Capture 360° photos for a virtual tour

How to take the 360° photos for a tour with a 360° camera, written for a first shoot. A few habits matter more than the camera: the same height for every photo, a level camera, and a clear view from one spot to the next. They are also what AI Auto Connect needs to place and connect the photos by itself.

• A 360° camera. Any camera that takes 360° photos works, such as an Insta360 X5 or X6, a DJI Osmo 360 or a Ricoh Theta. Each photo is one panorama, twice as wide as it is tall. A phone’s panorama mode doesn’t capture a full 360° photo.
• A tripod, or a monopod with feet, so the camera stands still at the same height in every spot, with no hand in the picture.
• The camera’s phone app, to check each shot and take it from a distance. The camera’s timer works too.
• A charged battery, space on the memory card, and clean lenses: a fingerprint shows up as a haze around bright windows.

Tutorials:

• Article: Best 360 Camera for Real Estate in 2026

• Height: 1.2 to 1.5 metres (4 to 5 feet), and the same height for every photo. Moving from one photo to the next then feels like walking.
• Level: stand the tripod on flat floor and keep the camera upright. A tilted camera makes walls lean. On uneven floor or stairs, adjust the tripod’s legs until the camera is straight.
• Settings: the camera’s highest photo resolution, with exposure on Auto. Switch to HDR in rooms with large windows or strong sunlight, so the view outside isn’t burnt out.
• Photos, not video: a tour is built from 360° photos. To turn a 360° video into photos along a route, see Pano Mapper.

Tutorials:

• Article: Tips & Tricks for Capturing 360 Photos of Real Estate Properties
• Video: Create a 360 Virtual Tour with Insta360 X6 | Step-by-Step Tutorial
• Video: Create Virtual Tour with DJI Osmo 360

Walk through the space first, the way a visitor would. The places where someone would stop and look around are your spots.

• A bedroom or a bathroom usually needs one photo, a kitchen one or two, a living room two, and a large open space several.
• Take photos in hallways, in doorways and at the top and bottom of stairs. They join the rooms, so visitors can walk from one to the next.
• Keep the camera at least half a metre (2 feet) from walls and furniture, so nothing is pressed up against a lens.
• Shoot in the order you walk, room by room. The photos then come in walking order, which helps AI Auto Connect too.

1. Before the first photo, turn on the lights, open curtains, blinds and the doors between rooms, and tidy away clutter and personal items.
2. Set the camera in the spot, level, at its height.
3. Step out of sight, behind a door, round a corner or into the next room, and take the photo from the app or with the timer.
4. Wait for people, pets, curtains and doors to stop moving.
5. Check the photo in the app before moving on. A blurry or tilted photo is quicker to retake now than later.

AI Auto Connect works out where each photo was taken from what neighbouring photos have in common. These habits give it the most to work with:

• Each spot in sight of the last. From every spot, you should be able to see the spot before it. When you go into another room, take a photo in the doorway or just inside, with the door open, so both rooms are in view.
• A few steps apart. Leave about 2 to 4 metres (6 to 13 feet) between spots, three to five steps. In a large open room, up to about 5 metres (16 feet) is fine.
• Not too close. Two photos less than about 1 metre (3 feet) apart look almost the same: they add nothing for visitors, cost an AI edit each, and can get in the way of the arrows around them. Take one photo per spot, and if you retake one, keep only the better photo.
• Not too far. A spot much farther from its neighbours than the others, or with a wall in between, may stay unconnected. Never leave more than about 10 metres (33 feet) between one spot and the next.
• The same height for every photo, as above.
• Indoors. AI Auto Connect is made for indoor spaces: homes, apartments, offices, hotels and showrooms. Gardens and other outdoor areas connect less reliably, and photos taken outside rarely connect to photos taken inside, so put a garden on a floor of its own.
• Not drone photos. 360° drone photos are taken high above the ground and far apart, with mostly sky and distant ground in view, so AI Auto Connect can’t place them. Connect them on a map instead, with the Street View Arrows add-on’s On a Map mode.
• Hard places. Wall-size mirrors, glass walls and long, plain corridors give it little to recognise. Take an extra photo there, a little closer to the last spot.

Before starting AI Auto Connect, see Prepare photos for AI Auto Connect.

Tutorials:

• Article: How to Create a 3D House Tour from Insta360 X6 Photos with AI Auto Connect

1. Export the photos as 360° JPG panoramas. Insta360 cameras save .insp files: export them as JPG from Insta360 Studio or the Insta360 app, with Auto Calibrate on to level them. The DJI Osmo 360 saves JPG photos that are ready to use.
2. Optionally, remove the tripod from each photo with PanoCool Retouch.
3. In Virtual Tour Studio, create a tour and drag the photos into the Scenes tab.
4. Connect them: with AI Auto Connect in the Elements tab, after preparing the photos, or by hand with navigation hotspots.

Tutorials:

• Video: Remove a Tripod in a 360 Photo

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Last updated: October 16, 2026