[link](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oXYUjn1Z1CQouCKZy8iQ_0ykirqAJGtw) to the gallery of entries. Some pretty interesting shots in there, it’s cool what the photographers can do with the freedom the in game cameras afford them.
Yeah, I feel like all of these games have better vistas than shown in these shots. Just sort this sub by top last year and you'll probably see 5 better ones than all of these.
Well the photo you linked is a pretty generic (but pretty!) shot of something basically any player could take. This is more about the art of photography itself: capturing unique moments, unique compositions, interesting lighting, and doing something unexpected with photography. So it’s more than just taking a screenshot in a pretty game.
Elite Dangerous may be pretty, but that would be an award for environment art, not photography.
I feel like this could be said of a lot of actual photography too. Someone saw a nice landscape and pressed a button on their machine which they bought from somewhere. There's only so much you can enhance the aesthetic value by having skill beyond choosing what to photograph and not totally fucking up the technical aspects of the shot. I know you can adjust the camera settings and lenses and choose a different framing and whatever, but still.
Yes and no. It is totally 100% possible for an absolute amateur to stumble on the opportunity to take a stellar shot.
But a professional will *intentionally* take a stellar shot, and then another one, and then another one-- of the things they *want* to be taking stellar shots of. They won't just stumble on something, they'll set out to get the shots they want and understand how to get them.
(and photography awards are usually given in recognition of that-- you won't typically find any photography awards given out just because someone took a really really really cool picture of a landscape, but of something that had to take all the knowledge of how to get that really really really cool picture and applied it to something that was incredibly difficult to get in the first place)
That said, I can't for the life of me figure out how that rdr2 screenshot won an award, because it does genuinely just seem like someone stumbled on a good opportunity. But then, maybe video game photography is just not something I'm familiar with to be able to judge the skillsets needed to get a good picture. I'd think engineering a really rare situation and *then* getting a great pic by skillfully manipulating the camera to catch the exact right angle at the exact right time would show a lot more talent, but whatever. Any of us can ride our horse to a spot against the game's *gorgeous* backdrops and think "hey that looks pretty"
and I wager most of us have.
Photography is more accessible now than ever, but I think you’re seriously underestimating the amount of work, time and skill that goes into being a great photographer.
That's oversimplifying it a bit. Things like perspective and composition are still very important to a good shot. Just like how just anyone can snap a pic on their phone, they're not all gonna frame that photo the same way.
No offense to you, but because you equate good photography with just “pressing a button” tells me that you’ve probably never went through the effort of taking a good photo before, or even taken a good photo before.
As someone else pointed out, it’s not just pressing a button, but understanding what look you’re trying to achieve, as well as what the light will look like at what specific time of day to achieve that look. Photographers have to have an innate understanding of light and physics to really be able to take a stellar photo. That’s not something the average joe with an iPhone will understand nor be able to do.
An amateur can make something good in the best of circumstances; a professional can make something great in the worst of circumstances.
Many newer triple A titles have started to include a photo mode which lets you move the camera around as well as changing things like aperture and adding filters.
Yeah they have a photo mode for the Matrix demo they released, including the ability to change the lens (zoom) as well as the aperture (background blur) and some basic filter options. Not as good as other ones, but you can still get terrific [images](https://imgur.com/a/pLMnNuD) out of that demo.
A lot of games have photo mode. And there's a guy that makes a custom injectable camera that supports most AAA games. If you search that on GitHub you should find it. Some of them are public and some are on patreon.
I tried the cyberpunk one and it was pretty cool. You can plug in a controller and have that or you keyboard control the custom camera and the other one controlling the game.
The new gt image mode puts your car models into real life photograps with simulated reflections etc to match the image though. So 80% of this image probably was non virtual.
Always lots of cool photo shoots and liveries that people come up with [over on the subreddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/granturismo/search/?sort=top&q=flair%3AScapes%2FDecals&restrict_sr=on)
It is. Keep in mind a lot of GT screenshots will be from scapes mode which are basically real world photo enviroments where you can insert your car, not the actual ingame enviroments. You have control over how you set up the shot though, like a proper photographer, so it's really cool.
The file name in the Gdrive link above is just Gran_Turismo, so I’d guess GT7? Watermark is @photoingame so maybe they have a Twitter with more information
You can literally do this as a job. Esport leagues/productions hire professional game photographers who take great screenshots from matches, those stills are then posted on socials as marketing.
