VR photography

Normally created by stitching together a number of photographs taken in a multi-row 360-degree rotation or using an omnidirectional camera, the complete virtual reality image can also be a totally computer-generated effect, or a composite of photography and computer generated objects.

This involves the rotation of a digital camera, typically in the portrait (up and down) position and centered directly over the tripod.

With a larger detent interval, fewer images are needed to capture a complete panoramic scene.

The combination of a precision rotator and a digital camera allows the photographer to take rectangular "slices" of any scene (indoors or outdoors).

With a typical point and shoot digital camera, the photographer will snap 8, 10, 12 or 14 slices of a scene.

This technique, while extremely time-consuming, has remained popular even through today as the required equipment, rotator heads and software are relatively inexpensive and easy to learn.

The IPiX 360 camera system enabled photographers to capture a full 360 X 360 floor to ceiling view of any scene with just 4 shots as opposed to the more time-consuming 8, 10, or 12-shot rectilinear produced panoramas described above.

Today, this technique is considered rather "old school," and spherical stitching has become more mainstream for producing these types of tours.

Photoshop cannot produce them as quickly or accurately as stitching software programs can such as Autodesk Stitcher.

This is because there is sophisticated math and camera-lens profiles that are needed to create the desired panorama image which is based on your camera's depth of field (FOV) and the type of lens used.

The lens bends the angle of the shot to take a larger radius of the selected subject.

This means that an incorrect combination of the images can result in an unclean cut edge that is difficult or impossible to remove.

The smaller the focal length, the larger the angle of view and the fewer cameras are required.