The difference between a panorama photo and a spherical photo

The difference between a panorama photo and a spherical photo comes down to how much of the scene they capture and how they’re meant to be viewed:

Panorama Photo • Format: Wide, horizontal (sometimes vertical) image. • Coverage: Typically captures a wide field of view horizontally—anywhere from 60° to 180°, sometimes more. • Shape: Flat or slightly curved image. • Viewing: Viewed as a regular photo, either printed or on a screen. Some panoramas can be interactive, but not always. • Example: A wide shot of a mountain range or a city skyline.

Spherical Photo (also called a 360-degree photo) • Format: Full immersive image. • Coverage: Captures a full 360° horizontally and 180° vertically, covering everything around and above/below the camera. • Shape: Viewed as a sphere or globe. • Viewing: Designed to be interactive—you click, drag, or move your phone/VR headset to look around. • Example: Virtual tours where you can look in all directions from a fixed point.

Summary: • Panorama = wide slice of a scene. • Spherical = complete bubble around the camera.

Want examples or tips on how to shoot either one?

Gigapan photography

Gigapan photography is a technique used to capture ultra-high-resolution panoramic images by stitching together multiple photographs taken in a grid-like pattern. The result is a massive image with extreme detail that allows viewers to zoom in and explore fine details that wouldn’t be visible in a standard photograph.

How It Works: 1. Capturing the Images – A robotic camera mount (such as a GigaPan unit) is often used to systematically take overlapping photos, ensuring complete coverage of the scene. 2. Stitching the Photos – Specialized software aligns and merges the images into a single seamless panoramic image. 3. Viewing and Sharing – The final gigapixel image can be viewed using interactive online platforms that allow zooming and panning, similar to Google Earth’s interface.

Applications: • Landscape and Cityscape Photography – Capturing vast and detailed scenes. • Journalism and Sports – Allows viewers to zoom in and find themselves in crowd shots. • Scientific and Research Uses – Documenting details of artifacts, paintings, or geological formations.

It’s a powerful technique for creating immersive and detailed visual experiences. Let me know if you want a specific example!

Spherical photography, often associated with 360-degree imaging

Spherical photography, often associated with 360-degree imaging, employs various projection types to represent a three-dimensional scene on a two-dimensional surface. Here are the main projection types commonly used in spherical photography:

  1. Equirectangular Projection Description**: This is the most commonly used projection in spherical photography. It maps the sphere onto a rectangle, where the horizontal axis represents longitude and the vertical axis represents latitude. Use Cases**: Often used for 360-degree panoramas. It allows for easy manipulation and is compatible with many virtual reality platforms. Characteristics**: Distortion increases towards the poles, making it less ideal for viewing at those areas, but it preserves the relationships between points.

  2. Cubemap Projection Description**: This projection maps the sphere onto the six faces of a cube. Each face corresponds to one of the cube's six sides. Use Cases**: Common in real-time rendering and gaming environments, as it allows for efficient texture mapping. Characteristics**: Provides less distortion at the edges compared to equirectangular projection, as each face of the cube can be processed individually.

  3. Fisheye Projection Description**: This projection uses a fisheye lens to capture a wide field of view, typically 180 degrees or more. The resulting image has a characteristic bulbous distortion. Use Cases**: Popular in artistic photography and certain types of VR applications where a dramatic perspective is desired. Characteristics**: Provides a very wide view but can significantly distort straight lines, especially near the edges.

  4. Orthographic Projection Description**: This projection depicts a three-dimensional object as viewed from an infinite distance, where the rays are parallel rather than converging. Use Cases**: Often used in technical drawings and maps; less common in immersive photography but can be useful for certain types of visualizations. Characteristics**: Maintains size and shape relationships but does not provide a sense of depth.

  5. Stereographic Projection Description**: This projection maps points on a sphere to a plane from a point on the sphere (usually from the opposite side of the sphere). Use Cases**: Useful in certain artistic and scientific applications where perspective and symmetry are important. Characteristics**: Preserves angles and shapes locally, making it useful for certain types of analysis.

  6. Perspective Projection Description**: This approach mimics the way human eyes see the world, converging lines to a vanishing point. Use Cases**: Often used in architectural visualization and virtual reality to create immersive experiences. Characteristics**: Provides a realistic sense of depth and space but can distort the proportions of objects based on their distance from the viewer.

Summary Each projection type has its unique advantages and applications, depending on the intended use, whether for artistic expression, realistic visualization, or technical analysis. Understanding these projections is essential for effectively capturing and displaying spherical images in various contexts.

Expanded Guide on Errors in Panorama & Spherical Photography and How to Fix Them

Creating seamless panorama or spherical (360°) images requires precision, but several errors can occur during shooting and stitching. Below is a detailed breakdown of common mistakes, their causes, symptoms, and how to avoid or fix them.

  1. Parallax Errors – The Most Common Mistake

What is it?

Parallax occurs when nearby objects shift relative to the background as the camera rotates. This happens when the camera is not rotated around the nodal point (entrance pupil) of the lens.

Symptoms: • Nearby objects appear misaligned or shifted in stitched images. • Stitching software fails to properly blend overlapping areas. • Obvious seams where images should merge smoothly.

Causes: • Not using a panoramic head (rotating from the tripod base instead of the nodal point). • Handheld shooting without proper stabilization. • Incorrect nodal point setting on the panoramic tripod head.

