Knowing what is the best time to schedule a photo shoot with Google Street View | Trusted is very important. Here are some important information that will help you take that decision:

1. Unless you really want to show customers inside the virtual tour, try to choose a time when there are no or very few people. The fact that we have to blur people’s faces will leave your virtual tour with blurry spots.
2. Having customers during photo shoot will extend the time required to finish. If customers walked in front of the camera, your photos will show a “ghosting” effect which obliges us to repeat the shoot. However, if you have no choice but to have the photo shoot in your busy hours, we still can work without disrupting your business or affecting the quality of the photos. We are experienced with that. Only that it will take with us more time.
3. Another reason why we advise to have as few people as possible is that we cannot have them at all in the regular photos (still photos) and we can’t blur their faces as we can do in the 360-degree panoramic photos.
4. Regardless if it’s early in the morning, during the day or at night, our photographers are well trained to take photos in almost any lighting condition. It is important to know that night photography may take twice the time needed to finish the work since it requires special photography parameters.
5. Before making an appointment, we advise you to check the weather conditions in your area at the time of the photo shoot. We cannot take the exterior shots during rain, snow fall or heavy wind conditions. In case the unforeseen event of such weather conditions, we will coordinate with you on a difference date to continue with the exterior shots. You can also schedule your photo shoot following the periodic cleaning of your business.

We want you to have the perfect virtual experience and being well prepared for the photography session is another key factor to make this happen. Here are some important information that will help you getting ready for our visit:

1. It goes without saying that it will be a good idea to clean and tidy things up prior to the photography session, but remember that the aim of the photographs is to show customers what they would expect to see if they visited your business on a normal day.
2. Majority of customers enjoy our presence and like the idea of “being on Google”, but it is important to advise them before proceeding. You may want to notify your customers ahead of time by posting the following text at the entrance of your business: “Dear Customer, we are having a virtual tour done by Google today. Please note that, if appearing in the photos, your face will be blurred. Thank you for understanding.”
3. It will be also a good idea to notify your staff and ask them to avoid passing in front of the camera. The best scenario is to designate an experienced member of your staff to coordinate and help the photographer along the way.
4. If you intend to have Commercial Photographs taken, it will be a good idea to discuss it with the photographer before the photo shoot in order to agree on proper lighting and set up preparations. In cases of food photography for example, you might need to brief the chef to prepare the select dishes for the photo shoot.

Knowing where the photos will be taken can help you plan your business to be ready for the photo shoot. Here is what to expect:

1. Knowing that 360-degree panoramic photos can reveal everything inside your business from the location they are taken, the best way to describe the virtual tour walkthrough is to stand in the location that you want your customers to be and look around, up and down. Imagine that you are taking a virtual tour inside your business and choose the area you want us to photograph. You need to know that panoramic nodes have to linked to one another from the one outside in the street to the last one inside your business.
2. You need to know that there are 3 or 4 panoramic nodes taken at the entrance of your business. These nodes will related your business to Street View if possible and will be the virtual transition from outside to the inside of your business.
3. We also take Point of Interest Photos (10 x still photos) capturing important aspects of your business that we feature on your Google+ Local profile. These photos include:

• Storefront: a wide angle view of the entire front of the business including the entrance and the business sign.
• Close-up of the business name (business sign).
• Business address (address plate or sticker).
• Hours of operation (please print this on a nice paper or poster in case you don’t have it already installed).
• Wide angle shot from the doorway looking into the business.
• Wide angle shot from the back of the business looking toward the main entrance.
• Close-up of the business card (generic business card if available – we will remove the name if you want).
• Close-up of all menu pages (only for restaurants).
• Types of Payments (e.g. stickers of major credit cards on front door or cashier).

You need to know that once we take the photographs, we need to access your Google+ Local page in order to upload and edit them. There are several situations that you need to aware of:

1. You have a Google+ page and you have access on that page (you can sign in and manage this page): In that situation, you don’t have to worry about anything.
2. You know that a Google+ Local page of your business is out there but you lost or don’t have access on that page: We can proceed with our photo shoot with no problem but you have to claim your access from Google in order to be able to manage your page in case you need to after we’re done. This process can take up to three weeks so that your ownership of that listing is verified by Google. Please let us know if that’s the case so that we guide you on how to do claim your Google+ Local page.
3. You don’t know if your business has a Google+ Local page or not: We can check that for you and let you know.
4. Your business do not have a Google+ Local page: Don’t worry, we will help you creating a new Google+ Local page at no additional charge. This process usually takes two to three weeks because your page needs to be first verified by Google before being published. We can still take the photos on the day you want, we only need to wait until your Google+ Local page is live on Google in order to upload the photos and start finalizing your virtual tour.

We will make our best to accommodate a suitable date/time that works for you and your business.

As you know, once we book a photo shoot for you, we will not be accepting any other booking at the same period from other clients. Therefore, once confirmed, your appointment will be final and will be subject to possible penalties if cancelled or changed without prior notice (with the exception of unforeseen weather conditions preventing us from taking the photos as scheduled).