Whether a virtual tour convinces is decided while you take the photos. The good news: you don’t need any photography training. A few simple steps will make your 360-degree photos bright, level and pleasant to look at. Here is our checklist.

Before the appointment

  • Clean and tidy. A 360-degree photo shows every corner, including the ones you would crop out of normal photos. Floors, worktops and mirrors clean, cables and laundry out of sight. The same goes for personal items: family photos, post, name plates, medication, cosmetics in the bathroom.
  • Plan for daylight. Take the photos while it is light outside.
  • Prepare the camera. Battery charged, storage free, app connected to your phone.
  • Bring a tripod. Without a tripod the photos are rarely level, and the camera ends up at a different height in every room.

In every room

  • All doors open. Closed doors look like dead ends in the tour. Open doors show how the rooms connect.
  • All lights on, curtains open. Even during the day. Dark corners stand out more in a panorama than in a normal photo.
  • Turn on HDR. The camera takes several exposures and combines them. That way bright windows don’t blow out and dark corners stay visible.
  • White balance on auto. Don’t set it manually. The camera adjusts the colours to daylight and lamps by itself.
  • Tripod in the middle of the room. A central position makes the room look balanced, and no wall comes too close.
  • Keep your distance from furniture. Don’t place the camera too close to tables, armchairs or other objects. Anything right next to the camera looks distorted in the panorama, and visible flaws easily appear where the images from the two lenses are stitched together.
  • The right height. Set the tripod to about 1.50 metres, roughly eye level. Keep the same height in every room, and the tour feels like walking.
  • Keep it level. A crooked panorama stands out immediately. Many tripods have a small spirit level.
  • Get out of the picture. Take the shot from the app while you stand in the next room or round a corner.
  • One panorama per room. Large or awkwardly shaped rooms are better shot two or three times from different positions. That way viewers can move around in them and see every corner.

Common mistakes

  • Blown-out windows. HDR was off. That can hardly be rescued later.
  • You in the mirror. In the bathroom and the hallway, check before taking the shot whether a mirror shows you.
  • Yellow or blue cast. The white balance was set manually. In homes, daylight and lamps mix, and a fixed setting rarely fits. Leave the white balance on auto: the camera compensates better. You can correct slight colour casts afterwards in REALONAUT 360, in the ‘Enhance images’ tab.
  • Camera too high or too low. From above, rooms look smaller and furniture looks distorted. At knee height the tour looks like a walk through a dwarf village: tabletops from below, sofas like mountains. Stick to about 1.50 metres.
  • Private details in the picture. Photos on the wall, post on the table, a number plate outside the window. In REALONAUT 360 you blur such areas with the brush in the ‘Enhance images’ tab before the tour goes online.

After the shoot

Look through the photos on your phone while you are still on site. A room that is missing or crooked is quick to redo now. Later, it means driving back out.

When you create your virtual viewing from them, one simple rule helps with connecting the rooms: follow the way you would walk through the flat. From the entrance into the hall, from there into the rooms. The entrance or the most attractive room makes a good starting point.

Prefer to be shown in person?

The paid plans of REALONAUT 360 include a training session by appointment: via video call, 30 to 45 minutes. We show you tips for better 360-degree shots and how to use the platform, and then there is time for your questions. See the plans