Table of contents
What is 360° product photography?
360-degree product photography (also referred to as 360° photography, 360° spin, 360° packshot, or 360 spin photography) is a type of product content that allows you to capture and present products from different angles. It is mainly used in e-shops, on product pages and social media wherever you want to give more information about the product and engage your customers. It is usually made of a row of single photographs taken at even angles around the object (e.g. 10°) combined into a single view, which simulates object rotation.
Interesting fact
Do you know, that 360° product spins were introduced for the first time by Apple Inc.? In 1994 Apple introduced the Quick Time Virtual Reality technology (QTVR). Although QTVR mostly focused on 360° panoramas it also included a specification for QTVR Object Movies. Today QTVR is not used anymore for 360° degree product presentations.
Types of 360° product spin
The main purpose of 360° product photography is to provide more information about the product to consumers. Over the past years, 360° product photography evolved into more advanced variants of product presentations, which can give even more information: deep zoom 360 spins, 3D spins (multi-raw spins ), product animations and product tours. Nowadays 360° spins are usually interactive: a user can drag an object with the mouse to rotate it, but you can still find applications for non-interactive spins. Here below I will describe all the most popular types of the 360-degree product presentation:
Non-interactive 360° animations
Traditionally non-interactive product spins used GIF format. Today you can still use it in social media (especially on Twitter, Instagram) or when you need to send a spin via email. The biggest advantage of GIF animation is that the whole spin is embedded into a single image file which is widely used standard compatible with the most exotic web browsers, email clients and any other software in general. However, the list of disadvantages is quite significant:
- Low quality – a small number of colours (8-bit which transfers to 256 single colours vs 24-bit and 16M+ colours in any other format)
- Big size – GIF animations do not compress well and are quite large
- Low engagement level from the potential customer
- Less informative than interactive spin, however, brings more informative then still photography
Newer animation file formats (APNG Animated WebP) can offer better quality (APNG WebP) and lower size (WebP), but may not be compatible with all web browser versions and are still not providing any interactivity.
In most situations, it’s a better idea to use MPEG-4/H.264 video instead (using html5 video tag configured properly), which compresses a way better than GIF, matches compatibility of the GIF format, provides basic interactivity (user can rotate an object using timeline) and allows full-screen preview.
Interactive 360-degree product photography
The interactive 360° spins allow you to freely rotate the object as you drag your mouse or move your finger on the spin. More advanced 360° would also allow you to zoom into a product to see more details (Deep Zoom technology). The biggest advantage of the interactive spin is a way better product experience: you allow your customer to “play with your product” while he gets to know your product better. The disadvantage is usually a larger file size and a need to use a dedicated scrip on a website: 360° image viewer.
Multi-row 360° spin – aka 3D product photography, hemispherical/spherical product spin
Multi-raw 3D spin is a variation of the standard 360° product view technique where the product images are also taken at several vertical angles (rows). Usually, 2-3 additional rows are taken in case of hemispherical spin (you can see product 360° horizontally and 180° vertically) and 4-6 for the spherical one (full 360° view in both horizontal and vertical direction). The total number of images can be huge: 4-rows of 36 image spin result in 144 single images.
This can give more information about a product, which is shown truly from each side revealing hidden features at the top and bottom sides. The disadvantage is the complexity and cost of capturing the full 3D view, which requires proper product photography equipment (specialised software, photography turntable, 3D arm and usually multiple cameras). The size of files can be also significant and it requires a dedicated 3D spin viewer script installed on a website, which can handle a large amount of data in an efficient way. Because you cannot afford to shoot too many vertical angles the horizontal rotation is usually much smoother than the vertical one. It makes experiencing the 3D view to be jerky and feeling overall lower quality.
Double-axis 360° spin
Double, or two-axis 360° product photography is a combination of two 360° product images: one horizontal (a standard 360° spin and a vertical one. Technically it works precisely the same as 360° spin, it is, however, more tricky to capture. In most situations, using a double 360° product spin is a better option than spherical and hemispherical spins as it requires less effort to produce, the total size of the 360° product view is smaller than spherical or semispherical one.
Product animations
The virtual product tours are the ultimate way of presenting a product while using 360° product images. By combining 360° product images with packshots and videos, you can create predefined product views, hotspots to show-off the most important features of your products. Once prohibitively expensive, today you can use online tools such as Orbitvu SUN Orbittour which significantly lower the time and cost of creating one.
Virtual product tours
The virtual product tours are the ultimate way of presenting a product while using 360° product images. By combining 360° product images with packshots and videos, you can create predefined product views, hotspots to show-off the most important features of your products. Once prohibitively expensive, today you can use online tools such as Orbitvu SUN Orbittour which significantly lower the time and cost of creating one.
Video animations
Although a different content category to a 360-degree spin, it can use the 360-degree viewer technology to display a video clip. The user can interactively play and rewind the video, stop at a given frame and zoom in for details, which is not easy with typical video files. Animations made from videos usually have a large number of images (frames) and require a specialised viewer (e.g. Orbitvu Viewer), which is capable of dynamic on-demand loading of the individual frames. This allows you to quickly show the preview and load images on-demand only when the user interacts with the image. Used more commonly in fashion, for interactive on-model pictures. Its big advantage is the possibility to present how apparel interacts with a human model. The online consumer can get a better understanding of material texture and its dynamics: how it bends, creases and acts with air. As a result, the customer’s brain can visualise the material as if he was touching the product.
