360° virtual tours

One of my favourite jobs is doing 360° virtual tours. These days almost all my tours are for narrowboats for sale.

How it works

I have a professional 360° camera, which I mount on a tripod. It works by remote control from an app on my phone. I use my skill and experience to set the camera up in ideal positions. I always look around and tidy the scene if necessary - 360° cameras can see everything!

Next, I have to hide within bluetooth range of the camera, so that I am not visible in the 360° photos. Sometimes I can't find anywhere to hide, and I have to blur my image out instead.

What does a 360° photo look like?

This is how a 360° photo looks before processing. There is only one path in this photo, not three! And the trees you can see on the left and the right of the photo - that's actually the same tree. Can you spot me coming out from behind a gravestone?

After the photo shoot, I process the images and upload the best ones to my hosting platform, which is called Kuula. Finally, I add the hotspots which allow viewers to navigate around the tour.

I can also create a 'tiny planet' like the one below, using any suitable image from the photoshoot. These can be great fun for marketing and business cards.

Spot the photographer

One of my favourite games is playing 'spot the photographer' in other people's images. The photographer below forgot to blur out his shadow on the canal!

Scary shots

Sometimes the only way to get the shot I need, for example the side of a narrowboat, is to hold my camera tripod out over the water. I can't tell you how scary that is! I am always petrified that it will fall in. It can also be rather challenging climbing along the gunwhales holding onto my precious equipment!

Where to see examples

You can see an example of an embedded tour below, and there are lots of my tours on Kuula.