How to shoot a 720-degree VR panoramic display?

Shooting requires different methods depending on the equipment you use, but in general it is a 360-degree view plus two images of the sky and the earth (a full-frame camera + 8mm fisheye does not require shooting of the sky and the earth)

Before shooting, you need to have a full understanding of your own equipment, whether full-frame or C-frame, and what the focal length of the lens is, which is crucial to your shooting.

The first step:

Select a more suitable point

The so-called more suitable point mainly includes: the complexity of the ground (Simple ground will make it easy to make up for the land later), places where the contrast between light and dark is not very strong, and where there is little traffic. This selection of points does not mean that you have any concerns about shooting, it is to make your post-production process easier and reduce the workload of post-production

Step 2:

After selecting good points, The panoramic gimbal needs to be placed horizontally on the tripod (in fact, it is okay to tilt the camera to a certain extent, and it can be adjusted back in Ptgui, but why not do it all at once), and initially install the camera.

After installing the camera, you need to adjust your gimbal to the state shown in the picture below, and then select the angle of each rotation according to the configuration of your camera. Generally speaking, the panoramic camera + 8mm fisheye rotates 90° in a single time, and the C-frame SLR + 8mm fisheye rotates 45° in a single time.

The third step:

This step is also the most critical. The first step: adjust the camera node

As mentioned before, the camera node is very important for ground panoramic shooting. Many people will simply think that the camera node is the center of the camera, but this is not the case. The node of the camera is related to the camera body and the lens used. Generally speaking, the node will be on the lens. I will explain in detail how to adjust the camera node in another chapter in the future. It cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences. of.

Step 4:

After adjusting the camera nodes, start shooting.

Many people will have this question, how many pictures should be taken in one circle? In fact, there is no fixed answer to this question, it depends on the parameters of your equipment.

In fact, VR panoramic filming does not need to be understood mechanically.

You can remember the following principles:

1. Whether horizontally (rows) or vertically (columns), make sure that adjacent photos overlap by at least 30% to 45% degree;

2. If the recognition of the scene is low (such as a white wall), the overlap can be increased appropriately, but no more than 50%;

Let’s talk about fish here For the use of eye lenses, it is recommended to use an 8mm fisheye lens with a full-frame SLR camera. This will make shooting very simple. You only need to take four pictures in the four directions of east, west, south and north. You can take pictures of the sky and the earth or not.

If you use an 8mm fisheye lens with a C-frame SLR, you need to take four more pictures at 45° angles, which is 8 pictures in one circle. Note that when using a C-frame camera, you must take pictures of the sky and the earth. Because CMOS is inherently smaller than a full-frame camera, the shooting range will be smaller. If you don’t take pictures of the sky and the earth, it will be very troublesome in post-production.

The number of photos taken with other fisheye or wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle lenses is bound to be more, because a certain degree of overlap must be ensured.

Be careful not to move the tripod when shooting, and ensure that each rotation angle is accurate to the predetermined position (nowadays, panoramic heads have various angle parameter contact settings, which can make the rotation angle accurate Reach the touch point and feel it, which is why I always recommend using a panoramic head instead of a ball head).

Step 4:

Finish and call it a day!

To shoot a VR panorama on the ground is actually very simple, just rotate the camera around the gimbal.

It’s complicated to say the least, including complicated node adjustments and light processing.

Photography is a technical job, and it is also a grueling job. Taking pictures is easy, but photography is difficult. Only by constantly making progress, constantly learning, and striving for perfection and paying close attention to details can we achieve excellence.