Most bad 360 photos are not caused by poor equipment or bad apps — they're caused by a small set of consistent technique errors that are entirely preventable once you know what they are. After analysing thousands of virtual tours created on the Travvir platform, here are the 12 most common 360 photography mistakes and exactly how to fix or avoid each one.
Camera Movement and Stability Mistakes
Mistake 1: Rotating Too Fast
What it causes: Blurry frames, stitching seam errors, and gaps in coverage that appear as black patches or obviously misaligned areas in the final image.
The fix: Rotate at approximately one frame every 2–3 seconds, moving approximately 15° per step. Let the app's capture overlay confirm each zone before rotating to the next. If you're using guided capture, don't advance until the app indicator turns green.
Mistake 2: Handheld Capture Without Support
What it causes: Camera shake during individual frame captures, inconsistent height across frames, and parallax errors from non-centred rotation around the lens.
The fix: Always use a tripod for business and commercial virtual tours. For casual personal use, stabilise against a wall or use a phone gimbal. A £15 tripod with phone mount completely eliminates this category of error.
Mistake 3: Wrong Rotation Centre
What it causes: Parallax error — foreground objects appear duplicated or "split" at stitch lines because the camera's perspective shifted during rotation rather than rotating around a fixed point.
The fix: Rotate around the camera lens, not around the tripod or your body. Position the phone on the tripod so the lens is as close to the rotation axis as possible. Many tripod heads have a nodal point adjustment for this purpose.
Exposure and Lighting Mistakes
Mistake 4: Auto-Exposure Changes Between Frames
What it causes: Visible horizontal or radial exposure banding in the stitched image — different sections of the panorama have noticeably different brightness levels, creating an obvious seam at every stitch line.
The fix: Lock exposure before starting the capture sequence. On iPhone, tap and hold to lock AE/AF lock. On Android, switch to Pro/Manual mode and set a fixed ISO (100–200 for well-lit interiors) and shutter speed (1/60s for standard lighting). Never let auto-exposure run during a 360 capture.
Mistake 5: Shooting Toward Windows in Bright Daylight
What it causes: Extreme overexposure on window sections (blown out to pure white) while interior areas are underexposed, creating an image that shows neither the interior nor the view well.
The fix: Position your tripod so you're shooting away from the brightest windows, not toward them. Close blinds or diffuse direct sunlight with net curtains before shooting. If you must include window views, shoot at dawn or dusk when the interior and exterior light balance more naturally.
Mistake 6: Mixed Colour Temperature Lighting
What it causes: Different sections of the 360 image have noticeably different colour casts — warm orange tones from incandescent lamps versus cool blue-white from fluorescent or natural light, creating jarring transitions across the stitched sphere.
The fix: Before shooting, replace or turn off mixed-temperature lights. Use only one type: all LED, all fluorescent, or all natural light. In spaces where light temperature is mixed and unchangeable, lock white balance in the Pro camera mode to a fixed value (approximately 4000K for mixed indoor spaces).
Composition and Positioning Mistakes
Mistake 7: Shooting at the Wrong Height
What it causes: Distorted perspective — shooting too low makes spaces appear cramped and squat; shooting too high looks unnatural and creates ceiling-heavy compositions.
The fix: Set the camera at 1.5–1.7 metres height (adult standing eye level). This is the perspective that viewers intuitively recognise as natural and creates the most flattering representation of interior spaces.
Mistake 8: Shooting Too Close to Walls
What it causes: Claustrophobic compositions where one wall dominates the image and the room appears much smaller than it is. The stitching also struggles with very close objects because parallax error is amplified at short distances.
The fix: Position the tripod in the centre of the room or the optimal viewing position — ideally equidistant from all walls. The natural vantage point from the centre is also the most useful for viewers navigating the tour.
Mistake 9: Including the Photographer or Equipment in the Shot
What it causes: The camera captures the full 360°, including behind and below the camera position. Photographers who don't account for their own reflection in mirrors, shadows, or the tripod and phone appearing in the nadir area produce images that look unprofessional.
The fix: Use a remote shutter trigger or the app's timer function and move out of shot before capture. Cover or remove mirrors during shooting if your reflection is unavoidable. Use the nadir fill/logo feature in the app to cover the floor/tripod area in the final image.
Pre-Production and Preparation Mistakes
Mistake 10: Not Staging the Space
What it causes: Because 360 photos capture the entire environment, any clutter, mess, or staging issues are highly visible from all angles. Issues that could be cropped out of a standard photo appear clearly in 360.
The fix: Stage the space more carefully than you would for standard photography. Remove all visible clutter (including power cables, rubbish bins, coats, bags). Straighten furniture, fluff cushions, set tables. Do a 360° visual scan of the space before shooting — stand in the camera position and spin slowly, looking for anything that should be removed.
Mistake 11: Forgetting to Check for Obstacles in the Nadir
What it causes: The tripod and phone mount appear in the floor section of the image. Without nadir fill or correction, the finished tour has an obvious equipment intrusion at the bottom of every scene.
The fix: All modern 360 apps (including Travvir) provide automatic nadir fill that covers the camera position with a logo or blur. Ensure this feature is enabled in your app settings before shooting.
Mistake 12: Publishing Without Quality Review
What it causes: Stitching errors, poor exposure, and composition problems that were visible in the source images appear in the published tour — reducing viewer trust and the professional impression of the content.
The fix: Always review every 360 image in the viewer before publishing. Pan through the full sphere, check stitch lines, verify exposure consistency, and look for any objects or people that should have been removed. Reshoot any position with obvious quality issues.
Conclusion: Quality Control Is a Habit, Not an Afterthought
Every mistake on this list is preventable with the right preparation and habit of mind before and during the capture session. The photographers who consistently produce excellent 360 tours are not those with the best equipment — they're those who develop a systematic pre-shoot checklist and execute it consistently on every job.
Build your own version of this checklist incorporating the fixes above, run through it at each new shooting position, and review every image before leaving the location. Within a few sessions, avoiding these mistakes becomes second nature.
