ON LOCATION SHOOT SUPER-SHARP PANORAMAS

Max out your pixel count by shooting scenes in vertical segments to merge into a big pano

01 CHOOSE YOUR SCENE

The most important consideration is the type of image that you want for your wall. Colours and tones are as important as the subject, so think about what kind of mood you want in the room. Natural landscape with recurring colours and shapes, like our bluebell forest scene, can work well.

02 USE A TRIPOD

Any camera shake will be noticeable at large print sizes, so a tripod is essential. By using a tripod, we don’t have to worry about using slightly longer shutter speeds, so we’re free to use the lowest possible ISO for maximum quality, and narrower apertures for greater depth of field.

03 SHOOT FOR A PANORAMA

By shooting several overlapping frames for a panorama you can easily multiply your pixel count by five times or more. Shoot with the camera in a vertical orientation to maximize the detail. Capture the scene in segments, leaving about a 30% overlap between each shot.

04 SET UP THE CAMERA

Whenever we shoot for a panoramas it’s crucial to keep the exposure consistent, ensuring that frames stitch together seamlessly. So we set our Canon camera to Manual mode at aperture f/16, 1/8 sec and ISO100. We also set image quality to Raw for maximum colour information.

05 CHECK THE LIGHT

If you plan to shoot an outdoor scene then try going out when there is cloud cover or later in the day, so that the natural light is softer and more directional. Hard sunlight will lead to greater contrast, which can look too busy in wall murals, while softer light leads to more muted, gentle tones.

06 USE A SHARP LENS

Prime lenses tend to be sharper than zooms, but zooms are fine if you use a mid range focal length. Try using an aperture that is at or near the lens’ sweet spot – the point at which it is sharpest. That’s usually two or three stops below the max aperture in the range of f/8 to f/16.