How To Make Game Screenshots Look Good Photoshop

Photo modes accept pretty much become a standard feature in mod video games, from low budget indies to triple-A blockbusters. Developers have finally realised that having masses of enthusiastic players posting flattering screenshots of their games on social media is a powerful marketing tool.

Once upon a time, taking command of an in-game camera to snap pretty screenshots was limited to PC gamers using hacks. But at present, anyone can be a virtual photographer. The negative side of this, however, is that in that location are a lot of bad screenshots out there. Here's how to take better ones.

Get inspired past the greats

It's always worth looking at the piece of work of actual photographers. Video game screenshots don't accept to be loftier art, but studying the masters tin be inspiring. Say you're shooting in a city similar G Theft Machine v's Los Santos. Even a brief glance at the work of a famous street photographer similar, say, Vivian Maier tin reveal interesting ways to frame an urban environment.

Widen your field of view

Increasing the field of view lets you lot show more than of a landscape, fitting large, afar objects into frame. In the shot above you can encounter how this is a great way to create a palpable sense of calibration. Just don't get also far with it. Widen the FOV besides much and y'all'll be left with an ugly fisheye upshot that looks unnatural. If there's a grapheme in frame, their proportions will exist off too.

Or go for a shut-up

Virtually screenshots you see are big, dramatic environment shots. But games today are just as impressive to look at upwards close. Past dramatically narrowing the field of view y'all tin can reveal a game'south effectively details, like the incredible-looking ceiling above from 2016'southward Hitman reboot. Taking a close, intimate look at game worlds can be only as compelling as snapping a vista or a dusk.

Main the rule of thirds

Mentally split your epitome upwardly into a grid of 9 rectangles—as illustrated above—and then brand sure the subject of the shot is placed along the lines or at the points where they meet. Artists of all kinds have been using this technique for thousands of years, and it's the key to creating a balanced composition. You don't take to obey it, of course, but it's a dainty rule to follow.

Look for the correct time of day

In games with day/night cycles, the weather and time of 24-hour interval tin make or break a screenshot. A scene that looks flat and uninspiring at midday might suddenly come live when it starts to pelting, the sun moves, or clouds sweep in. Some games let you manually change the time bike, merely in others you just have to exist patient and wait for the right moment—like a real photographer.

Make use of your character

When it comes to evoking a sense of scale, character placement can be just as effective as widening the FOV. It's amazing how having a character in the foreground of a landscape shot can make information technology seem infinitely bigger. Think of those panels in basically every Batman comic where our hero is silhouetted confronting the vast Gotham skyline. Yous tin utilize the same technique hither.

Consider depth of field

This characteristic has been appearing in more than and more than photograph modes. It lets you focus on ane part of the scene, blurring the residual. By adjusting the intensity of the mistiness and moving the focus indicate, in some games you lot can reach a stunning, almost photorealistic effect. But people tend to overuse it, with pin-sharp characters ready against deeply out of focus backgrounds. This looks bad.

Try portrait photography

Depth of field is especially good for virtual portrait photography, which is a fun way to accept screenshots in games. In an open world, an RPG with a bustling town, or basically anywhere at that place'southward NPCs, make the people around you lot your subjects. Y'all'll exist amazed at how impressively detailed and full of personality the everyday citizens populating virtual worlds tin exist.

Do some post-processing

When you take a screenshot, don't simply immediately post it online. Copy it to a computer and use a plan similar Photoshop to touch information technology up. Even the slightest shift in brightness or dissimilarity can make a massive difference to the quality of the terminal image. You lot can too utilize the clone tool to get rid of any unwanted details, or programmer logos/copyright text that has managed to sneak in.

These are non difficult and fast rules, and I'k no practiced. I've just been taking screenshots of video games for years, long before photo modes became ubiquitous, and these are some tips I've picked upwardly along the way. The important thing is to just savour it. When there are no missions left, virtual photography is a great fashion to extend the life of your favourite virtual worlds.

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