Hey Guys! Do you wanna create something interesting in 360?
Now I show you one of my first and most popular 360 techniques.
So, it’s Holey Planet time!
It’s hard to believe, but it’s almost two years ago that I uploaded my first Holey Planet video.
You know the little planet, with hole in the middle.
So it’s not about a saint planet or anything like that.
Originally it was a desktop tutorial,
but since then I also published the smartphone workflow, you find in the right top corner.
But now let’s see the professional version of it again, working on a computer.
I hope my new subscribers, who didn’t scroll back to my oldest videos will also see and like it...
...just because it’s my favourite technique.
So, let’s jump into it.
First, I have a spherical image like this, and I have to turn it into a little planet.
On desktop there are two different ways I prefer.
The first method is using a great free software, called Insta360 Studio
Originally this is the dedicated desktop app for Insta360 cameras,
but it works with almost any spherical 360 photos taken with other cameras, too.
And this is not only for photos, but you can animate your 360 videos too.
But now I only use the photo function.
I import my spherical image, set up little planet view,
the perfect angle,
and then I export it.
After that I repeat this process to create the inverted planet from the very same photo.
Setting up angles,
and exporting the photo.
Now, I have two different photos: a little planet and an inverted planet.
I import both of them to Photoshop to mix them together.
I open them in Photoshop,
and then I drag and drop my inverted planet on the top of the little planet.
I reduce opacity a little bit, to see how they match.
As you can see, even the size fits, these images are inverted in different ways
(it’s not only about the position of the sky and the ground).
So I have to flip this photo horizontally, before I’m going on with the process.
When my photos are totally matched, I can set up the opacity back to 100%.
Now I have to create a mask, and it’s time to erase some part of the image,
I paint the mask black to make it transparent.
You know, when I paint the mask black, I hide something,
when I paint it white, I reveal.
Now I just continue the process until it’s perfect.
But there’s one thing that I don’t like this time.
The image inside looks a little bit big, and this way, the hole is smaller than I want it to be.
So I work on it a little bit.
And at the same time, I show you another method to create little planet photos right in Photoshop.
I import my original spherical image.
I duplicate the layer, and I distort the upper layer first.
I make a round image out of the rectangular one, using Polar Coordinates.
It looks a little bit weird first, but when I scale down the width to 50%, it looks okay.
Now I hide this layer and rotate the other image.
When it’s upside down, I distort this image like I did before.
After reducing width, now I get a normal little planet.
I continue with the same masking process to mix these images.
And this time I also have to flip the top layer.
In this case I find this little planet a little bit distorted
(but it usually depends on how the original photo was shot)
Amway this time I don’t really like the outside of the circle,
but I think the other side of the ring is much better than the one I created with Insta360 Studio.
So I copy this layer to the other photo and try to match this inverted planet to that little planet.
I think this combination leads to the best result in this case.
But it depends on the original photo.
The point is that with this easy masking trick we can create really nice and interesting holy planets.
But there are more, important tricks you have to apply during shooting.
Keep in mind that this kind of image looks the best
when we have totally clear view to the buildings or the main objects,
so it’s the best to shoot in empty streets or lifting up the camera a little bit higher.
We have to find the perfect height
when the pedestrians’ heads are under the line where the buildings and the streets meet.
In other cases we will see cut heads in front of the buildings.
Another option to avoid cutting people or trees and other objects is to go extremely low with the camera.
In certain cases I can shoot nice Holey Planets putting the camera on the ground.
But this time I have to keep distance from the camera
cause instead of cutting heads, now I could easily cut down the legs.
As you can see, getting closer to the camera my lower legs disappear.
But nobody said that we should work with only one 360 image.
It’s also possible to combine different photos to create another kind of Holey Planets.
I don’t move the camera between taking the shots, so I can keep the symmetry inside and outside the ring,
while I change a small detail, like the position of my main character.
And it’s just another twist in the game when we turn the basic idea inside out,
swapping the little planet and inverted planet images.
This way we get a kind of “Independence day” effect, when something on the sky is approaching the planet.
Or even we can combine this idea with mixing different photos,
using different shots inside and outside.
I hope you will try this technique,
and if you do, please keep on using the #holeyplanet hashtag on Instagram, so I will see your results
And if you like this video, please thumbs up!
and for further 360 contents and tutorials, subscribe to my YouTube channel!
See you soon, guys!