Bill was
the first to post this link, but it's shown up a few times:
http://shiagenin.michikusa.jp/haikeigazou.htmlWhat's interesting is that some of the images (maybe all) were widened by making a mirror-image of the end and attaching it to the original (you can see a couple of buildings with odd-looking roofs if you look closely). I think that's okay for typical backdrop use, but you may want to look closely at how those joints would line up with the layout scenery.
Also, use Flickr's advanced search to look for "Japan Mountain Panorama" with creative commons selected (otherwise you can't save the full size version). But beware, as a number of these are only 1024 pixels wide and that's not enough for a backdrop. I'd recommend 3000 pixels at a minimum for a four-foot (1.2m) backdrop, assuming you can enlarge them 2x with Photoshop Elements. See my
Making Backdrops page for some comments on resizing. I
used Perfect Resize (US$100) on my latest backdrop to enlarge it more than 2x, but working with an image that limited isn't going to get you the best results (you might be happy with a 1024-pixel image enlarged 6x, but probably not).
Ideally, from a 4' viewing distance, you need 150 pixels-per-inch (60 pixels-per-cm) for "photographic" quality (that's after any enlarging). You can get by with less since the backdrop isn't what people are mainly looking at, but it's going to get problematic fairly quickly.
Panoramas usually don't contain the EXIF metadata that says what camera was used. If you can find out, images from a DSLR are going to be better sources than those from a point-and-shoot or camera-equipped phone (due to lens quality, mainly).
Either way, cut out some small sections and print them at full size on an inkjet or photo printer as tests before paying for a full-size print. I did this with 4x6 inch (100 x 150 mm) prints on my latest project, and what you see on paper at arms-length is very different from what you seen in pixels on a screen.
