Best Way To Prep Before Your 360 Photographer Shoot

Hi, Garry here. Thanks for dropping by...

1. The first shot we take is on the street so if you have sign written vehicles it would be great to have that parked out front if at all possible.
2. Look at your front entrance. Clean windows, remove cobwebs, remove garbage bins and any litter.
3. Come inside and take a good look around. Remove any cobwebs on walls or ceiling. Dust shelves if necessary. I shoot the imagery in high quality and people can zoom in, so be aware of that.
4. Where applicable ensure shelves are stocked, with no large empty gaps.
5. Garbage bins and waste paper bins although necessary, are not a great feature in a virtual tour so remove these from site if possible.
6. Both in residential real estate and commercial properties places look better with the lights on so go ahead and turn all lights on.
7. Unless you are a cash and Carry Warehouse kind of business or the cartons are particularly worth showing off, cartons and other cardboard boxes are best hidden from view.
8. People in shots or no people in shots? This can be a tough choice.

Google generally prefers not to have people in the virtual tour and I personally tend to agree. The features and layout can be easily portrayed, and an empty space allows the online searcher to easily put themselves in the room and imagine being there, rather than being distracted by the heavily tattooed man or the woman with purple hair.

Another point by not having people present at the time of the shoot is that the process is usually much quicker. We can be in and out in the minimum time causing less distraction and disruption to your regular working day.

If you are a busy café or other type of business that often has lots of people in, and we can't shoot it outside of trading hours then we just have to do it that way. You are required to generally advise your patrons that “the Google photographer is here and we'll be shooting footage for Google maps.” We can blur faces ensuring privacy anyway. 



I am certainly happy to do it either way and occasionally we have done staged shoots where for example the mechanic is leaning over a car or the staff of a busy service department are all at their seats at their pc. It’s also fine if you as the owner and your staff want to be in the shoot.

So there you have it. A few simple tips to make sure we capture a great virtual tour of your shop, showroom, café, gym, restaurant, childcare centre, club, salon or any other business that wants to increase traffic through the door.

That’s all I have for now but I promise I will try and come up with more stuff soon

Wishing you and family keep safe and well.