By I started a tradition a few years ago when I would go to conferences or meetup groups and take a selfie using my 360 degree camera. Until now these have only been visible via visiting my Facebook page and scrolling around to find them. Since I’ve collected so many fun shots over the years I thought I would share them here. I have more photos than these on my camera roll, and if I upload them in the future I’ll update this page and post updates on my social media.
How to take a 360 degree selfie
You just need a few things to take a 360 degree selfie.
- Get a Ricoh Theta S camera. You can find these on Amazon for around $250 to $300.
- A selfie stick with a camera mount. You shouldn’t pay more than $5 to $15 for a decent one.
- The Theta S smartphone app and a compatible smartphone (iphone / android).
- A space with plenty of good lighting. The Ricoh Theta S doesn’t have an internal or external light source and doesn’t work as well in low lighting. Some of these selfies were shot indoors with minimal incandescent lighting and still didn’t come out great. This camera works best outdoors, in the open, during the brighter parts of the day time where there is plenty of natural light.
- A place to host the photo, there’s not a lot of major websites that host 360 degree photos and videos right now. Facebook is the only major 360 degree photo host at this moment and YouTube and Facebook the top 360 degree video hosts.
- Friends that want to take a selfie with you.
Taking the Selfie
- To take the selfie you’ll want to power on the Ricoh Theta S and attach it to the end of your selfie stick.
- Then you’ll want to open the smart phone app on your iphone or android with the wifi on your phone turned off.
- The smart phone app should prompt you that it needs to connect to the wifi to connect to the Ricoh Theta S camera.
- Follow the prompts and fill in the wifi information (should be included with your camera’s documentation).
- Now tell everyone around you to come within about 3 feet of the camera and look at one of the two lenses.
- On the smart phone app there’s an icon in the bottom right hand corner that activates the photograph mode. Tap this icon.
- Once in photograph mode the Ricoh Theta S will show a live, 360 degree, view of your surroundings in the app laid out in portrait style.
- Position the camera to include everyone and then tap the big circle icon to take the photograph.
- Tell everyone to wait until a count of 2 or 3 after the camera makes its sound to ensure the picture comes out the best.
- After taking the photo the camera has to send the data to your smartphone via the wifi connection, make sure to keep them close to each other to ensure a good transfer.
- Once the message showing the transfer goes away you’ll be able to show everyone the photo in 360 degrees on your phone and then upload it to the photo host of your choice (most likely your Facebook page for the time being). Here’s a great article on the sad state of 360 degree photo hosting.
December 6th, 2016 – 360 Degree Selfie with Seth Godin and my friend Ugin Rappaport at Digital Summit Dallas
December 8th, 2016 – 360 Degree selfie with my friend and colleague Michael King at Digital Summit Dallas
June 29th, 2017 – With my friends Katy Katz and Samantha Cuellar at Rocks Digital 2017
June 29th, 2017 – Same as above but this time Katy Katz is holding the selfie stick
June 30th, 2017 – A 360 degree selfie with many of the attendees to my workshop on The Facebook Machine at Rocks Digital 2017
November 9th, 2017 – My first Pubcon 360 degree selfie with my friends Matt Siltala and Cassie Gillete (background) and other friends and talk attendees in the circle including Akvile Harlowe, Jenny Halasz, Kelsey Jones, Katy Katz, and Jake Bohall
June 30th, 2018 – A selfie with my former boss Tony Wright and his son Nate that he brought along to Rocks Digital 2018
June 30th, 2018 – This selfie was done in the hallway at the Richardson Hyatt and includes my friends and colleagues AJ Wood and Christopher Harris along with new friends from Rocks Digital 2018
June 30th, 2018 – I captured a photographer (Scott Peek) doing a photo shoot with a model (Abby Esterly)
June 30th, 2018 – The amazing Elayna Fernandez and her husband Taylor get goofy on me in this 360 degree selfie which includes their youngest daughter.
June 30th, 2018 – A quick selfie with my colleagues Laurie Shook and Lauren Parr at Rocks Digital 2018
June 30th, 2018 – My final 360 degree selfie at this event was with the closing keynote speaker John Marrone and includes Elayna Fernandez, her youngest daughter, Scott Peek, Abby Esterly, Lauren Parr, and other Rocks Digital 2018 attendees in the background after the closing keynote session.