What gigapixel photography makes possible
Most commercial photography is limited by resolution. A standard professional camera captures enough detail for a magazine spread, a website banner, or a billboard. But when a project demands something larger, more detailed, or more immersive, conventional photography reaches its limits quickly.
Gigapixel photography removes that ceiling entirely.
A gigapixel image is constructed by stitching together dozens or hundreds of individual frames into a single ultra-high-resolution file. The result can be 20, 50, or 100 times larger than a standard professional photograph. My gigapixel cityscapes have been reproduced at up to 72 metres wide, at sizes where you can still read signage and identify individual windows in buildings half a mile away.
That level of resolution opens up a range of commercial applications that simply are not possible with conventional photography.
Advertising campaigns and large-format out-of-home
Large-format outdoor advertising places extreme demands on image quality. A supersite or building wrap at 20 or 30 metres wide will expose every flaw in a standard image. Gigapixel photography delivers files large enough to reproduce at any outdoor scale without visible degradation.
I have shot gigapixel cityscapes specifically for large-format advertising use, including images displayed on the Motion@Waterloo screen at London Waterloo Station, the UK’s largest indoor advertising screen at 40 metres wide. At that scale, the image needs to hold quality across the full width while remaining sharp enough to reward close inspection.
For advertising agencies working on campaigns that require authentic, exclusive London cityscapes at large scale, a licensed gigapixel image or a bespoke commission offers something no stock library can match: genuine resolution, genuine exclusivity, and a subject shot from positions that are not publicly accessible.
Virtual production backplates for film, TV and music video
Virtual production has transformed how film, television and music video are made. LED volume stages, where photographic backplates are displayed on large curved screens behind the action, require background images of extraordinary resolution. The camera can reframe, push in, or pan across the backplate, and any loss of quality is immediately visible on screen.
Gigapixel cityscapes are ideally suited to this application. The resolution means the backplate holds quality however the camera moves, and the scale of a panoramic cityscape fills the volume convincingly.
I have shot backplates for a number of productions, including Netflix’s The Woman in Cabin 10, where my London skyline panorama appears through the windows of The Guardian’s offices early in the film, and the Sky News Westminster studio, where my cityscape forms the permanent background behind the newsreaders on the channel’s LED volume.
Productions requiring authentic London skylines, international cityscapes, or bespoke locations shot specifically for virtual production use are welcome to get in touch to discuss both licensing existing images and commissioning new ones.
Corporate installations, feature walls and large-scale exhibition graphics
A gigapixel panorama reproduced at three metres wide across a boardroom or reception wall is a fundamentally different object to a framed print. The resolution means the image rewards close inspection at any point across its width. Visitors can find detail, identify landmarks, and explore the image in a way that is simply not possible with a conventional photograph.
I have installed work of this kind across London and beyond, including a 32-metre panorama in Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal International Departures, installed as part of the airport’s £1bn transformation, and a large-scale fine art collection at 20 Fenchurch Street for specialist insurer CNA Hardy.
For architects, interior designers, and corporate clients specifying art for large spaces, gigapixel photography offers a scale and quality of detail that no other medium can deliver.
Why not use stock photography?
Stock photography cannot deliver gigapixel resolution. The files are too small, the locations are publicly accessible and therefore overused, and exclusivity is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive.
My images are not available through any stock library. They are licensed directly from the studio on a Rights Managed basis, which means genuine exclusivity is available, competitor usage can be excluded, and the resolution on offer is far beyond anything a stock library holds.
Many of the locations I have shot from are not publicly accessible. The roof of the Leadenhall Building, the upper floors of 30 St Mary Axe during restricted hours, the crane at the top of the Shard during construction: these are images that cannot be replicated, and that exclusivity has real commercial value.
Commissioning bespoke gigapixel photography
For projects where existing images don’t fit the brief, I am available for bespoke commissions. This might be a specific London viewpoint at a particular time of day, an international city, a landscape, or a specialist environment. I work with advertising agencies and brands direct, and am experienced in shooting to tight creative briefs with specific technical requirements.
If you have a brief you’d like to discuss, please get in touch.