As a Facebook user, you might have heard or perhaps come across 360° photos while scrolling down the news feed or viewing a friend's time line. This is because Facebook is a big promoter of the concept. To remember vividly, Google released an Android version of its photo sphere app in 2011 and they later extended the support to iOS in 2014.
The main purpose of "photo sphere" is to allow users take 360-degree photos which will later be stitched together to form a seamless panorama. Mostly, photo sphere can be found in Google's own stock Android camera app as it's one of the useful features that's scarcely found in other camera apps. If perhaps you don't know or haven't heard of 360-degree photos, read on as we explain things to you.
What's 360 Degree Photo?
Basically, when you release the shutter of your camera app, you are actually taking a snapshot of a scene or environment. I refer to this process as taking a normal "flat photos". 360 photo (in a layman's terms) is a photo that allows you to view and capture "more" than just a snapshot of a scene. Let's assume for instance that you want to take a 360 photo with your
Android or iOS, what you're basically doing is to take a photo of an entire scene in such a way that all views are covered. During this process, your camera app will guide you on which position to move. Once this is done, all the pictures you took will be stitched together to form a single panorama.
To take 360° Photos, you'll need an App
To take 360 photos on Android or iOS, you'll need an app. We have already listed the best 360 degree camera apps that you can use, but if your device's camera supports photo sphere, surround shoot or panorama, then you can use it. To suggest further, you can even capture 360 degree photos directly from Facebook mobile app. Simply look for the "360 photo" icon in your status field, just within a news feed (that's if your device is supported). Fortunately, my Motorola G XT1032 brings support for 360 Degree Photos and it's termed Panorama. So let's capture a stunning 369 degree photo with it.
Find a Place that inspires you
Next up, simply choose a place or moment that inspires you. It might be in your room, shop rites and even at your surroundings.
From here, open your camera app and turn on Panorama. Now position yourself at the center of the scene and tap the shutter button.
Take 360 Photos
From here, move your device slowly and steadily from left to right. Once the whole surroundings is captured, the frame will be stitched together automatically to form a single but awesome 360 degree panorama.
You can view the 360 picture you have just taken with Google Photos or your own stock camera app.
Wrapping Up
That's it, you have just captured a full 360 degree photo with your device's camera app. You can go further to immerse all your friends in the experience by sharing it to your Facebook timeline. There is no hassles involved, seamless panorama can be taken within a single tap with the above steps.
