How to Create a High-Resolution 360° Panorama with the DJI Mavic 4 Pro or Mavic 3 Pro (166mm Camera)

Overview:
This guide walks you through shooting, editing, and stitching a super high-resolution spherical panorama using a DJI Mavic 3 Pro or Mavic 4 Pro drone. It’s written for photographers who may not have a technical background but want stunning results.

Part 1: Preparing Your Drone

• Set a Max Altitude:

  In the drone’s safety settings, set the maximum flying height to the altitude you want to shoot the pano. This helps keep the drone stable while you rotate it during shooting. (I press the control stick forward as well as sideways to hold the drone at that height preventing any accidental altitude changes).

• Use a Compass Reference:

  Point your drone toward the north before you begin. This gives you a clear starting and ending direction for each row of images, making it easier to stay organized.

• Manual Exposure Settings:

  Switch your camera to manual mode. This keeps the brightness and colors consistent across all images, which makes editing and stitching much easier later.

Part 2: Shooting the Panorama

• Start Shooting the First Row:

  Begin by taking overlapping photos as you rotate the drone. Make sure each photo overlaps the previous one by about 25%.

• Move Down Row by Row:

  After completing the first row, tilt the camera (gimbal) slightly downward—about 7%—and shoot the next row. Keep repeating this process until the camera is tilted down to 84%.

• Capture the Nadir (Bottom View):

  Finish by tilting the camera directly downward (90%) and take one final photo to cover the bottom of the scene.

Part 3: Shooting the Sky

• Switch to the 70mm Camera:

  Change to the drone’s second camera and choose the spherical panorama shooting mode.

• Let the Drone Handle the Sky:

  This camera automatically shoots the sky in rows, starting from the horizon and moving upward. You can cancel the process once it starts pointing downward again—or let it finish to have a complete high-res version just in case.

Part 4: Editing and Stitching

• Transfer Files:

  Move all your photos to a fast hard drive. Processing these large images will require a powerful computer.

• Edit in Lightroom:

  Adjust colors, brightness, and contrast to make your images look great. Once stitched, there’s limited room for more changes. Save the edits as JPEGs or TIFFs.

• Stitch in PTGui Pro:

  Load your photos into PTGui Pro. Mask out the ground in the sky shots to avoid overlap.

• Save the Panorama:

  Export the stitched panorama as a TIFF file. 8-bit quality is usually fine unless you need extreme editing flexibility.

Part 5: Fixing the Sky Hole (Zenith)

• Patch the Zenith (Top of the Sky):

  The 70mm camera does not shoot the Zenith. Use PTGui’s Convert to Cube Faces tool to extract the top section. Then open that image in any photo editor and fix the hole.

• (With most panos you can use the PGui Patch Editor tool, however, with the sheer size of these files the Cube Face conversion is preferable.)

• Reconstruct the Panorama:

  Load the six cube face images back into PTGui and save your final panorama as a TIFF.

Part 6: Making It Viewable Online

• Use Virtual Tour Software:

  Use a tool like 3DVista, KRpano, or Pano2VR to turn your panorama into a web-friendly interactive version. This creates an HTML file that you can upload to your website or cloud storage like Amazon S3.

Finally:  Here’s a link to what a finished gigapixel pano should look like:

https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/balmenterprises.com.au/Fremantle+Gigapixel/index.htm

Why Professional Imagery is Essential for Your Website

In today’s digital world, your website is often the first impression potential clients have of your business. Whether you’re in retail, real estate, hospitality, or any other industry, the images on your website play a crucial role in communicating your brand’s values, personality, and quality. But when it comes to showcasing your products, services, or even your team, you may be tempted to save money by using amateur photos. While it may seem like a cost-effective solution, professional photography offers far more value in the long run. Here’s why investing in high-quality imagery is worth it for your website:

1. First Impressions Matter

Your website is likely the first interaction potential clients will have with your brand, and just like in person, first impressions are critical. Amateur photos can convey a lack of attention to detail and professionalism, which may cause visitors to question the quality of your products or services. In contrast, professional imagery instantly communicates that you care about your business, your customers, and your brand identity.

2. Quality Over Quantity

While smartphones and affordable cameras have made it easier for anyone to snap a photo, the difference in quality between amateur and professional images is clear. Professional photographers like myself use specialized equipment, lighting, and editing techniques to produce sharp, well-composed, and polished images that look their best across any device. High-quality images make your website look sleek, modern, and inviting, which can keep visitors engaged longer and encourage them to explore more of what you offer.

3. Consistent Branding

Every business has its own visual identity, and professional photography helps ensure that your images align with and reinforce your brand. From color schemes to composition and style, I can tailor your imagery to match your brand’s unique personality. This consistency helps build recognition and trust with your audience, which is key to fostering loyalty and driving conversions.

4. Increased Credibility and Trust

In an age where online reviews, ratings, and recommendations are critical, building trust with your audience is more important than ever. A website with high-quality, professional photos enhances your credibility by showcasing your business in the best light possible. Whether it’s clear, detailed shots of your products or lifestyle images that evoke the experience of working with you, professional photos make a statement of reliability and quality.

5. Better User Experience

Users today expect websites to load quickly and function seamlessly across all devices. Professional photography ensures that your images are optimized for performance, meaning they won’t slow down your website or appear blurry on different screens. Additionally, well-composed and thoughtful images enhance the overall user experience, making your site more engaging and easier to navigate.

6. SEO Benefits

Did you know that professional images can help improve your website’s SEO? Optimized images—those with proper file names, alt-text, and descriptions—can contribute to your website’s search engine ranking. Search engines like Google place value on image quality and relevance, and having high-resolution, keyword-optimized images will make your site more discoverable.

