Why 360-degree cameras have become 2016’s must-have travel accessories
Put away your selfie stick and forget about virtual reality; why 360-degree shooting is this year’s hottest trend
Travel photographers and videographers are going crazy about 360-degree photos and video that let you look in any direction. Cameras and phones capable of shooting in 360 degrees are everywhere, Facebook now supports 360-degree uploads, and YouTube is promising live 360-degree streaming video with “spatial audio” from music concerts. Have travellers, photographers and TV producers found a new way to tell their stories?
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Capturing real experiences
“The real value with 360-degree video is the ability to capture a real travel experience and share it with the world,” says TV producer Daniel Bury, who is filming the world’s first 360-degree virtual reality TV travel documentary called 360 Dreams (360dreams.tv).
He’s already captured hot air ballooning over Bagan, Myanmar and paragliding over the Himalayas in Nepal, though he insists 360-degree video isn’t just about “big” experiences. Bury has also captured real life, such as temporary homes in the earthquake epicentre of Gorkha, Nepal, and in Myanmar, pro-democracy revolutionaries and poets at underground political poetry readings in support of Aung San Suu Kyi, and even a funeral.
Power to the people
The wraparound images available on Google Street View are already helping travellers research destinations in ever more detail, so much so that some consider 360-degree images a potential threat to travel agents.