If you have a large, blank wall space at home and you’re desperate to fill it with something beautiful but not too expensive, then a large canvas print is a great option - but what image should you choose for such a large, statement piece of wall art?

While you can fill the canvas with a large image of a place or a person, it can pay to take a different view on this more generously sized room decoration – just because you’ve got one big, blank canvas, that doesn’t mean that you need to use it to print just one big image. Set out to take a series of pictures and use the space to create a story.

Think in threes and create a triptych – there are many laws of threes in photography and art, so let’s use this as a starting point. While you could select 3 different pictures for printing on 3 individual canvasses, it can actually be cheaper to print them all on an extra large canvas instead – and you won’t need to put so many holes in the wall to hang them either. Some great ways of using this idea is to divide the canvas up into 3 equally sized vertical spaces, then fill each one with a related subject. Try having mum and dad in the middle, with the kids on either side, or a section each for a child if there are 3 in the family. For something a bit more interesting, try a child on each side facing towards the middle playing catch, with the middle section taken by a picture of the ball in mid-flight.

Action baby – babies are always a popular subject choice for canvas prints, so make the most of your little bundle of joy and use a large canvas to tell a story. Split a large, rectangular, horizontally orientated canvas into several sections and use it to show the baby starting on its back, then a step-by-step pictorial record of it rolling over, finishing with a big smile as it completes the trick. Or you can document the journey of a toddler as it navigates its way around using the furniture, or crawling after a colourful ball. Little ‘uns make great subjects for documentary photography because they’re always exploring and finding fun in simple things. You can even just create a ‘year in the life of’ style canvas, with a series of pictures from newborn up top their 1st birthday.

Through the years – you can also fill a large canvas print with a collection of different shots of the same couple or family as they have grown together. This would make an incredible gift for your parents or grandparents; a storyboard of their life, with images from their first years together, their wedding and the birth of any babies and grandchildren, finishing off with any retirement adventures they’ve had – what a special memory for their anniversary or Christmas present!

Say no to tatty photo boards – another great idea is to simply collect photos of your friends, family, pets and favourite places, and have them printed onto a large canvas as an alternative to a photo board. Pinning or tacking photos onto a board looks tatty over time and even if you stick them in a glass-covered frame, they will fade and lose their quality soon enough. Printing these special photos onto canvas will increase their life-span and keep them looking lovely year after year. You can organise the images into a grid layout for a neat finish, or create a less regimented collage, depending on your style preference.

Hopefully this has given you some great inspiration for creating a beautiful set of images for your large canvas print – just give us a shout if you need any help with sizing or using Photoshop to get the pictures right.