Pre Shoot Preparation – Tips on making the most out of your virtual tour shoot!

Preparation is vital to ensuring a good virtual tour shoot. We’ve outlined a few things to think about below to put you in good step when our photographer arrives!

Deciding on the best scenes

At the point of reading this the chances are you’ve already got a good idea of the amount of scenes required for your shoot. If not, take a few of moments to read our check-list below, and re-think your scenes if necessary:

Choose locations/rooms that best represent you and/or your organisation. For example, a newly decorated room will always look better than a room that has seen little care in many years.

If possible, choose rooms that have lots of light over rooms that may look dull and dark. We can shoot in the darkest of rooms, but a light area will always have more appeal.

Don’t go overboard, people will be more willing to explore further in a virtual tour if they feel every scene will offer them something new.

Often less is more when it comes to scenes in a virtual tour, try not to repeat similar rooms/locations.

Organising the shoot

When you have a good idea on the amount and location of the scenes to shoot, we advise having a simple schedule in place. For small, 3, 6 or 10 scene shoots this may be a simple case of listing the scenes in a suitable shooting order. For large projects this may involve scheduling in scenes for certain times, for example when rooms become free at certain times of the day. We advise to allow around 5-10 minutes to shoot each scene, plus any travelling times or waiting times between each one.

Setting the scene

One of the most important things with any shoot is ‘dressing’ and preparing the scene. With normal static photography it is possible to ‘hide’ elements of a room you may not like, but with 360 imagery there isn’t always that option. Take a look at the tips below and you’ll be in the best possible shape for the shoot!

It may sound obvious, but make sure the location is thoroughly cleaned top to bottom. You’ll be surprised how much shows up on a virtual tour. Make sure all floors are cleaned, any stains removed (if possible) and that any form of material (bed sheets, table cloths, curtains) are free of creases.

Ensure the layout of the room/location is as you want it for the tour. If you want specific items in shot let the photographer know before hand so he can take this into account when positioning the camera.

Make sure any unsightly signage, such as wet floor signs, hand written signs and older, worn signs are removed prior to the shoot.

Check all light bulbs and replace any blown or miss matched bulbs prior to the photographers arrival.

Think about the little extras that could really add to the tour, for example some freshly cut flowers can really add to the scene.

Although we can remove small things from scenes in post processing, large edits will add to the cost of the project.

If in doubt, shout!

We hope we’ve given you some things to think about, and if you ever need any advice on any part of your project, just let us know. There is no exact template to any shoot, never be afraid to talk to your photographer about your project. He/she will always be willing to offer their expert knowledge.