Following up on the last post on virtual reality, 360° videography is its sibling. If you’re about to make a decision about where to take your photography, I’d give 360° videography a very close look. Yes, in many aspects it’s a still experimental field, yet sure if you’re doing it with the right equipment and settings, the full horizon is the limit!

Pond5 gets into the ins and outs of 360° video. Goes without saying there’s a steep learning curve. Now there is an image and video stitching company called Kolor, delivering pretty amazing immersions.

Kolor helps you create panoramas, virtual tours and 360° videos. Hence because of the difficult nature of the technique the company offers comprehensive tutorials to give newcomers a head start.

Here, for instance, the full workflow on how to create a 360° video in Autopano:

Pond5 spoke to Kolor’s marketing director Rami Thomé, insisting you should no longer hesitate whether the 360° are just a trend:

It’s a huge thing. It’s the new way to tell a story; to let your audience be literally immersed in the scene you’re showing; to let people feel incredible experiences.

Thomé calls it “immersive media,” a new way to catch and watch content, and every single industry will be impacted. “Content that will make the difference,” he says.

Two of the most common 360° greenhorn errors? Having the most interesting parts of a scene in the overlapping areas, and getting too close to the subject/object with the camera. You can end up with parallax issues — issues that can be corrected with post-processing, yet why not get it right in-camera.

The right equipment and settings? Thomé uses six GoPro Hero 4 Black cameras, because the resolution gives great results, but also because the higher number of frames per second enables better synchronization.

Above all though, special technique and top equipment are no panacea. Content is still key. The ultimate goal is to create great content.