Panoramic Photography and 360° Virtual Tour Workshops

Workshops are always individual but we have thoroughly tested what we can manage to teach you in the given time. During all workshops you will see for yourself how to set up a panoramic head and your camera, you will do it yourself and you will have time to practice this skill. Then depending on the length of the workshop you will receive a large dose of inspiration and insider tips and tricks for shooting and post-processing panoramic photos and virtual tours. A more detailed schedule is shown in the description of each workshop.

"I appreciate the informal and friendly approach, which was to the benefit of the training. I value the focus on hands-on works during the workshop. I also appreciate the flexibility with which specific and unforeseeable problems were addressed. The course was very helpful and it is already saving me hours of work less than a week from attending."
- David Kucera, participant of the full-day training

About PanoSociety How To Shoot 360º Academy

I founded the Academy in 2011 first only as individual workshops through which I was able to share my knowledge in panoramic photography with other people. Since then I’ve done tens of group workshops, individual courses, photowalks and lectures in Prague and elsewhere. In 2013 I started using the name How To Shoot 360º Academy for all my workshops.

Do you like panoramic photography and virtual tours and would you like to learn how to produce this kind of magical art too? May be you have answered yes but you think it’s too difficult. That’s a myth! You can start taking panoramic photos right now. It's not difficult to start. I will show you how.

- Jan Vrsinsky, founder

My vision, goal and mission of the PanoSociety How To Shoot 360º Academy

I believe that absolutely everybody can take panoramas, with whatever equipment. My dream and vision with the Academy is to help everybody to realize this fact. I help photographers like you to begin with panoramic craft and to improve your skills through my workshops. I show you how use various techniques and tools that help you with this work and that perfect your results. I believe that the most important part of the learning process is to show you everything instead of talking about it.

From stitching photos to perfect virtual tours

Panoramic photography doesn’t need to be a full 360ºx180º interactive spherical panorama but it can consist of just several overlapping photos creating an unique perspective. Whatever your goals and ambitions are I truly believe that I’ll teach you how to achieve your creative goals.

Private panoramic photography and 360º virtual tour workshop is a session during which you will have the lecturer's full and undivided attention in person or via Google Hangout or Skype. All workshops are taught personally by me - Jan Vrsinsky - the founder of this online store and the PanoSociety HowToShoot360º Academy.

This is a complex and completely individual training so the time required is up to you. We can meet for several hours or several days. Usually my trainings take one full day during which we’ll cover all basic and some advanced topics. I also offer shorter 1-3 hour private workshops for those who want to start quickly.

What You Will Learn

• You will get familiar with panoramic photography and how to take photos on your own
• You will be shown how to process photos on a computer
• The workshop will be customized according to your wishes and knowledge

Notable Clients

Given the relatively difficult shooting of panoramic photos, including stitching on a computer, any practical advice is priceless. We received many advices at Jan Vrsinsky’s workshop. On top of that he had the lecturing well and logically organized which helps one to fully understand how panoramic photos are created – from camera setting, through practical tips and advices for shooting, to the final stitching on a computer and publishing on the web. 
- Tomáš Klíma

The workshop helped me to change some of the incorrect practices while ensuring me in using the correct ones. Although I take panoramic photos as an amateur for about a year I never really achieved good results. The search for what was wrong in my whole workflow could be really difficult. All it took was a weekend in Prague while my practices were carefully observed by a professional photographer and then following his postprocessing workflow. Thank you.
- Martin Kacvinský

More testimonials: Most of my students are Czech but I’ve had a few English-speaking participants, especially on my one-on-one individual panoramic photography trainings. Uncensored testimonials from the past attendees of the workshops that decided to share it publicly can be found on the Czech page (Czech Language Only).

Have you attended some of my past workshops or courses? Your feedback is like gold to me. Please send me your opinion on what the workshop gave you, how it enriched you and what you think could be improved. Thank you.

Meet Me Or Attend The Workshop Online

The workshop can take place using Google Hangout or Skype. You will need a good internet connection, web camera and a microphone. If you are interested in the online version of the workshop just add a note to your order.

Thanks to my web camera and screen sharing you will see and hear everything as if we met personally.

Workshop Location

If not online, these private workshops usually take place in Prague, Czech Republic, in a classroom with internet and TV, but it’s a pleasure for me to travel anywhere in Czech Republic and worldwide. For example, the training can take place at the location of your photography project so I can give advices right there. Travel costs (if outside of Prague) are not included in the price.

Requirements

You can be a beginner or advanced panoramic photographer who might want to take their knowledge to the next level. The workshop is especially suitable for those photographers who want to experience a hands-on interactive intensive session with taking 360-degree photos. Last but not least the workshop is useful for those who have never used this technology and want to start using it.

No special equipment is necessary for the workshop. Take any camera with you so you can try the explained practices on your own. Ideally this would be a digital SLR (DSLR) camera with a fisheye lens but any camera will do. If you bring your panoramic head (if you already own one) or any other equipment I will show you how to set it up correctly and how to use it.

Hands-on Photography

Possible topics for the hands-on part 

• General principles of panoramic photography will be explained
• Types of panoramas and their use and how to capture
• The basic relations between the focal length, number of pictures and principles of stitching
• Nodal point, panoramic head, setting up
• Optional: Shooting without tripod, pitch variation techniques, philopod, stitching issues, etc.
• How to set up your camera
• Exteriors vs interiors
• White balance, focus, exposure, ISO, RAW, apperture, and how to set this all up for proper panorama shooting
• Issues with high contrast and how to avoid
• HDR and bracketing, how to process these images, pseudoHDR and how to do it
• Nadir fixing, erasing tripod, etc.
• Shadow and light issues in panoramas and how to avoid them and retouch them

Possible topics for the computer part

• Complete workflow for processing photos, from Camera RAW to output
• How to properly develop RAW files for panoramas
• Complete automatic stitching, how to and possible issues with it
• Manual control points and why
• Complete set of issues and how to's on stitching
• How to save the result, formats, publishing on the internet
• Retouching, Pano2VR, krpano tools exporting, etc.
• Publishing on the web, flash, iOS devices, mobile compatibility
• All the issues we mentioned in the hands-on training will be shown on the computer
• EnfuseGUI and Photomatix
• Many many other things, depending on what your priorities are

Who’s leading the workshop?

The workshop teacher is me, Jan Vršinský, the founder of howtoshoot360.com. I’d be glad to share my worldwide panoramic photography experience with you. More about me and about why I think you’ll be thrilled with my course.

If you want to put your skills on the fast track I offer you a training/consultation during which you will have my full undivided attention. 

I offer one-on-one trainings for panoramic photographers. The schedule, program and location is always negotiated beforehand without any commitments from your side and the program is altered to fully fit your needs.

The increase of demand for 360° photography enables photographers to make a very good living. It is however required to invest time and energy to achieve mastery in all required procedures and quite a lot of money as well for achieving the top image quality.

If you want to learn everything necessary quickly I offer you individual consulting suited to fit your project’s needs.

Training contents

• The focus is always given to a hands-on experience, i.e. actual shooting. I strongly believe in explaining everything out there during actual shooting, I don’t believe in too much theory. We will spend some time in the office of course, so I can show you the basic principles and then we’ll return to the office to stitch photos.
• Depending on what your priorities are, we will spend about 30% of the time showing you how to process and stitch photos and how to publish them on the internet
• You will always leave the training with several panoramas you created yourself
• One again, this is an individual training, so the program depends on you and your questions but I can surely lead the way and recommend the program for yourself