Benefits of using 360° photography in an e-shop
360° product views can reduce the gap between the online and brick-and-mortar product experience where you can look around, touch and feel the product. Benefits of having such rich content on a website can be significant:
- better informed clients – having products shot in 360° view can add a significant amount of information to a product: it not only shows hidden product features but gives more information about product shape and material it was made from
- more buying confidence – as a result customers can experience products online closer to reality and they will make more aware buying decisions
- fewer returns – more confidence of buying a product is less chance to return it – it means happy and returning customers and fewer operational costs for your business
- fewer questions asked – because “the image is worth 1000 words”. You never know what detail your client needs to know about your product. Supplying quality product images, 360° packshots or virtual product tours can reduce the number of questions asked
- staying competitive – a good product experience is part of your overall website user experience. It’s one of the key factors to differentiate yourself from the competition.
When my products should be shot in 360° view?
Although 360° spins are very beneficial not every product will benefit from it and justify added costs of 360° content production. Moreover, there are even fewer products that will really benefit from full hemispherical or spherical product view. The question you have to ask yourself is: “will it benefit my customers? “. Not every product shot in 360° view will add more information. Imagine a mouse pad or any similar flat item – the 360° view is not adding anything. Two or three packshots can provide the same or more information.
On the contrary, most of the 3-dimensional products will benefit from 360° view, however, you need to consider whether it’s really worth the effort, if and what kind of additional information you can provide. To help you out I divided the information into several categories:
Shape visualisation
The most obvious application of 360° spin is to better show the shape of a product. A few still shots may not be enough to give a good idea on product shape. Almost any three-dimensional product would benefit from it. Some products, such as extremely technical products (e.g. complicated spare parts, electronics, tools, sports goods) would benefit from double-axis or hemispherical and spherical spins.
Material feeling
Online buyers cannot touch the product, but they can recall the tactile feeling of a similar product and 360 photos and video animations can help a lot. Especially important for stylish fashion products, where material structure, touch and feel are important and there is no way to touch product over distance. Product categories include watches, bags, shoes, accessories and apparel, but also some furniture, electronics, etc. Light playing on a product being rotated 360 degrees will reflect, create shadows and highlights revealing material structure. Our human brain will do the rest of the job – it will bring back memories of similar products touched in the past and bring back the touch sensation as if we were touching the product physically.
Product features
All complex technical products, such as electronics, tools, home appliances, sports goods will benefit from a single-row 360° view, but it is worth considering to use a virtual product tour. You can highlight features you want, guide the user over the product and allow him to discover the product by himself.
On the other end spare parts, electronic and electrical components can have hidden features you would not think to photograph in a still shot – e.g. a small switch hidden in the back. Without this information, a technician making a repair and having a part in his hand has to call your e-shop to verify if the switch is there. As a rule of thumb, in the case of more complex spare parts and components, it’s a good idea to photograph all products in 360° view.
How to capture products in 360-degree view?
| Feature | Traditional photo studio | Automated photo studio |
|---|---|---|
| Flexibility | Great | Limited |
| Efficiency | Moderate | High |
| Required operator skills | Advanced to Expert | Junior to Medium |
| Scalability | Limited | Great |
| Output quality | Very good - Excellent | Good - Very good |
| Per image cost | Higher | Lower |
| Cables | A lot | Much less |
Example: 360° spin of a Dewalt tool
In-house 3D product photography studio (spherical/hemispherical)
Regardless of the technology, 3D photography adds a higher level of complexity (and cost) to single-row 360° spins. 3D images not only take longer to produce, but they also require more product preparation and more camera setup. To be efficient, you need a special multiple camera rig (commonly for 4-5 cameras) precisely distributed at different vertical angles. You also need a product that will justify the extra costs. In many situations, a 360° spin and several still images do the job better than a 3D spin, which also takes much longer to load.
360° product photography equipment
Usually, a 3D gear is an add-on to a 360° turntable. You can choose between a robotic arm or a multi-camera 3D rig. If you make a decision to go for 3D photography, you will need equipment that will be efficient. 3D robotic arms look cool but they take much more time to capture a typical 3D spin. Capturing 36 images in 5 rows (180 images) using five cameras, is much faster than using just one.
You need more cameras – for consistency it should be the same brand and model. As for now, only Canon supports multiple cameras to be controlled within one system. Unless your 3D rig has a built-in USB hub, make sure to buy one otherwise you will end up with a countless mess of cables.
You need proper software capable of 3D spins post-production and publishing. Usually, 3D rig manufacturers (which also provide 360° turntables) would supply proper software.
Before choosing 3D photography equipment it is a good practice to make some real-life tests: choosing a few common samples and testing the efficiency of the 3D capture process. Then make a decision if the result is worth the effort.
Summary
360-degree product photography can be highly beneficial but come at a cost. Based on your volumes and budget you can design a cost-efficient 360° creation workflow whether outsourced or made in-house. 360° spins add more information to your product, reduce the gap between brick-and-mortar and online and bring your customers closer to your products and your business.
Tomasz Bochenek
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