360 Degree Photography

1
360 Degree Photography

• Beth Pearlman, Bill Kruskop, Laura Ruel, Jane
  Ellen Stevens, John Poole, Susannah Gardner

2
When and why should it be used?

• When you have lots of action
• When you need to provide context
• When user drives and journalist guides
• To expand the view of an existing image, pulling
  out, out, out
• To put the viewer somewhere they cant normally
  go cant currently be
• To unmask whats going on empty audiences

3
When shouldnt it be used?

• Even when you tell a story with words, you are
  framing it. There is content that you get just
  because of how its framed or composed. So this
  clearly wont be appropriate in all cases and
  stories.

4
Possible Applications

• Tours
• Tagging squid in Baja
• Riots
• Press conferences
• Small, enclosed spaces

5
Are 360 photos intrinsically bad/good?

• No, although we have seen very few used
  artistically
• No, although we have seen a lot of bad ones in
  bad situations

6
Upsides
Downsides

•  Wont have to shoot quite as many times to get
  action that is happening all around a situation.
• Two paths. Journalist can guide through a
  scenario User dropped into the middle unmediated
• Hotspots

• Use 360 when you have at least two subjects you
  can be in between. Works really well when you
  have two good subjects very near each other. Its
  very difficult to get in the middle of two good
  photographs.
• Extra equipment
• Focus. 360 can broaden the context too much.

7
Technical Issues

• Preplanning is key
• 360 lens low-quality action a possibility
• Fish-eye lens requires two shots, ethical
  implications predictable action
• 35 mm lens used with lots of shots stitched
  together and high resolution, ethical
  implications landscape, non-action
• Even if you are going to be in the photo, how do
  you take the photo? How far can you get from the
  camera before it is stolen? Should you have a
  little robot? What about a 360 beanie, or a 360
  headband?
• How will we indicate 360 functionality to get
  people to take advantage of it?

8
Audience implications

• Explain why journalistic choices have been made
• Break down us/them dichotomy
• Discern credibility

9
Journalism education implications

• To show journalists in action and the whole
  situation
• Ethical education about photo manipulation and
  permissions
• Who teaches it? Photographers? Broadcasters?
• Training the teachers
• Let students know that this may not be a reality
  for some time, despite their training

10
Impact on the newsroom

• Adding to existing job requirements
• Will images be taken by teams or by solo
  reporters?
• Training on equipment
• Training on how to report with it
• Who will be able to do this? Photojournalists?
  Reporters? Not one or other exclusively.
• If everyone is required to do it, quality wont
  be high enough.
• Higher standards

11
Research areas

• Wouldnt it be interesting if the production
  became part of the video experience and wasnt
  invisible? See whats going on all around, giving
  you context during performance for the camera.
• Are we perhaps considering breaking down the wall
  between journalists and the audience? Let them
  see us, know us, understand what were doing.
• Getting permission from everyone in the photo?

12
Research areas

• You may not need a standup reporter, as you can
  provide that information with text or voiceover.
• Does the photographer even know what they are
  shooting?
• If the user doesnt touch anything, should they
  get the directors cut?
• Do audiences want this? Do they want more than
  passive visuals?

13
Conclusions

• We need one camera, conveniently packaged, that
  can take good enough quality to be shot with
  exclusively, and then stills, panoramic images
  and video can be pulled from it.
• Also, we need eyes in the backs of our heads.