Shooting a 360 photo that doesn't look amateur

Tripod height, lighting, hiding yourself, exposure, the things that separate a tour from a yard-sale flyer.

Chapter 3 of 1210 min read

The difference between a tour that looks professional and one that looks like a Zillow drive-by isn't the camera — it's a handful of small decisions made in the first minute on site. Tripod height, exposure, where you stand, and what time of day you shot.

Before you press the shutter

Open every interior door so viewers can see through to the next room
Turn on every light, including lamps, range hoods, and accent lighting
Open blinds and curtains — natural light always wins
Hide cables, remotes, mail, and anything that says 'someone lives here'
Toilet seats down, kitchen counters cleared, beds made
Pet bowls, litter boxes, leashes — out of frame

This is staging, and it's the highest-leverage 5 minutes you'll spend on the entire shoot. A pristine kitchen photo will convert better than a 12K image of a cluttered one.

Tripod height

Set your tripod or monopod to roughly eye level — 5'4″ to 5'8″. This matters more than you'd think:

Too low and ceilings look oppressive, countertops loom.
Too high and rooms feel like dollhouses, you see into pots on the stove.
Eye level matches what a buyer would see walking in. That's the brain shortcut you want.

Use a monopod, not a tripod

A monopod is one thin pole. You stand directly under the camera and your body is almost invisible from above. A tripod's three splayed legs end up in every shot and you'll spend hours editing them out.

Hiding yourself in the shot

A 360 camera sees everything. Including you. Three approaches, in order of preference:

1. Stand under the camera with a Bluetooth remote (best)

With a tall monopod, your head is roughly inside the camera's nadir blind spot. You appear as a small smudge directly below the camera, which Tourly automatically masks with a logo or floor patch on most setups. Click the remote, hold still, done.

2. Walk out of the room and trigger via app

Most 360 camera apps give you a 5–10 second self-timer. Set it, walk into the adjacent room, hide behind a wall. Reliable but slower — the rhythm matters when you're shooting 12 scenes in a tight window.

3. Stand still and wear neutral clothing

If the first two aren't possible, stand at the seam where the camera's two lenses meet (you can usually feel it on the body of the camera). The stitching software tries to remove you. It mostly works on solid colors. Don't wear a logo'd shirt.

Lighting that doesn't ruin the shot

Every interior has three light sources fighting each other: window light (cool blue), bulb light (warm yellow), and any LED accent strips (often neon-tinted). The camera's auto white balance picks one and the others look wrong. Two ways to handle this:

Shoot at the right time of day. Mid-morning or late afternoon gives you ambient daylight without harsh window blowouts. Avoid 11am–2pm in summer — the sun coming through south-facing windows will burn out a third of the frame.
Don't fight it, embrace it. If the listing has warm, lamp-lit living rooms, lean into that look — set the camera to "incandescent" white balance and the photos will feel cozy. Real-estate buyers respond to mood, not color accuracy.

HDR mode: usually yes, sometimes no

Most 360 cameras have an HDR mode that takes 3–5 bracketed exposures and merges them. Use it for any room with a window. Skip it for rooms with no movement — sometimes single-shot is sharper if the scene is static and well-lit.

Where in the room to put the camera

The instinct is to put the camera in the middle of the room. Resist it. Center positioning makes every wall equidistant, which feels flat and boring on playback. Better:

Off-center, toward the entrance. Put the camera roughly 1/3 of the way into the room from the doorway. The opposite wall becomes the focal point and the room reads as bigger.
Frame the best feature. If the kitchen has an island, place the camera so the island is in the foreground when the viewer first arrives. If the living room has a fireplace, center the opening view on it.
Avoid tight corners. Nothing makes a small room look smaller than a fisheye-warped corner cabinet looming at you.

Exterior shots

Two exterior scenes are usually enough: front yard from the street, and back yard from a patio if there is one. A few things specific to outdoors:

Move the camera away from cars in the driveway — they date the listing fast.
Avoid shooting directly into the sun. The lens flare in 360 cameras is brutal because the sun is always somewhere in the frame.
Cloudy days are great for exteriors — soft, even lighting, no harsh shadows.

The 60-second pre-shot checklist

Lights on, blinds open
Doors to adjacent rooms open
Counters and surfaces cleared
Camera at ~5'6″ on monopod, level
HDR enabled if the room has a window
Remote in hand, you're standing where you'll be hidden
One deep breath, then shutter

What's next

Once you've captured the photos, you need to get them off the camera in the right format. The next chapter covers exporting equirectangular JPGs from each major camera — including the Insta360-specific gotcha that catches almost everyone the first time.