Photography and marketing are evolving at an ever increasing pace. It is therefore crucial for any photographer to not only stay up to date with the latest gear and techniques but also with Marketing trends as ultimately this will provide a steady flow of clients.
The latest tool and trend bringing together photographers and marketers is 360° photography and 360° video. Here we'll focus on the photography aspect.
What more immersive way is there to showcase whatever it is you’re looking to showcase?
Right now? None.
Here's a beautiful Dorset village as an example: NOT AVAILBLE
A converted equirectangular image of the sphere above:
With 360 degree panoramic photography, for the first time you see the full picture but more importantly… your customers and clients do too.
Facebook, as much as you either love it or hate it, is always well ahead of the game. It makes sense, they want to attract marketers with budgets to spend.
When Cinemagraphs started popping-up, Facebook was very keen to get them to display and loop well on their network as they could see the huge marketing potential through paid ads / promoted posts.
They were correct, since then Cinemagraphs have indeed created a buzz on social media and I've been commissioned by brands such as Adidas, Jose Cuervo, Peugeot and others to produce them.
Now with 360° photography, Facebook’s on it again and "Facebook 360" allows anyone to upload their 360s as they would a normal photo but automatically detecting the format and displaying in full 360°.
Now imagine…
A safari resort in Kenya at sunset on a very warm day surrounded by nature and animals all captured in glorious high resolution 360° x 360° (yes that’s a sphere).
Now imagine you’re a travel agent in rainy Newcastle.
Getting that experience across with photos works, but you're still in Newcastle getting drenched.
Put that VR headset on your client’s head, wait for it to kick in, deal = done.
Right this may be a strange example but in reality it works, 360° works and 360° through VR is even better.
One reason I believe in 360 photography so much is the effect it has on me.
I have a 360° photo of the church me and my wife got married in and each time I look at it, it transports me back there. I can look around the church, not just a fraction of the church as you would with a regular photo.
If you’re running a restaurant or hotel, how better can you show your venue to potential clients?
Gigs, festivals, attractions, museums, hotels, shops, parks…
The list is endless and I hope I have made my point.
If you’d like to know more about 360 degree photography, contact me for a chat!
Nico