360° panoramic tours are an excellent way to introduce your website visitors to spaces, both inside and out, and to make entire sites accessible.

The ability to rotate freely within the panoramas is highly immersive, is very well received, and keeps visitors on your site longer. This alone significantly increases engagement with your brand or company.

Areas of application

The areas of application are extremely diverse, e.g.:

• Inspection of a site with several buildings

• Presentation of hotels, including hotel rooms, restaurants, wellness areas, etc.

  The following panoramic tour consists of approximately 60 linked panoramas, allowing you to explore the Schwalbenhof interactively. You can open doors and access information panels.

  The picture shows a bright interior overlooking a garden. The room has a tiled floor and wooden walls. Large windows on both sides allow for plenty of natural light. The windows are glazed and offer an unobstructed view of the garden. In the center of the picture are a white armchair with a beige cushion and a small table with a vase of flowers and a book on it. To the right of the table are two black armchairs with white cushions. The garden is well-kept; trees and bushes can be seen in the background.

  (The panoramic tour was shot in just 15 megapixels. The lowest resolution is now 90 megapixels.)

• Interactive display of lightingThe user could change the lighting situation in the panorama himself by operating switches on the wall.

• Interactive tour of museumswhere you can get additional information about the artifacts.

  In the following panoramic tour you can move through a virtual 3D museum and access further information about the artifacts.

  The image shows a modern art gallery with a curved staircase on the right. On the left side of the image, several black-and-white photographs hang on the wall. The photographs appear to be of varying sizes and shapes, with some larger than others. In the center of the room stands a large white sculpture of a robotic arm with a long arm and a round head. The robotic arm is positioned so that it appears to be interacting with the sculpture. The floor is concrete, and the walls are painted white. A person stands on the stairs, looking at the photographs.

• Interiors of vehicles, e.g. motorhomes, sports cars, etc.

• Landscapes or parks

  Panoramas also work in black and white. In the following scene, you can take a walk on the beach near Westkapelle.

  The image is a black-and-white photograph of a tall radar tower. It is located on the seashore, with the sun partially visible in the background. The sky is clear and the water calm, with gentle ripples on the surface. On the left side of the image, a wooden walkway leads to the lighthouse. The path is lined with grass and bushes, and several people are walking on it. The overall mood of the photo is peaceful and serene.

High-quality panoramas

The panoramas are created in very high quality. I offer two resolutions:

90 megapixel panoramas

This is the right option in the vast majority of cases. The resolution is ideal for Full HD displays, for example, and is cost-effective to produce.

The image shows the interior of a restaurant or café. The walls are painted light gray and decorated with several black chalkboards. On the left side of the image, a counter with a black worktop and a coffee machine is visible. On the countertop are shelves with plates, cups, and other kitchen utensils. In the center of the room, there appears to be a large table with a row of grocery bags on it. The table is covered with a white tablecloth, and an orange sofa stands in the background. The room is dimly lit by hanging lamps and has a large window on the right that lets in natural light.

530 megapixel panoramas

This resolution is ideal for displaying even the finest details. Even on a 4K display, you can zoom in without any loss of sharpness. The footage is captured using a professional full-frame camera and a robot controller that automatically moves to over 200 positions and triggers the shots.

The image depicts the interior of a church with high ceilings and stained glass windows. The focal point is a large wooden pulpit with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The pulpit is decorated with intricate carvings and supports a statue of Christ. The walls are light-colored, and the floor is wood-paneled. Rows of wooden pews are located on either side of the pulpit, and the stained glass windows are colorful. The overall atmosphere of the church is peaceful and serene.

Huge contrast range

Especially in 360° panoramas, the contrast range is often enormous. Through an open window, the sky, including the sun, might be visible. Proper exposure is impossible in these cases, as either the sky and sun are properly exposed, or the much darker interior. Therefore, I almost always work with exposure series of 5-9 shots, which are then combined into a so-called HDRi (High Dynamic Range Image) using special software. This allows me to precisely control how the tonal values are ultimately output, ensuring that both the interior and the sky with the sun are optimally exposed.

Post-processing

The panorama will of course be professionally edited, meaning that things that don't belong there will be removed, such as the tripod, people, vehicles, etc. A watermark in the form of your company logo will also be added to the floor upon request.

Linking panoramas to complete tours

The panoramas are linked via the ilumi “portal server for 360° panoramic tours” so that you and your website visitors can move intuitively through the entire scene.

Additional information panels can also be integrated here. For example, in a museum, an artifact could reveal more information about the artist by clicking on an (i) symbol, etc. These information panels can be customized. It's even possible to play videos on them.

Copy protection of your panorama data

Although 360° scenery can be embedded on your website with just one line, the portal server controls whether this is permitted or not. If the website isn't enabled to display your panoramas, they won't be delivered.

Another form of copy protection consists in breaking a panorama down into thousands of small images, which are displayed using a sophisticated algorithm.The loading times of a panorama are therefore very fastand at the same time avoids the possibility of simply downloading a complete panorama.

If I've piqued your interest in 360° panoramic photography and panoramic tours, please feel free to contact me – I'd be happy to discuss the solutions we can implement for you!

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