This Kihei vacation rental was one of the properties I shot for alohavacationproperties.com back in May. I just ran across the virtual tour as I was cleaning some hard drive space, and I realized how much I enjoyed how the panorama came out.
If you are ever considering visiting Maui, specifically Kihei, tell Johnny at alohavacationproperties.com that Eli sent you 
Click on the picture to see the fullscreen Panorama:
I took these panoramas a month ago, but finally got to putting them up today.
I had a client in Noe Valley cancel at the last minutes. I was in the neighborhood (of Twin Peaks) with all my gear, so I figured … might as well capture something.
As I was pulling out my gear, I didn’t receive the normal looks from the crowd. It was like they didn’t notice (or care), which is a good thing - so I can capture people doing their thing, rather than looking like a deer in headlights at my camera 
And then I noticed … no one was speaking English. Most of what I heard sounded like French, Italian, and Spanish. I know San Francisco has weathered this economy because of tourism, and the value of the Euro. If you were with me on at Twin Peaks that day - you’d agree, that we indeed have attracted a wide variety of European tourists. I’m grateful that San Francisco is such an attraction, and such a beautiful place to live.
Click on the picture to see the fullscreen Panorama:
I created this HDR image of the San Francisco Giants AT&T Park with a 5 bracket using my D200 and 55-200 mm lens. This can be used as wall paper if you like it
Jeff Greathouse and Rich Bacchi own Gorilla Barbecue - an outstanding Barbecue joint here in Pacifica right off of Hwy 1 (www.gorillabbq.com) . I always see people lined up at the door, and what a unique door it is. Their restaurant is an old Caboose that houses a $26,000 smoker. These two LONG time Pacifica residents took the leap, and it’s exciting to see that they are still thriving.
I decided to stop in today and see if the owners would like a virtual tour. Of course I love to make money from my tours, but when it comes to supporting fellow Pacifican’s - it’s not about the money, it’s about the Karma. So I told Jeff that I wanted to create a virtual tour for my blog - and I shared my master plan for building virtualpacifica.com by Summer 09. I’m hoping to have a large amount of Pacifica Businesses sign up for a yearly subcription to have their tours hosted on Virtual Pacifica (along with Pacifica’s historical, scenic, and recreations spots). My catch is going to be a very low initial cost (around $40) and a low yearly cost (around $50). That way if a business does not like having the added exposure, they can cancel, and not even have to worry about paying my normal business virtual tour rates which range from 125-250/tour.
After I completed the tour I ordered a smoked pulled pork sandwich with zucchini. It was an amazing sandwich, and the zucchini rocked!
… and the best part … Jeff said it was on the house. See - I told you … Karma
Click on the picture to see the fullscreen Panorama:
My wife Tamara, son Shane, and I love to attend Farmers Markets. The fruits and vegetables not only taste about 5 times better than any super market, they last about 2-3 times as long too (except strawberries - we lose those quick no matter what). We used to drive to South San Francisco and Daly City for their Farmers Markets until last year when Pacifica opened it’s own Farmers Market.
Our love for the once-a-week venues started when we lived in Eugene Oregon back in 2000. That’s when we noticed that it’s about more than the super fresh fruit and veggies. It’s all about getting out of your rat race schedule to meet people who actually grow the food and create the art and unique products. In addition, there’s usually that chance you see a neighbor, a past friend, or a new individual who catches your eye because of the smile on their face or attempt to communicate.
I’ve been wanting to capture the Pacifica Farmers Market for a while now with a virtual tour. So I met my wife and three year old son today at 4 with all my gear set up right in the middle of the market. It’s tricky business to create virtual tours with so many moving people (a good amount of post editing), and there are some “ghosts” due to the moving people but ultimately I’m pretty happy with the panorama. The color seems a bit off, but I’m too lazy at this point to color correct. I’ll save that for another day … I always have my raw files to go back to
Oh yeah. How can I not take a panoramic of Rocakaway beach, when my equipment is all set up (and it’s so beautiful). So I have a Farmers Market and Rocakaway Beach Virtual tour.
Click on the picture to see the fullscreen Panorama:
I was fortunate to land a project with the new hotel in Princeton Harbor, Oceano Half Moon Bay. The staff who I’ve been able to work with (the Owner and Sales Director) have been wonderful to me. The establishment is very elegant and has a great feel to it. I was able to see most of their rooms, and I was impressed with what I saw.
So after one of my shoots I thought it would be great to catch the street view in between Barbara’s Fishtrap and the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. Hopefully I can get their business as well in the future
Click on the picture to see the fullscreen Panorama:
I was looking at our website Google Analytics statistics the other day and was blown away by a statistic I uncovered. It seems that a large percentage of our website traffic in the last month came from people watching our video tutorials. Even though we have a web-based tool that is very intuitive, it’s great to have that step-by-step video of how it’s supposed to be used so that anyone can learn quicker than trial by fire.
I thought about it more and realized it doesn’t only apply to software companies needing to record tutorials with screen shot flows. If you don’t think your business lends itself to adding interactive videos on your site think again! In addition to our video tutorials, we publish other videos as well. PLUS, it’s easier than EVER to take one. These days you don’t need any high-powered video camera to look like a pro.
Last year the IAB reported that 50% of the US population will watch video online this year alone and they’re most likely the same people that are buying your products or services.
Step 1: So, What Should You Take a Video Of?
Restaurants - You can give a 360 degree virtual tour of your place or film a video of your chef making one of your most popular dishes.
Real Estate Agents/Hotel Operators - Host a 360 degree virtual tour of the property or specific rooms.
Software Companies - Stop being afraid of the competition getting “access” to your software. If they really want it they will surely find a way to see it. For the mac check out what we use, ScreenFlow ($100). but there is also SnapzPro ($69), and iShowU ($20). In our opinion, the higher the price the higher the quality. Take a look for yourself. For PC’s check out Captivate ($600)and Camtasia ($299).
Manufacturers, Designers - Take a video of your work, how something is made or a story of how a customer uses your products.
Non-Profit Organizations - Take a video of those who benefit from contributions and how it has helped them achieve!
And any business can take videos of your customers talking about your products or services!
Resource: How to take great videos - VideoMaker , Wonder How To, CNET.
Step 2: Get It Out of The Camera and Onto The Web!
The next step is to transfer the video first to your computer, then to your website or YouTube. YouTube let’s you have about a 10 minute video so it’s plenty.
Resource: How to transfer your video to your computer - Google, Rick Says, Expert Village.
Resource: How to transfer from your computer to YouTube - YouTube Help.
Once it’s hosted on YouTube you’ll need to add your keywords so you can be found when someone searches on them. Then you can link to it from your site and you don’t have to host it at all!
Still scared to take a video? Try out the Flip Camera, it’s about $129 and it plugs directly into your computer so you can immediately upload your video to YouTube. Still afraid? Check out Animoto it’s fun! You simply upload still photos and pick a song. They put it together in minutes!
Don’t forget to tell the world about your video. A best practice is to include links in your email marketing campaigns to your video so that all of your recipients can click to view the video!
Anyone have good video stories to tell?
http://blog.verticalresponse.com/verticalresponse_blog/2008/06/website-tutoria.html
The future of Panoramic Imaging is looking bright. Check out this video created with full 360 capabilities, make sure to drag inside of the movie the get the full experience.
PRESS THE PLAY BUTTON - GO AHEAD … DO IT … IT’S WORTH YOUR 2 MINUTES OF TIME!!!
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