To capture a full 360° × 180° view of the scene you need to capture your images in rows. That is, in addition to capturing images in a 360° circle as you normally would to make a panorama, you also need to capture rows of images with the camera tilted up and down.
Here is an outline of the procedure:
Top Row: Tilt the camera up +45° and capture an image. Rotate the pan head by 30° and capture another image. Continue capturing images at 30º increments until the row is complete.
Middle Row: Level the camera to 0° pitch. Capture an image. Rotate the pan head by 30° and capture another image. Continue until the row is complete.
Bottom Row: Tilt the camera down by –45°. Capture an image. Rotate by 30° and capture another image. Continue until the row is complete.
For example, a panorama might consist of three rows of images. Each row of images consists of 12 shots. The images in each row are captured at 30° increments:
The top row is captured with the camera tilted up at 45° pitch. The middle row is captured with the camera leveled at 0° pitch. The bottom row is captured with the camera tilted down at –45° pitch.
This creates a total of 36 images. Figure A (side view) shows three rows of images captured at –45°, 0°, +45° pitch and figure B (top view) shows 12 images per row captured at 30° increments.
As mentioned before, the number of images, rows, and spacing needed to capture a panorama depends on the FOV of the lens being used. The table below shows the approximate FOVs for some common lenses and the number of images needed to capture a full 360° × 180° view. You can use this information as a guide when planning your shot :
The top row is captured with the camera tilted up at 45° pitch.
