2022
I recently got my hands on an LG 360 Cam, and even though it's at the low end of the 360 Cam Spectrum, I've been very happy with it so far.
Previously I used the Street View app to take photo spheres, but this is time-consuming (and you get many weird looks while you twirl around to take all the photos).
Here are some things I've learnt so far:
- Don't hold the camera in front of you or next to your head while you take a photo, else your body will be blocking a large part of the image. Rather, hold it directly above your head and keep your arms tucked in. Or use a tripod and hide somewhere while you take the photo, but this isn't always practical.
- Even when you hold the camera overhead, you'll still be visible to some degree when people look down. Get Google Snapseed and set up a predefined "Look" that you can use to quickly add a horizontal blur to the bottom 1/6 of the photo - this should result in a small blurred circle when viewers look down. I'll post a QR code for such a "Look" in the comments below.
- Try to take the photos with as few people around as possible, else you'll have to spend time blurring their faces if you didn't get permission to photograph them.
- I seem to get the best photos around noon when the sun is highest. Colors are clearer and one side of the photo isn't white-washed by a sun on the horizon.
- Even if your camera is connected to your phone, it won't embed location data in the photo unless you take the photo using the shutter button in the app. Connecting the camera and then using the shutter button on the camera doesn't cause GPS coordinates to be embedded.
- For some reason the functionality to take photos right from the Street View app doesn't work for me. The photos are taken, but the app can't import them from the camera (which means I can't use the "auto photo" feature). Hopefully this is fixed in a future software update.
- If you want to connect the photos you take to each other, Google's guideline is to take them at a distance of 1 meter apart outdoors, or 3 meters apart indoors. If possible, try to start from / end up at a road so they can connect your photo tour to their Street View photos.
- You can adjust brightness and contrast in your photos (e.g. with Snapseed) but don't crop them or apply any filters or overlays, else they may not be approved.
- When you import your photos into the Street View app, you can tap-and-hold on an area to blur it. This is useful for hiding car registration numbers or faces.
- In my experience (iPhone 7+), after you import your photos to the Street View app you can set their locations in the map in relation to each other, but setting their orientation at the same time doesn't work. If you do, you'll have to orient them again once they've finished uploading.
- After your photos have uploaded, select them all and tap on "Move & Connect Photos", then ensure that your orientations are correct. Tap on the gray lines between photos to connect them, this will allow viewers to "walk" from one photo to the next.
- In addition to setting the location for your photos, always try to pick a map listing for them too. If you do, you'll be able to see viewer statistics over time.
