Answer 06 of 12
Are the nature scenes big enough for 4K and 8K delivery? – Curated Nature Scenes
Mostly yes for 4K, sometimes for 8K, and the push-in that quietly eats your headroom.
Delivery formats are smaller than people assume, and camera moves are hungrier.
The numbers
4K UHD is 3840 by 2160. DCI 4K is 4096 by 2160. 8K UHD is 7680 by 4320.
A 6000 by 4000 still is comfortably above 4K in both dimensions and below 8K in height. A 7680-pixel-wide frame covers 8K width and, at 3:2, gives 5120 pixels of height, which is above 8K's 4320.
Read the specification table on each image page. The exact numbers are there and they vary.
The crop comes first
You will crop to your delivery ratio before anything else. A 3:2 frame cropped to 16:9 keeps 75 per cent of the height; cropped to 2.39:1, about 63 per cent.
So a 6000 by 4000 frame at 2.39:1 becomes 6000 by 2510. Still well above 4K, comfortably usable, and no longer an 8K source in the vertical.
Then the move
This is the part people forget. A push-in consumes resolution continuously.
If you push 25 per cent into a shot, the final frame of the move is using 80 per cent of the width you started with. To end at 3840 pixels of usable width you need 4800 pixels before the push begins, after the aspect crop.
Work backwards from the tightest frame of the move, not the widest. Then add a little for stabilisation and reframing, because you will reframe.
Parallax needs more again
A parallax build separates planes and moves them at different rates, which means the background is enlarged relative to the foreground and any hole behind a moved element has to be filled.
Budget noticeably more source resolution for a parallax shot than for a simple push, and choose frames with atmospheric separation so the mattes are clean.
When a frame is too small
Ask before buying. Send the asset id and the finishing spec, and we will tell you whether the frame supports it. Some frames exist above the size published in the catalogue.
Upscaling is viable for a background that will sit behind titles at low contrast. It is not viable for a hero plate where the audience is looking at the terrain, because upscalers invent rock and foliage texture and that invention is exactly what the eye lands on.
Stabilisation and reframe headroom
Whatever the arithmetic says, leave a margin. Somebody will want the frame nudged, levelled or reframed after the grade, and every one of those operations costs pixels at the edge.
Ten per cent of surplus width over the tightest frame of your move is a reasonable habit. It is the difference between a five-minute reframe and rebuilding the shot from a larger source you now have to go and buy.