, the worse any parallax error will become.

To avoid parallax error you can use a panoramic head mounted on a tripod. The panoramic head allows you to rotate the camera and lens around the entrance pupil of the lens, which avoids parallax error.

Below is an example of the above photos taken with the camera mounted on a properly calibrated panoramic head and a tripod. As you can see, there is no parallax error between the photos, ensuring the panorama will stitch correctly without any errors.

You can view the finished panorama here: Farndon Fields development at sunset 360 panorama.

When taking the photos, if you are going for a cylindrical 360° panorama, you only need to take the photos going round in a circle. If you are wanting to create an equirectangular 360° panorama, you need to make sure that entire sphere is covered, also taking photos up and down. This can get you some funny looks in busy areas!

Stitching the photos into a panorama

Once you've taken the photos for a panorama, you'll now need to stitch them together on the computer. There is a range of panorama stitching software available, the most popular being:

You load the photos into the stitching software, then generate control points. This enables the software to stitch the photos together, using the overlap between each photo to calculate the position of each photo within the panorama, and any distortion that needs to be applied to each photo.

Choose the projection format of the panorama you want, either cylindrical or equirectangular. (There are also other projection formats available, but for a 360° panorama you will probably want cylindrical or equirectangular). You can then output the panorama, either as a JPEG or TIFF, or as a PSD for further work in Photoshop.

More information and examples

In truth, there is much more to producing high quality 360° panoramas than can be included in one article, but the above gives a good general overview of the process.

To see other's 360° panoramas, and get inspired, I recommend the following websites:

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)