360° Virtual Tour production for Boats, Yachts, Ferries and Cruise Ships

Creating a 360° Virtual Tour for Harwich Harbour Ferry called for some creative thinking and a unique approach to shooting.  The Ferry provides service links the three areas of the Shotley Penninsula, with incredible views during the journey.

Most 360° Virtual Tour shoots are quite straight forward. Usually, the subject matter isn’t moving, so beyond assessing the conditions, there isn’t too much of concern. This shoot, however, was very unique, as captured part of the 360° Virtual Tour onboard, so that customers can see what the ferry is like.

A 360 tour capture for Google requires a minimum of 12 different images that are stitched together from multiple angles. On a boat that is continuously rocking in the water, this means that the horizon is shifting up and down in every single shot, which makes seamless stitching technically impossible. We have two items of reference in the shots. The boat and the exterior background. This required double editing by hand, once for the boat shots that ignored the background and once for the background shots ignoring the foreground boat. These two final frames are then composited together to create the final tour, where neither section has stitching errors due to movement. Possibly our most challenging shoot to date!

The results, however, are stunning and capture the Ferry in its three boarding locations at Harwich, Felixstowe and Shotley.

Find out more about the Ferry and operating times at their website.

Project Details