Shooting excellent 360 photos with your phone requires understanding a small number of critical techniques that make the difference between a seamless, professional result and a blurry, poorly stitched image. The phone's camera hardware is not the limiting factor — technique and preparation determine 95% of the final quality. This guide covers everything you need to capture publication-ready 360 photos using any modern smartphone.
Equipment Setup Before You Shoot
Tripod: Non-Negotiable for Good Results
Hand-holding a phone during 360 capture introduces camera shake that creates misalignment between frames and visible stitching errors. A stable tripod is the single most impactful piece of equipment you can add to your 360 photography setup. You need a tripod that can position the phone at approximately 1.5–1.7 metres height (standing eye level) and rotate smoothly around the vertical axis.
A basic £15–25 tripod with a phone mount is sufficient for indoor photography. For outdoor shooting in wind or uneven terrain, a heavier tripod with a ball head provides more stability. Ensure the tripod head is level before shooting — most apps detect level positioning, but manual levelling improves stitching accuracy.
Phone Settings
Before starting your capture session, configure your phone camera settings: Lock exposure manually to prevent the auto-exposure from changing as you rotate (exposure shifts between frames cause visible bands in the stitched result). On iPhone, tap and hold to lock AE/AF before capture. On Android, use the manual or Pro mode to set a fixed ISO and shutter speed. Turn off HDR mode — automatic HDR takes multiple captures per frame and causes motion ghosting in 360 stitching. Enable grid lines to help maintain consistent phone levelling throughout the rotation.
App Configuration
Open Travvir and navigate to the 360° capture mode. The app displays a spherical overlay showing the required capture zones. Review the settings: set output resolution to maximum for best quality, ensure auto-stitch is enabled, and if available, set stitching quality to "high" (this increases processing time but improves seam quality).
The Capture Technique
Rotation Speed and Method
The single most common mistake in phone 360 photography is rotating too quickly. Each frame needs sufficient overlap with adjacent frames for the stitching algorithm to find matching features between them. A rotation rate of approximately one frame every 2–3 seconds, moving about 15–20 degrees per step, gives reliable results. The app provides visual guidance on each required capture zone — wait for each zone's indicator to confirm capture before moving to the next.
The Pivot Point Rule
When rotating, always rotate around the phone's camera lens — not around your own body or the tripod head. This minimises parallax error: the apparent shift in the position of foreground objects relative to background objects as the viewpoint moves. Parallax error is the primary cause of stitching anomalies in 360 photos — particularly visible as "ghosting" of objects near the camera.
Most 360-capable tripod heads have an adjustment to position the lens directly over the rotation axis. If your tripod head does not, position the phone as close to the rotation centre as possible, with the lens at the forward edge of the mount.
Capturing the Nadir (Floor) and Zenith (Ceiling)
Many 360 apps automatically fill in the nadir (directly below the camera) with a logo or blur. If you want a complete floor view, most apps include a nadir capture mode where you tilt the phone down and capture the floor area. Similarly, the zenith (ceiling/sky directly above) can be captured for a complete spherical image. For most business virtual tour applications, the default nadir fill is acceptable.
Lighting for 360 Photography
The Biggest Challenge
Lighting is more critical in 360 photography than in standard photography because the image captures the entire environment including light sources, windows, and artificial lighting in all directions simultaneously. The camera must balance bright windows against darker interior areas across the full sphere — a challenge that no auto-exposure system handles perfectly.
Indoor Lighting Approach
For indoor spaces: Turn on all interior lights before shooting. Close curtains or blinds on windows with direct sunlight to reduce contrast. Position your camera away from direct windows — shooting with a window behind you produces better exposure balance than shooting toward bright windows. Avoid mixed light temperatures (warm incandescent + cool fluorescent) as this creates colour inconsistencies across the stitched sphere.
Outdoor Shooting
For outdoor 360 photos, overcast sky conditions provide the most even lighting. Direct sun creates harsh shadows that rotate around the scene with each frame, creating visible inconsistencies in the stitched result. If shooting in direct sun is unavoidable, golden hour (60 minutes after sunrise or before sunset) provides warm, low-contrast light that stitches more cleanly than midday sun.
Shooting Positions and Tour Flow
Planning Your Shooting Positions
For a virtual tour of a space, plan your shooting positions before starting. Each position should provide a complete, coherent view of an area and be approximately 2–4 metres apart. Mark positions on a rough floor plan sketch — this ensures you cover the full space and prevents redundant captures.
For a standard room: one central position captures the full space. For large open areas (gym floor, warehouse, open-plan office): capture from 3–5 positions to allow navigation across the full area. For long narrow spaces (corridors, hallways): one position every 5–6 metres provides good coverage.
Creating Natural Tour Flow
Position your shooting spots to create a natural walking path through the space. When viewers navigate your tour, each transition should feel intuitive — moving from entrance to main area to secondary areas follows the natural exploration path visitors would take in person. Avoid shooting in dead-end arrangements where navigation requires "teleporting" back to the entrance.
Post-Capture Review and Common Fixes
What to Check After Stitching
After the app processes your captures, review the 360 image for: visible stitch lines (indicating insufficient frame overlap or rapid rotation), exposure banding (horizontal bands of different brightness — caused by auto-exposure changing between frames), ghosting of moving objects, and missing coverage areas (black patches in the image indicating uncaptured zones).
When to Reshoot
Reshoot a position if you see: obvious stitch lines across the middle of the image, blurred areas from camera movement during capture, or more than 10% of the sphere showing black patches. The most common reason for needing a reshoot is rotation speed — slowing down your rotation is the first fix to attempt. For the specific technical causes of blurry results and how to fix them, see our guide on fixing blurry 360 photos.
Conclusion: Consistent Technique Creates Professional Results
The difference between amateur and professional-looking 360 photos from a smartphone is almost entirely down to consistent technique: stable tripod positioning, controlled rotation speed, correct camera settings (locked exposure, no HDR), and appropriate lighting preparation. The phone's camera hardware is rarely the limiting factor.
Master these fundamentals and your first session will produce results that are genuinely competitive with dedicated 360 cameras costing hundreds of pounds. More importantly, they'll produce virtual tours that convert viewers into customers and stand out from the low-quality content that most businesses currently deploy.