7. Stand Out from the Competition

In today’s competitive marketplace, it’s essential to distinguish yourself from the competition. High-quality imagery can set you apart, giving your website a polished, professional look that will make you stand out to potential clients. Whether it’s a product shot, team photo, or an image showcasing your workspace, well-crafted photos elevate your business and make a lasting impression.

Conclusion

While using amateur images may save money in the short term, investing in professional photography for your website is an investment in your brand’s long-term success. At Balm Commercial Photography, I specialize in creating stunning, brand-aligned imagery that helps businesses like yours make an impact online. Whether you need professional portraits, product photography, or captivating lifestyle shots, I’m here to bring your vision to life and ensure your website looks its best.

If you’re ready to elevate your online presence with high-quality imagery, get in touch with me today. Let’s work together to make your website truly stand out.

Virtual tours have become a powerful tool for businesses in recent years. They allow customers to experience a business without leaving their homes, which is especially valuable during times when in-person visits may not be possible. But did you know that virtual tours can also benefit your clients’ search engine optimization (SEO)?

In this blog post, we’ll explore the ways in which virtual tours can improve your clients’ SEO and help them climb higher in search engine rankings.

1. Improved user engagement

Virtual tours provide an immersive experience that can keep potential customers engaged for longer periods of time. When customers spend more time on your clients’ website, search engines interpret this as a sign of high-quality content and a positive user experience. As a result, search engines are more likely to rank your clients’ website higher in search results.

    2: Increased website traffic

Virtual tours can attract a new audience to your clients’ website. Potential customers who are searching for businesses like your clients’ will be more likely to click on their website if they see a virtual tour. This increased traffic can improve your clients’ search engine rankings as search engines prioritize websites with more visitors.

    3: Higher click-through rates

Virtual tours can also increase click-through rates. When potential customers see a virtual tour in search results, they are more likely to click on your clients’ website over their competitors’. This increased click-through rate tells search engines that your clients’ website is more relevant and useful to potential customers, leading to higher search engine rankings.

    4: Rich media content

Virtual tours are a form of rich media content, which search engines prioritize in their algorithms. Rich media content is any type of content that enhances the user experience with multimedia elements like images, videos, and audio. Virtual tours offer a dynamic and interactive way for customers to engage with your clients’ business, making them more likely to share the content with others and creating valuable backlinks to your clients’ website.

    5: Improved local search rankings

Virtual tours can also help your clients rank higher in local search results. Local search results are prioritized by search engines for customers searching for businesses in a specific location. By including a virtual tour on your clients’ Google My Business page, they can increase their visibility in local search results and attract more customers in their area.

In conclusion, virtual tours offer many benefits for businesses, including improved user engagement, increased website traffic, higher click-through rates, rich media content, and improved local search rankings. By incorporating virtual tours into your clients’ SEO strategy, you can help them climb higher in search engine rankings and attract more customers to their business.

A good example of how a Virtual Tour can look can be seen here.  IKAD Engineering | Virtual tour generated by Balm Commercial Photography

Carrying on with fun stuff this is an awesome way to show off your staff and business since these images also work natively on social media.

Double click on the panorama to view this in all its glory in fullscreen.

From time to time while shoot tours we occasionally get some really cool objects to shoot.

In this case it was an Ironman built from Bosch Power Tools

at Total Tools Canningvale for a promotion

You can double click on the panorama to view this in all its glory in fullscreen.

Spent some time with Michael from Fremantle Shipping News interviewing business owners and generally discussing the precinct.

The article can be found here. THE PULSE – The Wray Avenue Precinct – Fremantle Shipping News

​The recent advances in 360 cameras has unleashed a wave of 360 images all across the internet.  Facebook supports these images natively.  They’re so easy to do, and can be quickly used to post 360 images online in just minutes.  The 360 cameras have come a long way.  They’re simple enough, and quick enough that almost anybody can hold one up and walk away with a really cool 360 image.  I have several and often use the Ricoh Theta V for quick prospecting of promising locations.  Sometimes I’ll build a a virtual tour for a client, so that they can get a feel for what a Virtual Tour of their business will look like.

Should you use them for your business?  Well, the short answer is no.  If you’ve spent hours on designing and developing your workspace environment, you want to showcase it in the best possible way.  Unfortunately, the little 360 cameras just don’t compare to the real thing.  An image done with a professional camera has much higher resolution, and has the added advantage of having a pro behind the lens.  The lens difference is hugely significant, and yet is still only half the equation.  Processing a 360 image, and then moderating multiple 360 image into a full-blown “Virtual Tour” is hard.  It’s a skill that isn’t learned either quickly, or easily.

By way of example, take a look at the samples found in the image below. (You can click on the “enter fullscreen” button in the tool bar to bring the image to a full screen)  Both images are taken from approximately the same spot at the Fremantle War Memorial only minutes apart.  You can flip back and forth between the two images, by clicking on the two thumbnail images at the top of the page. Even though I took great care to get as good an image on the 360 camera as possible, it wasn’t possible to bring it up to full quality.  You’ll quickly see the difference in the quality of the two images. And so will the potential shop visitors visiting your website, or looking at your images on Google.

I also need to mention my friend Peter Sikes from Shoreline Pixels in Connecticut USA whose input for this post was invaluable.

As part of my work I am often asked
to do some Photoshop work on portraits
to smooth out skin and make people look their best by removing blemishes etc.
You can see these effects below:

Had a heap of fun teaching my son the intricacies of shooting 360 VR imagery in this wonderful old derelict power station that has the most amazing graffiti that really glows at sunset.

You can click on the “enter fullscreen” button on the right of the tool bar to view this in all its glory.