I hosted the Episode 2 of the 360 Photography Virtual Meetup series. The Episode 2 is focused on 360 Camera and its conducted on 19 September 2021 (Sunday) between 5PM and 6PM IST. This series is divided into four episodes. To know about this Meetup series, click here. To read the recap of Episode 1, click here.
I kept the presentation ready and joined the Meetup link on the Meetup start time and waited for the attendees to join. I also shared the Meetup link in few unofficial local guides whatsapp group to inform others about the Meetup which is currently happening.
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I had my presentation ready and joined the Meetup through my laptop as well as my mobile so that I can share my presentation through my laptop while sharing screen and also to share my screen in mobile to show the attendees by practically doing it. It helped me and made things easier to jump from presentation to practically doing from my mobile while presenting.
I started the session in few mins when few attendees joined the Meetup. I introduced myself and shared how I started learning about 360 Photography.
The Episode 2 which I planned earlier were as below.
- How to take 360 Photos using 360 Camera
- Why Unistand is required while taking 360 Photos using 360 Camera
- Post processing to hide the Unipod from the base using Google Snapseed.
- Things to keep in mind while taking 360 Photos using 360 Camera
- Using different modes while taking 360 Photos using 360 Camera
- Creating a blue line in Google Street View App using Ricoh Theta V 360 Camera
I started my presentation and told how we can take 360 Photos using a 360 Camera. I refered my 360 Camera - Ricoh Theta V on how I connect it first using wifi and then using the Theta app to capture 360 Photos.
Unavoidably, my 360 Camera was not with me during the session since I initially thought to show the attendees by presenting the screen on my mobile during the meetup, by connecting the 360 camera via wifi with mobile and taking a 360 Photo.
I had few RAW 360 Photos taken using by my 360 Camera which I decided to refer for the practical example for the next steps.
I initially continued with the presentation to cover other topics such as Why Unistand is required while taking 360 Photos using 360 Camera, Post processing of 360 photos, things to keep in mind while taking 360 Photos using 360 Camera, etc so that we will see it by practically doing in sometime.
I told that why Unistand is required while taking 360 Photos using a 360 Camera and how it makes the 360 photo looks professional when the camera is at the eye sight level and how we use Theta App to capture 360 Photos by staying at a distance from 360 Camera.
Then we saw the post processing of 360 Photos which I follow to remove the Unistand from the base area of the 360 Photos by using the healing option in the Google Snapseed application.
I shared few of the important things which we need to keep in mind while taking 360 Photos and shared about below points.
- Lighting - How inadequate lighting affects the quality of the 360 Photos and preferring natural light if possible and avoiding night photography if not enough artificial light is available
- Placement - To avoid nearby objects from the 360 Camera and to review the place to consider the right number of placements for 360 Photos and how the nearby objects to Unipod affect the removal of the Unipod during post processing in Google Snapseed app.
I also mentioned about how we can use different modes when taking 360 Photos which will help us get a right exposure in the 360 Photo and also shared how the HDR mode helped me take 360 Photos at right exposure when I am capturing a 360 Photos in an over exposed place.
I then shared my screen and showed the attendees by importing a 360 Photo which I took in my 360 using Unipod and I used Healing option to remove the Unipod and exported it.
The final topic was about creating a blue line in Google Street View App. While sharing my screen in mobile, I opened Google Street View App and showed them the recent blue line which I created in my hometown using Ricoh Theta V. I also told the process of creating blue line which is given as below.
We need to first connect the 360 Camera to our mobile via wifi and on opening the Street View, it will be showing it as 360 Camera is connected and then we need to capture the video by walking/riding in a vehicle when 360 camera is mounted. And when stopped the recording after a distance, and when published, it will automatically creating the virtual tour since the Ricoh Theta V is Street View compatible and the virtual tour creation may take few hours.
I included one more topic about Photo Path and shared with the attendees on how we can capture Photo Path in Street View App.
I showed the attendees about the important post in Connect about How to be a Street View trusted photographer while also being a Local Guide and I also mentioned that the Street View Trusted Program is temporarily closed for new enrollments.
Every Meetup in this series, I planned to briefly share about any three Photography/Videography terms or tricks. In this Meetup, I decided to briefly share about three important Photography terms which are Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO. I mentioned how these three things are important in the manual photography and how one setting affect the other in case of exposure or depth or motion.
As my presentation came to the end, I stopped sharing the screen and asked the attendees if they have questions and cleared it. I then requested the attendees to introduce themselves one by one.
I then thanked the attendees for taking time to join the Meetup and invited them to the upcoming episodes and it was around the Meetup end time, so we decided to end session.
It was an amazing experience for me and I hope the Meetup was informative to the attendees.
Episode 3 which is about DSLR 360 Photography is on 25 September 2021(Saturday) between 5PM and 6PM IST. Do join it if possible.
Below are few of the attendees who joined the meetup. Please let me know if I didnt have added names of any other attendees.
Jyesj Khan
Dimple Mewara
Thanks for reading. Take care, stay safe and Peace.
