Recent advances with the advent of 360 cameras, smartphones and drones with superb photographic and video capabilities are making it much easier to tell your story or create your epic film in more unique ways.

Enter into 360° Photography

I have been using a 360 camera for a little more than a year now.  The results are pretty cool even considering the optical disparities involved with a fisheye lens – or double fisheye lens in the case of a 360 picture.

Note: for the 360 photos, to take full advantage, click and drag your mouse to see the whole picture. This one shows two old squash players atop the magnificent Rotenfels high above the Nahe River in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany near Bad Kreuznach.

I became interested in 360°panoramas a long time ago.  It used to be you needed special equipment costing quite a bit of money to gain a full-on view of your world.  Two websites allowed you to glimpse into the 360 world back when I first got interested.  Those websites have survived time and flourished.  They still use very expensive cameras and lenses to take their shots.

Climb every Mountain

Climbing peaks is something I enjoy with the world a literal map beneath me.  A solitary wide angle shot off a peak is seldom the best way to show the uniqueness and true beauty of a view you have sweated and striven for.  An early way around that was to take a series of photos and place them together in a frame.  Photo software took the next step allowing pictures to be merged into a panorama.  Cameras took the next step of making it easier to take panoramas by showing where to place the camera for subsequent shots.  Cell phones then boosted the game with added ‘pano’ options – though the option is based on a horizontal alignment instead of a vertical alignment which is more in keeping with how we actually process visual images.

360 Photography comes of Age on the Internet

With time, Google Maps and Facebook also got into the act.  The 360 views of the world put down by Google Maps being perhaps the best known.  Many of us have seen the little Google cars driving down streets with their camera gear sprouting from the roof as well as checking out the 360 views of our houses.  Look close at Google Maps and you will find the 360 pictures also provide coverage on a few trails as well as streets. 

Google has a method in which you use your phone to take a whole series of photos and then Google software turns those photos into a 360 view.  The results are varied, to say the least.  Many of the 360 views on Maps have a lot to be desired.  The main problem is it takes to much time to take a whole series of pictures – something you might notice even with an iPhone panorama shot.  Things move and a moment becomes a series of moments.

360 photography for the lowly Enthusiast

360 photography really got going for amateurs in the 2010’s as camera’s capable of capturing 360 views became smaller, more capable of capturing higher resolution views due to better lenses and software and cheaper.  The same cameras were able to capture 360 videography at the same time allowing for incredible results in post editing videos, even from the phone which works as the middleman in the process.

Biting on the 360 bug a couple years ago, I bought a Xiaomi Mi Sphere camera for a couple hundred dollars – of course, the same model costs less now.  Like other 360 cameras – the Ricoh Theta S is the present king for amateurs at a bit under $300 – the Xiaomi (as do most 360 cameras) uses a smartphone with an accompanying app to control the camera and view the image.  The phone connects by Bluetooth to the camera. 

360 Camera Accessories

You also need a selfie stick to screw into to the bottom of the camera with or a tripod if you do not want to be in the picture.  The selfie stick does not generally show up in the final picture though the shadow can.  Using a longer selfie stick can give a viewer the feeling that you used a drone to take the picture.  A good selfie stick is a strong investment.  I use a Bushman selfie stick which comes with an attachable tripod.  It extends out to 65 inches and is so much sturdier than the cheap selfie sticks you see the average tourist using. 

This is what your are reduced to if you break that cheap selfie stick. Get something more solid!!

The sturdiness is important when you are fully extending the camera or if you are using the tripod and there is a bit of wind.  Nothing like a camera being blown over landing on one of its two lenses.  Break one lens and buy a new camera.

360 Cameras really need Smartphones, too!

The process of taking a 360 picture is a little more cumbersome than using your smartphone or digital camera, but not much.  First, you screw the camera – most of these cameras are very small, fitting into your pocket – into the monopod.  Turn on the smartphone and the camera making a WiFi connection between the two – this can be the longest part of the process.  It is also a problem in that each time you turn on the camera, you have to redo the WiFi connection as opposed to Bluetooth.  That said, WiFi does allow file transfers much faster than Bluetooth.

360 cameras, like you will see with drones, really need the smartphone to control them.

