Tutorial by Sarah Laursen, curator at the Middlebury College Museum of Art. Video tutorial by Sarah Briggs, Sabarsky Fellow at the Middlebury College Museum of Art, here: https://vimeo.com/400069000 Using Street View to Create a Photo Sphere

Creating a virtual tour requires the use of a smartphone. If you are uncomfortable using one, find a tech-savvy friend for this part. Note: These instructions were generated using an iPhone, and procedures might vary slightly on other phones.

Installing the App 1. On your smartphone, go to the App Store or Store and search for “Google Street View.” This is a free app. Download and install. 2. When you open the app, you will be asked for access to your location. It is up to you whether to grant access, but you will not need location enabled to complete this task.

Using the App 3. Before you begin taking pictures, make sure your smartphone camera is clean. 4. Stand in the center of the room. If it is a large room or a room partitioned by walls, you may need to take multiple photo spheres. Also be aware that you may have to shoot a couple of times to acclimate to the process and to adjust the lighting to prevent glare. 5. Touch the orange icon of a camera with a plus sign in the lower right corner. Three options will appear. Touch the orange camera icon that says “take a photo sphere.” 6. You will be asked to grant the app access to your camera. Touch “OK.”

Taking a Photo Sphere 7. When the camera is activated, there will be a circle in the middle of the screen and an orange dot. Point the camera at the orange dot, and when the dot falls within the circle, your camera will take a picture. (If you have the sound on, you will hear a clicking.) A new orange dot will then appear. We suggest taking photos in vertical courses, i.e. bottom to top, rotate slightly to one side, then top to bottom, rotate, and so on. 8. As you shoot, try to stay as close to your center point as possible. Do not stretch your arms or take steps in any direction. Try to keep the smartphone close to your head and chest. Don’t worry about capturing photos of your body—the app will automatically mask these out. 9. When you have finished the sphere, a green checkmark will appear. When you touch the green checkmark, the app will automatically begin stitching the images together. Exporting a Photo Sphere 10. When the “private” tab on the blue bar is selected, you will see all of your completed photo spheres. 11. Touch the one you want to export. This will bring you directly into the photo sphere. Using your finger to move the image, inspect the sphere and make sure it looks satisfactory. You may wish to retake it, but please remember that we are not striving for perfection.

12. Touch the screen again to bring up export and publishing options. On the lower right, you will see an icon of a square with an upward-pointing arrow. Touch the icon. You will see a notice that when the photo sphere is shared privately, it will be flattened into a 2D image. This is fine. 13. Touch “share privately,” and you will be presented with several options for exporting the flattened photo, including email, text, airdropping to a nearby computer, saving to your phone, etc. Choose whichever method will make it easiest for you to save the image.