Preparing for your virtual tour shoot

Deciding on the best scenes

At the point of reading this 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 or locations.

Organising your 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. The actual shooting time itself is just a few minutes.

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.

Your photographer will provide help on the day but can’t be 100% responsible for dressing and preparing a room; this is something that needs to be done beforehand to ensure the best results. It is important that you have made appropriate time to visit each area and made the necessary preparations.

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 or blinds) are free of creases and are arranged as required.

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 they can take this into account when positioning the camera.

Make sure any televisions or computers are as you require them. Arrange chairs and tables in a neat manner and make sure any soft furnishings are arranged to your standards.

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

Check all light bulbs and replace any blown or miss matched bulbs. Make sure window blinds are serviceable and in an upright position.

Items specific to your industry that may be of interest can also add great touches to a scene such as sports equipment at a sports centre.