My first in-car VR

[Spangler]

Hi,

Ive just got my Peleng 8mm fisheye and decided to experiment a bit. Its not perfect - really not but in my opinion its good as a first try. My tripod is big, so it was quite unstable in car - parallax errors. Anyway I would appreciate comments or tips how to take photos from a trippod in car.

http://spangler.cz/temp/photos/octavia_pano.mov

[Bill Bailey]

Hey Spangler.
Good attempt - watch your level.
While I'm not a pro on shooting auto interiors I can share my own experiences.
Here is an early auto interior I did myself:
http://www.circularworlds.com/2001MercedesC320.mov
I stood outside the car with remote shutter and had the camera mounted on a mini tripod. The results were ok but far from pro-level. I actually just ended up giving this one to the client.
Working in tight environments like this leads to different challenges. IMO it would be best to shoot from the drivers seat to give the same perspective as if driving the vehicle. Placing a tripod on the drivers seat is easier than setting up a tripod in the center console area. You could even do one from a back seat perspective as well. By shooting from the seat and using a smaller tripod the standard workflow would not change much. As your primary objective is to showcase the vehicles interior the exterior can draw attention away, especially if the car is sitting on in a car lot. You could get creative and add exterior mountain snowy scenes in Photoshop if showcasing a Subaru. But if you really wanted to place more emphasis on the interior try placing sheets over the windows. This will not only hide exterior distractions but also give you more of a flat light to work with. Also turn on the all the dash lights and interior lighting and bracket your shots for more of a wow factor.
Hope these little tips help
good luck
Bill

[Wide-Eyed]

If it was a big $$ job, might it be worthwhile to remove the steering wheel and build a 'rig' that would bolt on, putting the pano head right where the driver's head would have been ? ?