Shoot super-sharp panos

MAXIMIZE YOUR PIXEL COUNT BY SHOOTING SCENES IN VERTICAL SEGMENTS

Choose your subject

The most important consideration is the type of image you want for your wall. Colours and tones are as important as subject matter, so think about what kind of mood you want the room to have. Natural scenes with recurring colours and shapes, like the bluebells here, tend to work well.

Set up the camera

Whenever we shoot for a panorama it’s important to keep the exposure consistent throughout, so that the frames stitch together seamlessly. This means a manual exposure is ideal. We set the camera to Manual mode at 1/8 sec, f/16, ISO100. We also set image quality to Raw for maximum colour information.

Use a tripod

Any camera shake will be noticeable at large print sizes, so a tripod will help to keep shake to a minimum. 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.

Check the light

If you plan to shoot an outdoor scene like this 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.

Shoot for a panorama

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

Use a sharp lens

Use your sharpest lens. Prime lenses tend to be sharper than zooms, but zooms are acceptable if you use a mid-range focal length. Try to use an aperture that is at or near the lens’s sweet spot (the point at which it is sharpest), usually two or three stops below the maximum aperture in the range of f/5.6 to f/8.