What lens to shoot an indoor mural?

[Dr. G]

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A friend of mine asked me to photograph a mural they have on all four walls of their living room before they move.  I've never done anything like this before.  Two things concern me.  The first is whether I should try to use a wider lens and take one photo of each wall, or should I use a longer lens and stitch multiple shots together?

I was going to try to get creative an do a panorama style consinuous image, but how do I address the corners?   Is there a way to photograph the corners so that if I stitch it together it won't look off?The mural is a continuous scene that literally wraps around the entire room.

The lenses I have are the APO Summicron-SLs (21, 35, 50 and 85).  I'm thinking having the camera perfectly parallel to the wall is imperative here. 

Edited April 4, 2024 by Dr. G

[mokona]

Probably with a panoramic head for 360° virtual tours

[Dr. G]

The problem is my working distance.  It's in a residential space, so the room is relatively small.  The room is about 3m x 5m.  I think stitching may be the best way to go.  How would I stitch the areas that turn the inside corners, though?  Can it even be done seamlessly to create a long flattened image?  Although not the room I'm using, this is how the mural is layed out in theirroom (on all four walls)

 

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[jankap]

I would take the 21mm. Then taking 5 or 6 photos from tripod. It is not necessary to take the walls perpendicular.

In Photoshop, I would choose Datei - Automatisieren - Photomerge , select all photos and see what happens.

Edited April 4, 2024 by jankap

[jankap]

The room interior is very interesting indeed.

To reach 360 degrees could be difficult, because of the table and the chairs. 

Does the 21mm lens get enough in the vertical dimension? Don't move the tripod.

I stitch very often, but this task would be a challenge.

Edited April 4, 2024 by jankap

[spydrxx]

I think I would go with a tryptich (or quadtich), ie each wall individually.

[Dr. G]

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30 minutes ago, jankap said:

The room interior is very interesting indeed.

To reach 360 degrees could be difficult, because of the table and the chairs. 

Does the 21mm lens get enough in the vertical dimension? Don't move the tripod.

I stitch very often, but this task would be a challenge.

This is not the same room - only an example.  The room will not have furniture when I take the photos, so that will help.  But I'm still curious if it's possible to get the areas in the corners to stich and flatten in the final image, and how to go about doing that.  

[frame-it]

2 hours ago, Dr. G said:

This is not the same room - only an example.  The room will not have furniture when I take the photos, so that will help.  But I'm still curious if it's possible to get the areas in the corners to stich and flatten in the final image, and how to go about doing that.  

you would have to be straight on for the corner shots, its a case of actually moving the camera + tripod to each new spot and taking pics [not staying in one place and rotating the camera], better to stay in full manual mode, manual focus , manual aperture NOT auto white balance and NOT auto ISO...use photoshop, but  PTGui will work best for stitching this kind of thing

[jankap]

vor 9 Stunden schrieb frame-it:

you would have to be straight on for the corner shots, its a case of actually moving the camera + tripod to each new spot and taking pics

No furniture ok.

That should work too. The distance to the walls should be equal for each one, then. A map of 4 walls one after the other.

[hansvons]

17 hours ago, Dr. G said:

The first is whether I should try to use a wider lens and take one photo of each wall, or should I use a longer lens and stitch multiple shots together?

 

For perfection, what @frame-it says. 
Take a soft tape and devide the murial into 4 or 6 sections. Now find the centre of each rectangular section perpendicularly. Mount a fifty on your camera, set it to f8. The exact same exposure is essential. Make sure that the distance is set to overlap the section. Remove the tape and press the shutter. Remount the tapes and move on to the next section. Stich the images in whatever does it best for you.
 

The biggest obstacle for a perfect result is the lighting. Ist will gradually fade. This can be corrected in post. Never do that in camera.

I find also very acceptable to realize that this is an indoor murial in a context. To address that I’d chose an interesting angle (eg from the floor with a 21mm) and call it a day. 

[Photoworks]

21 hours ago, Dr. G said:

This is not the same room - only an example.  The room will not have furniture when I take the photos, so that will help.  But I'm still curious if it's possible to get the areas in the corners to stich and flatten in the final image, and how to go about doing that.  

Just do 4 images and put them in the photoshoot next to each other, use the lens that covers and has the lest distortion.

[Photoworks]

If you need more the wide-angle can offer, I would use the 17 tilt-shift lens and a rogeti holder.  3 frames for each wall, 1 shift left, 2 center, 3 shift right, repeat for all walls.

 

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[Eclectic Man]

Just to support what has been stated above.  Manual exposure  the same for each wall will ensure that external light sources like windows do not adversely affect the outcome.  You could even try taking some paper to cover up windows to reduce the contrast.  Interior photography seems to be a specialist skill all by itself, but you may also want to ask how large an eventual printed image is required.