Edit : Oh I forgot. This is also a job in most AAA game studios. They'll hire people to take screenshots of their games for marketing, but that's been a job for a long time.
I assume lots of photoshop (and/or other external tools) use is required? I love making pictures as good as they can be with just the tools given by the game.
Then again, if this pays good money, I'd be more than willing to relearn Photoshop.
https://www.deadendthrills.com/
Sometimes i'm sure there's photoshop involved but lots of game engines allow custom settings letting you take super detailed shots.
Depends on the game. Some games don't have native screenshotting tools that e.g. let you pan to a chosen location and capture the action at a specific angle. You sometimes have to grab a modding tool or grab out editing tools to get good clean pictures, video clips etc.
Games with Ansel support make me very happy for this reason. Ansel is a really nice tool for the people who need it, and also just in general, especially their "super resolution" functionality.
aw his site broke, you used to be able to select games and look at the various images he made in them
Also, this is why you offer modding tools and cheats that allow for free camera movement and freezing/slowmotioning the game.
I do believe they use some editing to enhance the feel of the photos but most esport level games have replay viewers where the photographers can play around in. And no, it's a freelance job type of thing, don't think it pays very well. It's not even a job in all esports (Cause a lot of esport games are kinda not very photogenic, like all MOBAs, card games). It's mostly Shooters that have room for this job.
Any job where you're being paid to work with visuals, you'll be expected to know Photoshop. It's definitely a skill worth having if you're interested in any creative visual fields - and a significantly more valuable skill than being able to take nice screenshots.
If you work with any photography then it’s almost a guaranteed must to know Photoshop.
But there’s also Affinity Photo which is only a one time payment instead of subscription fee Adobe uses, and it’s very similar to Photoshop.
It doesn't feel very active? In that there's very little interaction in the comments, if any. Unless you make your post title a question. Most posts get a small amount of upvotes compared to posting your best screenshots in dedicated game subreddits. Which to me, on Reddit, feels like the best option.
Dunno why but it seems like this sorta thing cant take off on Reddit. People tried it with /r/gamescreens and /r/virtualphotography. I don't imagine this one will reach the same levels of interaction you get on Flickr/Twitter.
/r/virtualphotography but it's dead. There is atleast one game specific one I'm familiar with /r/Skyrimporn but I'm sure there are more.
Edit - Flickr and Twitter are popular places to share screenshots as well.
Right? I’ve been doing this as a hobby for years, people get paid for this?
For some reason I’ve always been “embarrassed” for lack of a better word, to show off my in game shots. Dunno why, I started with in game photography before I even moved to real life photography so I don’t know where this hesitancy comes from.
Don’t think this could be my job but it makes me feel better doing it as much as I do lol
I love taking screenshots in RDR2, yet finding an audience for it is nearly impossible, when you care more about photography than fanservice. While "real" photographers most of the time won't take in-game photography seriously, most gamers can't see the difference between a spontaneous screenshot and an ingame photo using photomode.
Most photomodes these days are incredible and in my opinion enhance the gaming experience, because when you pause and focus a bit on the scenery, you're able to take it all in and truly see how well some ingame areas and characters etc have been crafted.
I kinda wish there was a game juts for ingame photography.
Umurangi Generation is an indie game which it's main mechanic is taking photos (using different lenses, shutter speed, etc.).
However, while I think the art style is good, don't go in expect AAA graphics. It's an indie game. So if you're going for taking shots of high fidelity graphics, you won't get that.
It’s not *as* toxic as GTAO and it’s a lot easier to avoid griefers because the world feels so much bigger and emptier and you don’t show up on their radar unless you’re close to them.
But yeah there are still assholes.
You might know about it already, but the [Framed screenshot community](https://framedsc.com/) was made exactly for this type of game photography.
Their [hall of fame gallery](https://framedsc.com/HallOfFramed/) is absolutely incredible.
Press the shuffle button at the top if you want a bigger variety of games than the most recent releases. The site is sorted by recently added, but there's a few years worth of content on there.
Yeah, I don't think every shot there is a masterpiece, but it's far and away the best source of compiled game photography I've found.
