Your Photos Are Just Waiting to Become Panoramic Photo Prints

Panoramic photos are a visually stunning way to present your images because the less-common dimensions of a panoramic photo add interest and tend to encourage the eye to move from left to right, a natural direction for the eyes to flow because it mimics our reading patterns. Despite their visual appeal, many people avoid taking panoramic photos save for on special occasions because it can be a pain to switch a camera’s settings (and to remember to switch the settings back!). However, a standard sized horizontal image can easily be turned into a panoramic photo just by cropping the top and bottom. Learn the tips and tricks of turning an ordinary horizontal photo into a panoramic so that you can create your own panoramic photo prints from your photo library in a snap.

How to Crop Ordinary Photos for Panoramic Photo Prints

Though 6"x17" and 8"x32" are two of the more common dimensions for printed panoramic photos there is no "one size fits all." This can create confusion when it comes time to create your panorama, but fortunately there are easy standards to follow. Most traditional panoramas have a ratio of 3:1. If you prefer a square look, you can use a ratio of 2:1. You can also go more rectangular once you are comfortable with cropping, especially if it’s better for the image you are using. To apply these ratios to your image:

1. Open your image in your preferred photo editing software.
2. Display the image properties and look for the pixel dimensions of your image.
3. If you are using a ratio of 3:1, there should be three pixels horizontally for each 1 pixel vertically. So, if your image is 900 pixels long, it should be 300 pixels tall for a 3:1 panorama. You can use this to guide your crop.
4. Alternatively, since you can order panoramas in nearly any dimension at Canvas Press, you can play around with manual cropping in your software program and upload your images to Canvas Press to see how they will look on a finished canvas.
5. Depending on the size of your photo and your software, you may have white space on the top and bottom from where you cropped. You can eliminate this by resizing your image, or by cropping it out during the image ordering process at Canvas Press.

Add Interest and Break One Panoramic Into Two (Or More)

One reason that panoramic photos are so attractive is the uninterrupted flow across the image. However, with the right image, you can actually increase the visual appeal of a panoramic by breaking it into two or more panoramic canvas prints displayed side by side. If you’re considering doing this, look for natural breaks in the image such as trees in order to determine where to make your starting and ending points. For the best results, each finished panoramic canvas print should be the same dimensions.

Do you have questions about creating your own panoramic photo prints? Call Canvas Press at 888.784.5553 for fast, friendly answers to all of your photo printing needs!

This article is written for Canvas Press. To find out more about Canvas Press’ products visit www.canvaspress.com.