How to Fix:

✅ Use a panoramic head (e.g., Really Right Stuff PG-01, Nodal Ninja) that allows forward-backward adjustment to align with the nodal point. ✅ Manually find the nodal point: Align two vertical objects (one close, one far), then adjust the camera until there is no relative movement when rotating. ✅ Shoot from the same fixed position without lateral movement.

  1. Uneven Exposure Across Frames

What is it?

Each image in the panorama has a different brightness due to changing light conditions, causing visible bands or brightness shifts after stitching.

Symptoms: • Bright or dark bands between stitched images. • Uneven lighting across the final panorama. • Color inconsistencies (one part too warm, another too cool).

Causes: • Auto Exposure (Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or Auto ISO) is enabled. • Shifting light conditions (e.g., shooting at sunrise/sunset, indoors with mixed lighting). • White balance (AWB) changes between shots.

How to Fix:

✅ Use Manual Mode (M): Set a fixed ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. ✅ Enable exposure bracketing (AEB) in high-dynamic range scenes and merge HDR before stitching. ✅ Lock White Balance (choose Daylight, Cloudy, or Custom WB instead of Auto).

  1. Blurry or Soft Images

Symptoms: • Some areas appear sharp, while others are blurry. • Ghosting or double images in stitched results. • Poor detail in the final panorama.

Causes: • Camera shake from an unstable tripod or handheld shooting. • Incorrect focus settings (inconsistent focus across frames). • Too slow shutter speed, especially in low light.

How to Fix:

✅ Use a sturdy tripod & remote shutter release to eliminate camera shake. ✅ Use manual focus (MF) and pre-focus at the hyperfocal distance for sharpness across all frames. ✅ Increase shutter speed or use a higher ISO if shooting handheld.

  1. Horizon Tilt or Curved Horizon

Symptoms: • The horizon appears tilted or curved unnaturally across the panorama. • Buildings and vertical objects appear distorted.

Causes: • Tripod is not level before shooting. • Slight tilting while panning the camera. • Incorrect projection setting when stitching.

How to Fix:

✅ Use a leveling base (e.g., Really Right Stuff TA-2U) to level the tripod before shooting. ✅ Enable a virtual horizon (electronic level) in-camera (Nikon Z8 has this feature). ✅ Correct perspective distortions in post-processing (Lightroom Transform, Photoshop Warp Tool, or PTGui).

  1. Poor Overlap Between Frames

Symptoms: • Stitching software struggles to align images. • Gaps or breaks in the panorama. • Visible edges or seams.

Causes: • Not enough overlap between images. • Inconsistent spacing between shots.

How to Fix:

✅ Ensure 30-50% overlap between frames (wider lenses need more overlap). ✅ Use degree markings on a panoramic head to rotate consistently. ✅ For spherical panoramas, use a grid pattern (multi-row capture) to ensure full coverage.

  1. Lens Distortion and Vignetting

Symptoms: • Straight lines appear curved. • Edges of images appear darker than the center.

Causes: • Wide-angle lenses cause barrel distortion. • Vignetting from shooting at wide apertures. • Using a fisheye lens without correction.

How to Fix:

✅ Enable lens correction profiles in Lightroom or PTGui. ✅ Use a mid-range aperture (f/8 - f/11) to reduce vignetting. ✅ Avoid extreme wide-angle lenses unless distortion correction is planned.

  1. Ghosting & Moving Objects

Symptoms: • Objects appear multiple times (people, cars, clouds, water). • Motion blur in stitched areas.

Causes: • Objects moved between frames. • Long exposure times causing motion blur.

How to Fix:

✅ Shoot quickly to minimize movement between frames. ✅ Use Photoshop’s “Auto-Align & Blend” to remove ghosting. ✅ Use a faster shutter speed to freeze motion.

  1. Color Shifts & White Balance Inconsistencies

Symptoms: • One side of the panorama looks warmer or cooler than the other.

Causes: • Auto White Balance (AWB) varies between shots.

How to Fix:

✅ Manually set White Balance (WB) to a fixed value. ✅ Apply the same WB setting to all images before stitching.

  1. Overshooting Too Many Images

Symptoms: • Stitching takes excessive time. • Large file sizes slow down editing.

Causes: • Taking more images than necessary.

How to Fix:

✅ Plan your panorama before shooting. ✅ Use only the number of frames required for seamless stitching.

  1. Incorrect Projection Type in Stitching

Symptoms: • Panorama looks stretched or distorted.

Causes: • Using the wrong projection mode in stitching software.

How to Fix:

✅ Choose the right projection: • Cylindrical projection → for wide panoramas without extreme distortion. • Spherical projection → for full 360° images. • Mercator projection → useful for ultra-wide scenes.

Final Thoughts

By understanding these common errors and applying the correct techniques, you’ll be able to capture and stitch flawless panoramas and spherical images.

The Power of Photography in Real Estate

In today’s market, first impressions are everything—and they almost always begin online. High-quality photography isn’t just a nice touch; it’s a proven way to attract more buyers, generate stronger interest, and sell homes faster and for more money.

At Vorlago Media LLC, we use professional-grade cameras, wide-angle lenses, and advanced editing techniques to highlight each property’s best features. From bright, spacious interiors to stunning exterior shots—even aerial drone photography when needed—our visuals are designed to tell a story and capture attention.

Buyers don’t just want to see a home—they want to feel what it’s like to live there. Through beautifully crafted images, we create that emotional connection. Our photography helps listings stand out, turn clicks into showings, and showings into offers.

When it comes to selling your home, details matter. Let us make sure your property shines in its best light.