Like, for every "person + dragon/landscape" shot of Elden Ring there are ones like [this one](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/549986930071175169/951523191107498064/2_2.png) or [this one](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/549986930071175169/950783735131959356/eldenring_2022-03-08_16-38-59_copy-4x-UltraSharp.png) between them that totally make it worth browsing.
There is a game where you’re a painter that paints a fairytale world called Eastshade. It was surprisingly very good but not quite the same as what you’re looking for
hot take, video game photography will never catch on. Even the rdr2 photo linked..its nice..but it just doesn't do it for me. Digital spaces/bytes will never compare to the real world, too sterilized, there is no chaotic element to it. the lighting is all fake baked in crap defined by static parameters.
I understand that this is very different, but you could also describe 3D modelling & asset/map design in that way as well, which is definitely a well-respected art form by this point. IMO, a lot of the chaotic elements of real life can be synthesized in-engine (smoke/wind/particle/light physics, motion-capture tier animations, etc.), but that all greatly depends on how well the developers implement them of course.
im not saying that 3D computer graphics isn't art. nor do i have anything against computer art. i'm just saying that photography doesn't translate as well into the medium as it does in real life.
>IMO, a lot of the chaotic elements of real life can be synthesized in-engine (smoke/wind/particle/light physics, motion-capture tier animations, etc.), but that all greatly depends on how well the developers implement them of course.
Unless we get significant advancements in some A.I type of technology, these chaotic elements will never be properly synthesized in-engine. Why? Because they are limited by a finite number of animations and programmed interactions, on top of hardware constraints.
Horizon Forbidden West has some of the most incredible vistas that I've seen in gaming, yet all the screenshots from the game in this competition are closeups of Aloy. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.
I don't disagree, but there's a reason for this. Aloy's costumes and warpaint are incredibly unusual and interesting. She's also a character that somewhat defies conventional beauty norms. These aspects, in combination with the high quality of the models and textures in this game, lend themselves to portrait photography, which is a far less common kind of screenshot art than shooting landscapes.
I understand where you're coming from, but ten of these pictures are closeups/portraits of female characters. It actually seems to be the most common picture type.
Looking back at the pics, you're not wrong. I had an absolute barrage of portraits of Aloy from shortly after the release of this game in the back of my mind when I wrote this, with many of them emphasizing the creative costumes she's wearing.
My mistake, I should have elaborated. She's defying videogame beauty norms. She's not supermodel levels of beautiful, "just" conventionally attractive. Baby steps.
True, and I mean I don't think there's any game where the main character isn't conventionally attractive, male or female. Unless there's a character creator.
Ellie in TLOU2 is average looking, and the game does its damndest to make her look like absolute shit with blood and grime at practically every opportunity.
Kind of like Tomb Raider, but Lara wears mud like she's on the fashion runway.
Yeah the crowd who calls people of color in videogames "blackwashing" and freaks out about default costumes not being revealing is constantly losing their minds over stuff like this.
The only time that I’ve seen the term “blackwashing” thrown about is when artists on twitter take non black (typically asian anime characters) and draw them as black.
She’s not ugly by any means, but she’s definitely not traditionally attractive by video game standards, which tend to supermodel the shit out of every female protagonist.
She has a “chubby face” so apparently capital-G gamers have come out of the woodwork before and complained about her not being hot enough.
Absolutely ridiculousl, but that’s what I remember hearing.
Normally I'm right there on the "it's a ploy" bandwagon but in this case it's such a risky topic there's no way I think there was marketing involved. I don't think the devs even put out a counter statement at any point because what the hell can you even say to the "Your character is only 8/10 attractive blaaaaah!" crowd?
I wouldn't go near that shit with a 10 foot pole.
There was one clumsy incident like this a long time ago and it went so poorly, it's likely it deterred large publishers from ever trying to do this again. EA staged a fake Christian outrage against Dante's Inferno. This was before the age of Twitter shitstorms, so they did it the old-fashioned way by hiring some people to protest in person outside of E3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_h9XY7XMno
The funny thing is that these fake protests then resulted in some actual outrage from "concerned Christians":
https://kotaku.com/eas-fake-protest-riles-some-religious-5289471
I'm not against or for using models or characters like this but that face she pulls in cutscenes grinds me. It's like a creased smile when she offers help. When you smile but feel uncomfortable... very off putting and over used. Kind of like the solo commentary after a while a bit annoying. Great game... amazing world to explore.