Once you have made the connection, you can preview what the camera sees on your phone.  Snap the picture and download the results into your phone – this last step can also take a few moments.  The camera also generally works without a phone but then you have to have a monopod which allows you to activate the camera.  It will work without a selfie stick, but you will probably have your hand in the shot, too.

A 360 Story of Epic Film?

360 cameras are really big with videographers.  Shooting in 4K or better, these cameras allow for an infinite number of choices in post-editing.  I have only taken a few short clips, being satisfied with the photo results.  The clips I have taken are really promising, if I had the time and inclination to go YouTube instead of WordPress.  Post-editing looks like you could do a whole lot with your work – add on an indestructible body (GoPro or Chinese knock off) and the World is truly your oyster – as long as your computer’s capabilities are up to date.

Viewing your 360 efforts

A quick word about how you view the 360 photos.  The Xiaomi allows you to look at a picture in different guises.  The one you download for the 360 view to websites is the flat version as opposed to the spherical or tiny planet versions of your picture.  You can get quite dramatic photo interpretations using one of the other options.

Again, click and drag with your mouse to fully appreciate the ferry crossing of the Willamette River at Wheatland, Oregon. This is the 360 view of the little planet view above.

The Rub? How to post 360 photos onto WordPress.org?

Here we get back to the old question of WordPress.com and WordPress.org. For the former, there is an easy shortcode solution which you can use to insert 360 photos or video. For the later, you need to use a plug-in. I am using the 360 View plug-in allowing me to directly us my photos without having to put the photos onto another website first. The plug-in is free which is great. Most other 360 plug-ins are geared not to the occasional user but for commercial users who want to show off something.

The top of Cooper Spur begins the land of climbers. Tie-In Rock lies straight ahead. Eliot Glacier tumbles off the mountain on its right and Newton Clark is on the left.

360 Video? Why not!

Here is a short clip showing some of the capabilities of 360 video as I approach the McNeil Shelter below Cathedral Ridge on Mt Hood. Like with 360 photos, click and drag with the mouse for full 360 degree effect. Also note there was little done to stabilize the shot except what is inherent in the camera. Better stabilization can be found with some of the newer 360 cameras (ie Ricoh Theta S) and in post editing.

Drones – Climb without the Agony?

The other photographic tool I have toyed with adding is a drone.  The price of drones has come down dramatically as has the size and ease of operation.  Most drones are used for their video uses.  YouTube is full of spectacular drone footage never seeming to get old looking at – though, sometimes the music selection can seem a bit overblown.  Again, like with the 360 camera, a drone gives you a unique shot you could not otherwise capture.  The camera on a drone like the DJI Mini does an excellent job. You could also mount a 360 camera on a drone.

Drones involve more problems than 360 cameras.  You cannot fly them just anywhere.  Most national parks and wilderness areas in the US ban them.  The drones used to be rather large – the most expensive still are. Expense was also a major factor. For something as easy to lose as a drone is, a $1000 is a large pill to swallow for someone who is only a enthusiast.

DJI Mini – Enter the Entusiast?

Enter the Mini and now Mini 2. The size of a smartphone and weighing in at 249 grams, this thing fits in your pocket. The 249 grams is important. Anything 250 grams and above means extra licensure from the Federal Aviation Administration in the US. The same is similar in other countries. And you are still talking $500-600 range for either drone along with extra battery kits.

The biggest differences between the Mini and Mini 2 is video can be shot in 4K with the Mini 2 (the Mini shoots 2.7K); the propeller motors in the 2 are more robust; the 2 uses three-axes gimbal stabilization (the Mini uses two-axes); the range goes from 4 km to 10 km with the 2; and the 2 can shoot pictures in RAW while the Mini cannot. The Mini 2 is $50 more. Both Mini drones are controlled, just like the 360 cameras, with your smartphone.

This is a field I am still pondering. The videos from YouTube are very compelling. A drone would definitely increase your ability to capture unique scenes you simply cannot glued to the earth.

The Future? = $$

Drones and 360 cameras are both evolving at light speed. Of course, that means what you buy today is out of date tomorrow. That has been the case with photography forever, however. Film to digital, 2 mp to 20+mp. Drones and 360 cameras are another tool with which to tell stories.

Click and drag to see mountains in a 360 direction from atop Mount Margaret just north of Mt St Helens, Washington State.