How Long And Narrow Can A Print Be?

Panoramic images are getting quite popular. The Linhof and Fuji 6X17 cameras, banquet large format cameras of 5X12, 7X17 and 8X20 are seeing a return to favour, and those of us stitching digital images can make images of any ratio we care to.

So, if long and narrow is good (and I think it's easy to prove that it can be), just how wide and narrow can one go? You could simply go with what you like, but that avoids the question of whether your viewers are likely to appreciate what you're doing.

During my two years selling prints at the local farmers market I was surprised at how popular panoramic images were. My Columbia Ice Fields image which is an 8 image stitch is particularly popular and the bottom line is people often ask for panoramas to decorate long walls - they'd rather have a single large image over the bed or the sofa than say a series of three. On a practical level, 4:1 is about as long as works in decorating and 3:1 is more popular.
I'd leave longer pans for special circumstances.