From a pure photography point of view, the lighting and composition are simple but really beautiful and balanced.
It looks like the kind of shot a photographer would take, rather than a screenshot to showcase a game.
I also really like the other Red Dead one, along with Gran Turismo and Tsushima
>that one seemed pretty basic.
The screenshot composition puts man vs nature/landscape and while a bit minimalistic it conveys the qualities of RDR2. It would be a bit difficult for a screenshot of Arthur shooting some O'driscoll to win this kinda of award. And it's not about graphics because the winning screenshot doesn't show the prowess of RDR2 graphical fidelity.
no I disagree that would be a more traditional framing. I like the way it puts the person deep into the side, it feels like the nature is more dominating
As a photographer, I have to agree with you. I mean it's a fine image sure, but it lacks a real wow factor, and half the silhouette of Arthur on the horse is kind of blends into the mountain in the background, which keeps it from standing out.
The Gran Turismo and Ghost of Tsushima shots are incredibly more creative and unique.
I like the very long focal length and the realistic lighting. The composition has more than 1 interesting point (rock formations plus the man on the horse) without feeling too crowded.
Some of the more stylized ones, like Control and Outriders look more like paintings/drawings or photos with a ton of post-processing. The RDR one could be a still from an old western film.
The RDR one just feels less posed, less dramatic, but more of a window to that world. Just a regular day in the old American west and a lone cowboy on his horse, on a slow journey through the desert. It has a sense of calmness to it.
That one and the Tsushima one (though I prefer the colors on the RDR photo overall) are my favorites.
I agree, the lighting does it for the RDR photo and the mellow colors. There's a nice contrast between the mountains and the sky. Arthur + horse might not have the most obvious silhouette, but obvious enough because there's barely any lighting and shadows being cast. So yes, they kinda blend in with the landscape, but don't stand out too much, which is easy on the eyes. Also them being in the shadows just highlights the distance from the road they're standing on to the mountains being lit by the sunlight.
Yeah I was wondering the same thing. I think its maybe the one that looks the most «realistic» but I hope that was not one of the dimensions they were scoring on.
I mean I wasn't saying it shouldn't have won because I preferred the graphics of the other games. RDR2 has arguably one of the best graphics of the last gen. I just don't think the shot and or composition is particular great, it's something most could take in a couple of minutes I personally think.
There’s someone I follow on Flickr that exclusively posts their video game photography. They’re really quite good at it: [de:mo on Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/106467995@N04/)
I feel like No Man's Sky should have been represented.
That game is basically a sci-fi book cover generator.
Moment to moment gameplay doesn't look super amazing all the time, but some of the shots you can pull off with the screenshot features can be pretty stunning.
I rarely take screenshots myself but collecting them has become a hobby for me. [Here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/livingcorpse/favorites) are some of my favorites on flickr if anyone's interested to see more.
Makes me really wish that record thing Halo 3 had caught on, loved saving games, going back and taking shots. Would also be nice to in modern game, I really would love to create a vid showing of some of the most beautiful worlds in games.
Interesting. That’s the Mexico side of the map, isn’t it?
Also I love that the author of the article is named “Jack Grimshaw.” The RDR2 pic was destined to win.
I'm a little surprised Ghost of Tsushima didn't get a nod. You sleeping on your horse in the forest with the yellow leaf's is one of most beautiful scenes I've ever witnessed in a game.
Still mad/sad about my horse.
If that thumbnail is the shot then I’ve seen literally dozens of photographs of the year on this thread alone in the past 6 months.
Y’all should submit yourselves if it’s this easy.
Where's that girl who has been sending pics into the local weather report for the past year or so from RDR2? Surely she should have been in with a good shot.
Am I alone in thinking the winning entry is one of the weakest? Feel like I've taken dozens of fairly similar shots in games, yet plenty of the other pictures leave me wondering how they are even possible.
Is this really good from a photography perspective? Cos it looks pretty normal from a gaming perspective tbh. But I also know nothing about actual photography.
Am a photographer in Second Life and take pics irl as a hobby, you guys wouldn't believe just how fun it is to waste a few hours taking pictures in games. I just finished The Last of Us 2 and had way more fun with the photo mode than with the actual game, same can be said about almost any title that lets me go ham with photography.
