VR Panoramas > Taking Photographs

Here are some tips on dealing with different light scenarios:

• Try and find a “happy medium” in terms of the lightness of the scene. If you’re using exposure lock it’s best to start with the spot containing an “average” amount of light. Theoretically, things are much easier if you're able to lock the exposure of the camera, so that all images have the same exposure - this should allow you to merge the images afterwards without having to adjust their brightness. But practically, this is difficult to achieve and it can pose serious problems with under- and over-exposing certain photos - this is where retouching comes in to the process

• The best moment to take the pictures is when the sun is at its highest point, or when the weather is clouded. In other cases, you have a serious risk of over-exposing a large part of the panorama, which will result in black silhouettes against a white sky. The main thing to avoid is the sun shining straight into your lens. A panorama taken during dusk or dawn might theoretically look very cool, but is very hard to make! Don't try it if you're about to make the first panorama you've ever done.

• Avoid moving clouds on a sunny day – if the sun suddenly comes out and shines on the scene halfway through the shot the panorama will just look plain odd!

• Avoid the use of flashes – these will wash out the subject of the photo.