Matte Painting Stock Photos at Full Resolution

Match the camera height first

Many composites fail on perspective before they fail on light. So choose your source by camera height:

• From the air. The Vancouver Aerial Photography pack is sorted into folders: Islands (59 photos), Suburbs (75) and City (41). Green Mountains and Valleys has 283 photos of Hawaii, shot mostly from a helicopter at 7360 × 4912. Misty Layered Aerial Clouds (143 photos) was shot from a plane in the early morning, with long shadows across the cloud layers.
• From a rooftop. Manila Cityscape Daytime (149 photos) was shot from several rooftop viewpoints. Edinburgh Sunset Cityscape has 99 photos of buildings and rooftops at 7360 × 4912.
• Wide to close. Tokyo Aerial Cityscape combines wide views that run to the horizon with close views of the streets, so you can build a far city and a near one from the same source.

Same city, different hour

Turning a day plate into night is hard to fake. A real night version of the same skyline shows which buildings stay lit, how street lights pool and how the sky glows over the city. Several cities come in matching sets:

• Vancouver: Vancouver Cityscape (136 photos, day) and Vancouver Night Cityscape (199 photos, twilight and night).
• Manila: Manila Cityscape Daytime (149 photos) and Manila Cityscape Night Time (117 photos at sunrise, sunset, twilight and night).
• Seoul: Seoul Cityscape Sunset and Night (191 photos), with reflections in the Han River.

For more skylines, see our cityscape photos.

Skies as a separate layer

A sky often decides the mood of the whole painting, so it helps to keep a library of clean ones. Vibrant Skies and Clouds has 400 skies from Finland, cleaned of trees and power lines and sorted into Blue, Golden and Stormy folders. Most frames are 42 megapixels, and 22 panoramas go up to 20000 × 5000. Skies and Clouds, from the same photographer, adds 439 photos in four folders: Blue Sky (61), Heavy Clouds (204), Stormy Sky (95) and Sunset Sky (79). Its panoramas cover up to 180 degrees. For more, see sky replacement photos.

Mountains for the far distance

Snow Capped Mountains has 476 photos of the South Island of New Zealand in winter, shot after a period of storms, so the peaks come with heavy cloud. These are good for the last layer of a landscape matte, where haze and scale matter more than detail.

A matte painter's result

Matte painter and concept artist David Edwards used the Vancouver Aerial pack in his matte painting "City of Silence". It is a good example of a city pack used as a base and then changed into something new.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Editorial photos in a matte painting?

Yes. Editorial photos may be used for matte painting and photobashing. They can't be reproduced in advertising, promotion or products for resale, such as prints or posters. Mixed packs keep their editorial photos in a separate Editorial folder, so you always know which frames these limits apply to.

Is the resolution high enough for a large-screen shot?

Each product page lists the resolution before you buy. Many city packs are 6000 × 4000, some are 7360 × 4912, and the sky panoramas are much wider. For a camera move across a very wide view, plan to combine several frames or use a panorama.

Do the sky photos include trees or buildings at the bottom?

In Vibrant Skies and Clouds, the photographer removed trees and power lines, so the skies are ready to drop in. In other packs, check the preview images on the product page.

Can our VFX team share one pack?

Yes, with a studio license. Small Studio covers an art team of 10 people or fewer, and Large Studio covers larger teams. See location reference for film and VFX for more on studio use.