- Hi, I'm The 360 Guy.
- And I'm another 360 guy.
- And we want to know..
are you making these five 360 camera mistakes?
As 360 photographers, our number one enemy is the sun.
Whenever we're shooting outdoors, we can't avoid it.
With 360 cameras, they see everything,
so they're going to see the sun.
So it's a massive factor for when you go out shooting.
Firstly, how you expose your image,
but also how you place your camera
plays a massive role in how your photo turns out.
On a really bright day, if the sun is in front of you
and you hold your camera like this,
one lens sees the bright sun,
and one lens sees darkness behind.
So this can cause big lens flares,
and just imbalances in your exposure.
My number one tip for evening out
the exposure of your 360 photos
is by simply turning your camera 90 degrees.
This means the side of the camera faces the sun,
and each lens gets the exact same exposure to the sun.
I know it seems simple, but this one really small movement
makes the world of difference
in getting perfect exposure on your 360 photos.
- So when you first buy your 360 camera,
you may be tempted to use it by hand
like you would most other cameras,
however that's not a good idea, because if you do,
your thumb, your finger, may get in the shot,
it may ruin your shot.
What you want to do is get a selfie stick,
pretty much any selfie stick,
but ideally one with not much going on at the top.
Then, you wanna screw it on, and basically have it
at least half a meter away from your body,
so that basically none of your body
is gonna be in the way of the photo.
You want to have it at least this far away from your body,
because if you have it any closer,
it's going to make your hand, or any other part of your body
seem much bigger than it actually is.
Every selfie stick has a blind spot directly underneath it,
which means if you hold your selfie stick like this,
both the selfie stick and your hand will be hidden.
- The next common mistake I see
is people shooting 360 just for the sake of it.
Not every situation looks good in 360,
so every time you go to a new location,
you need to ask yourself
"Is this gonna be better captured in 360?
Or should I capture this on my phone?"
Because even I still capture some situations on my phone,
and some situations just look terrible in 360,
so it's important you don't shoot 360 just because.
You have to have a reason.
Your environment needs to be 360-friendly.
The best situations to shoot 360 and display as 360
are ones where you have details in all directions.
You have pretty details on the right, on the left,
in front of you, behind you, up and down.
Doesn't have to be all of those places,
but at least two or three.
Because nobody wants to see a blank wall behind the camera
so if your interesting details are only on one side
then it's better that you reframe your 360 as a tiny planet,
or another kind of reframed photo or video.
- If you choose to display your 360 photo or video
in the 360 format, then make sure the most interesting parts
of the area you're shooting is the first thing people see.
You can't rely on people to look around the image
to eventually get to the good bit,
because you will just lose their attention.
Work out which side of your camera is the front
and the back, and make sure that the front
is pointed at the most interesting part of the scene,
for example, this graffiti behind me.
Pretty much any platform where you display your 360 image
allows you to choose the starting point,
so make sure you choose the most interesting point first
because it gives you a much greater chance
of your audience actually looking at your image.
And on platforms like Facebook,
people have very short attention spans
so you really need to grab their attention quickly.
If you think about it,
there is such a vast amount of content already on Facebook.
Your 360 photos or videos need to be so good
to stand out in this crowd.
And it will massively increase the chances of people
actually looking around your 360 photo.
- The fifth mistake I see all too often
is people mistreating their camera.
So often you'll see someone
that has never used a 360 camera before,
and they'll pick it up, and put it down,
and then put it on the lens.
Don't do that.
You gotta treat your 360 camera like it was your own child,
or a dog, or a cat.
- Buy a cover.
If the camera doesn't come with a cover, buy one.
If the camera doesn't come with a pouch, buy one.
Don't just keep in your bag,
don't keep it in the same pocket as your keys,
or your phone, because it's so vulnerable,
it's gonna scratch the lenses,
and the camera's gonna be ruined.
- Yeah, 360 cameras are designed
in a way like no other camera,
because they have lenses on both sides,
so you need to be really careful
whenever you put it down on the ground.
Again, use a case, but also if you're out shooting,
never ever shoot with the camera on its own like this.
Don't put it down, walk away, and take a shot remotely,
because I'm gonna speak from experience here,
it will blow over and you will be $300 poorer.
This little tripod here
is one of the best investments I've ever made.
It's by Joby, I think it's called the Micro Pod,
but look at how small it folds up to.
But I know every time I go out shooting,
my camera isn't going to blow over in the wind,
and I'm not gonna have to buy a new one
because this has my back.
And it's very easy to edit out of your 360 photos.
You can do it in Snapseed, or Photoshop,
however you like to do it,
but this is safety for your 360 camera,
and 360 cameras are just more fragile
than conventional cameras, so you need to be extra careful.
- Yeah, I mean we've talked about
how vulnerable the lenses are,
even the tiniest little scratch will have an effect.
And, there's hardly any cameras,
any 360 cameras that have replaceable lenses,
so once you do ruin them,
then you would have to buy a new one,
so there's no point in treating it like you would,
you know, just a very cheap device.
I mean you really need to take care
of especially this part of the camera.
- In case you guys didn't know,
Daniel has a YouTube channel based around 360 cameras,
he calls himself The 360 Guy.
- Yeah, so you can find me on YouTube
if you type in The 360 Guy, that's gonna be me.
You can also find me on Instagram, on Facebook,
and yeah, that's about it.
Just type in The 360 Guy and I should be
the person who comes up.
- Alright, this has been The 360 Guy,
and the other 360 guy,
and we'll see you in the next video!