I've always wondered how well a 360 degree camera would work for theatrical stage performances. The Insta 360 camera is fairly old technology, but it has a gyro mechanism built in to the enclosure that orientates the lens to the proper horizon. I'm not really sure if it's a physical gyro mechanism or done through software, but the results work well for me since I often hang the camera from my drone or some sort of ceiling fixture.
Here's the first scene from our show Eigg the Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I used the bullet time string to hang the camera from the chandelier at stage right of the theater. The Greenside @ Riddles court venue is over 500 years old and once held a coronation party for King James V1. Check out the ceiling!
Every year I meet my brother in Breckenridge Colorado for a family ski vacation. We've been doing it for a long time and it's become a tradition. I was really looking forward to skiing this year, but my back was a little sore from a recent move. At some point I just decided to figure out something else to do during the day and grabbed a few content creation gadgets before heading off to Breckenridge.
Drone launch point and historic main street
A. For the first project, I drove out past the B&B trailhead as far as I could go so I could get a long shot of the city and the ski slopes. Then I launched my drone and sent it up a little over 250 feet to frame up the area through the wooded valley just east of town. My drone has a Hasselblad 1" sensor and can take up to 26 high resolution raw images for a panoramic picture. I used Lightroom to stitch the images together and Photoshop to make the postcard below.
My postcard from Breckenridge Colorado
B. Next, I thought it might be fun to create a 360° immersive video of historic main street, so I placed an old Insta 360 camera on a selfie stick and secured it under the back windshield wiper of my SUV. Then I just drove north on main street with the camera recording 360 video at 4K . You can adjust the speed using the video settings. I've always loved the atmosphere in Breck. It's a pretty neat little town.
360° immersive video from historic main street
C. Finally, it was up to Hoosier pass for a 360° aerial photo of the continental divide. Once I got to the top of the pass I sent my drone up about 400 feet to get a 360° panoramic picture of the mountains to the east and west and the valley south down to Fairplay and north down to Breckenridge. It's super bright at this altitude and I used a ND16 filter to compensate. I don't think blogger has a VR gadget, so you'll need to select the image below to get the 3D experience.VR headset highly recommended.
Select image above for 360° immersive photo experience
Here's an immersive 360° video from Central Park in New York City. I entered the park at Columbus Circle and just took a leisurely stroll with my camera on a selfie stick. It was overcast and the quality of the first generation Insta 360 is what it is, but at the end of the day, I think the video provides a pretty good experience of walking through the Central Park on Thanksgiving weekend this year. I exited the park near the Simón Bolívar statue at 6th and 59th street and it started to rain on my way back to the hotel in midtown.
Here are a couple of 360° immersive videos from Time Square in New York City. There are plenty of places to take pictures, but they've added several convenient platforms to the northern and southern ends of the area for taking photos and it's easy to get to the highest point and lift your selfie stick high in the air. It was a good day with mild weather and blue skies peeking through here and there too. The atmosphere in Time Square is very international and a good place to capture the diversity and culture in New York.
Here's a couple of 360° immersive videos from Lake Powell in Southern Utah. It's in the Glen Canyon National Park near the Bullfrog Marina. We rented a couple of jet skis and explored the lake and the wonderful canyon scenery. I used the Insta 360 One X camera and these two videos are from Eden Canyon across from Halls Landing. It was a fun day, but the water level has really dropped a lot over the last few years.
Here's a 360° immersive video of the Blossoms of Light at the Denver Botanic Gardens. It's a seasonal event that starts in November and goes through January. It's still pretty warm in Colorado and we haven't had any measurable snowfall yet. The complete tour takes about 20 minutes, but I have several scenes on my YouTube channel a little later in the evening for anyone interested.
Here's a 360° immersive video of the Georgetown Loop Railraod in Colorado. We've had a longer than usual Fall this year and the Railroad authority extended the season as a result, but much of the Fall Foilage and colors were gone. The train climbs over 600 feet between Georgetown and Silver Plume and takes about 20 minutes.
Here's a 360° immersive video on Grasmere Lake at Washington Park in Denver. I used the bullet time string to hang the camera under the drone and get it out of the picture frame. One nice feature of the Insta 360° is the auto gyro that sets the horizon in post even it the camera is upside down and swinging when shooting the scene.
Here's a 360° immersive video of walking up the North side of Broadway between 4th and John Lewis Way in Nashville. It's amazing how many different bands you can hear on this street on any given night and in the Summer the windows are mostly open. This place is truly Music City, one block North is Ryman Auditorium where Bluegrass was born and one block South is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Here are a couple of immersive videos of the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis. The arch was built to commemorate President Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and was completed in 1963. I stayed at the Hyatt across the street from the complex. WTH...it was so windy, but a perfect contrast to a long day of traveling across Kansas from Denver.
Here's an immersive 360° video of Lost Eden Canyon at Lake Powell. This particular canyon is only accessible by boat and is across from Halls Landing. The water levels this year were as low as I've ever seen them. I stayed at the Defiance Hotel in Bull Frog, it has 48 rooms and is run by the Utah State Park Service. WTH...it was Hot...over 100, but the water temperature was perfect for cooling off.
This year I had the opportunity to shoot a 360 video at Blossoms of Lights in the Denver Botanic Garden. I mounted an Insta 360 1X on a selfie stick and walked the tour. It was hit or miss since I was shooting lots of static photos too; in any case, WTH...I know I could get smoother, higher quality footage mounting the camera on a drone and shooting in cinematic mode, but I would need to coordinate with the Gardens on something like that.
I've been experimenting with shots using a 360 degree camera (Theta SC) mounted on a drone (Mavic 2 Pro). There's some issues, but WTH...it's new functionality and it goes with the territory; in any case, just click and drag your mouse over the video to explore the video. My guess is we'll start seeing more of this sort of thing.
