A spherical panorama is a great to capture a beautiful environment. On a recent trip to Europe I took along equipment necessary to shoot spherical panoramas, which included a better Nikon camera with a 10.5 mm fish-eye lens. This article gives a short summary of some of our adventures and a little more information about the Kingdom of the Netherlands or Nederland, the country we visited for about a week or 2.

Just recently my wife and I visited the Netherlands and traveled to places of all kinds, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, some of the major cities located in Holland. Since we visited these places during the day, lighting conditions were not the best at time to shoot a spherical panorama. However, architecture of all kinds made up for the quality of light at times.

To those unfamiliar with the Netherlands, the country is located on the west side of Europe and borders Germany to the east. Known for its windmills and “dodgy girls,” Holland’s landscape is stunning and very much worthy of all kinds of photography, including the shooting of a spherical panorama. Those that are into cycling will very much enjoy this territory, as steep elevations are nowhere to be found.

We stayed and traveled through Holland for a period of about 2 weeks. One of my favorite constructions we visited was the Old Church in the city of Delft, not too far from Rotterdam. The Old Church is literal translation of the Dutch name Oude Kerk, the official name of the church. The church’s tower reaches an altitude of 200 plus feet and is located near a church called the New Church, only located a few 100 yards from the Oude Kerk.

Delft is located in between to bigger cities: Rotterdam and The Hague. The Hague is home to the Dutch government and the International Court. Further north one will find the city of Leiden, which is also located in the Dutch province of South Holland, in Dutch “Zuid-Holland.” Interestingly, the city of Delft was home to famous painter Vermeer, who was buried inside the Old Church. I shot spherical panoramas throughout the city and look forward to publishing these soon.

Travel time from the United States to Western Europe ranges from 8 to 24 hours, dependent on what one’s itinerary looks like. Average travel times are about 14-18 hours in terms of air travel and layovers. Make sure to sit the day out till nighttime before going to bed as to beat jet lag effectively.

Traveling for the purpose of shooting a spherical panorama can add a dimension of excitement. Since Europe has so much interesting architecture and scenery to offer, make to sure to visit even the smallest places on the map as they offer wonderful and unique culture at times not found in the larger cities.

3D-Exposure.com is the Internet’s best site for spherical panoramas of locations around the globe.