I use 2 methods to take 360 degree photographs. I either: 1) Use a full ‘sphere’ camera to produce 360°x180° images, or 2) Take a sequence of images to produce a 360° view. Depending on context, this may or may not be x180° (all the way up and down as well as all the way round).
Below I show a couple of examples, one by each method:
Nearscape Panoramas:
The houseplant Nearscape (below) is based on a single full 360 degree panorama taken with a compact camera on a home-made panorama mount. The image was stitched from 14 separate photos:
This indoor view of a conservatory (below) is a single full sphere (360×180 degree) panorama was taken with a basic ‘sphere’ camera that takes the full panorama in one go. This means you can view up and down as well as side to side.