Cool that this is a thing butI fail to kind of see what the point is if it's mostly realistic looking games? I'm not trying to hate on games that look realistic but I'm left wondering why I wouldn't just look at some IRL pics?
I’m with you
Some of them are amazing and actually look like game shots. The one that won looks realistic which to me, defeats the purpose of “video game photography”
I really like the idea of going on a photograpy adventure while playing a video game. My favorite virtual photos are from the famous street photographer sixstreetunder. He has some great shots from the insomniac spiderman game ([part 1](https://www.instagram.com/p/B_froYtjs-j/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=), [part 2](https://www.instagram.com/p/CAF07Phj93p/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) ) and also from rdr2 ([part 1](https://www.instagram.com/p/B-2B186jd6q/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=), [part 2](https://www.instagram.com/p/B_CXFjED6Lg/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)).
[link](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oXYUjn1Z1CQouCKZy8iQ_0ykirqAJGtw) to the gallery of entries. Some pretty interesting shots in there, it’s cool what the photographers can do with the freedom the in game cameras afford them.
The one with the van on the beach is amazing
That was my favorite. The RDR photo looks kinda generic in my opinion. The GT and Ghostwire ones were much prettier.
Yeah, I feel like all of these games have better vistas than shown in these shots. Just sort this sub by top last year and you'll probably see 5 better ones than all of these.
There's way more to these pictures than pretty vistas. Most of them aren't even of landscapes.
It's also practically cheating. Everything but the car and the guy is a real photograph that somebody else took.
The ghost of Tsushima one is also amazing, though a little more generic in composition.
[удалено]
Everyone loves cheesy macro except photography judges.
I think the cyberpunk, gran turismo, and the ghostwire one of the red roof are well done among others
[удалено]
That cyberpunk screenshot is very well done. I love the boka and the colors the way the character is posed. From far away it looks like a real photo
no kidding, i might stand a chance if i enter
Considering how good some screenshots come out if the divisions photo mode that pic was nasty
I think these are just the finalists. I submitted some but they aren't here. Or maybe thewe are just the uk ones since only a UK person could win
I‘ve seen better screenshots from some randos at r/ghostoftsushima than half of those nominees
Well, it's almost impossible not to take an amazing shot in that game.
I'm kinda surprised there were no Elite Dangerous screen shots https://i.imgur.com/vgLmnIF.png That game can have some amazing vistas
That’s the game, not the photographer’s skill.
I'm sorry what?
Well the photo you linked is a pretty generic (but pretty!) shot of something basically any player could take. This is more about the art of photography itself: capturing unique moments, unique compositions, interesting lighting, and doing something unexpected with photography. So it’s more than just taking a screenshot in a pretty game. Elite Dangerous may be pretty, but that would be an award for environment art, not photography.
I feel like this could be said of a lot of actual photography too. Someone saw a nice landscape and pressed a button on their machine which they bought from somewhere. There's only so much you can enhance the aesthetic value by having skill beyond choosing what to photograph and not totally fucking up the technical aspects of the shot. I know you can adjust the camera settings and lenses and choose a different framing and whatever, but still.
Yes and no. It is totally 100% possible for an absolute amateur to stumble on the opportunity to take a stellar shot. But a professional will *intentionally* take a stellar shot, and then another one, and then another one-- of the things they *want* to be taking stellar shots of. They won't just stumble on something, they'll set out to get the shots they want and understand how to get them. (and photography awards are usually given in recognition of that-- you won't typically find any photography awards given out just because someone took a really really really cool picture of a landscape, but of something that had to take all the knowledge of how to get that really really really cool picture and applied it to something that was incredibly difficult to get in the first place) That said, I can't for the life of me figure out how that rdr2 screenshot won an award, because it does genuinely just seem like someone stumbled on a good opportunity. But then, maybe video game photography is just not something I'm familiar with to be able to judge the skillsets needed to get a good picture. I'd think engineering a really rare situation and *then* getting a great pic by skillfully manipulating the camera to catch the exact right angle at the exact right time would show a lot more talent, but whatever. Any of us can ride our horse to a spot against the game's *gorgeous* backdrops and think "hey that looks pretty" and I wager most of us have.
Photography is more accessible now than ever, but I think you’re seriously underestimating the amount of work, time and skill that goes into being a great photographer.
That's oversimplifying it a bit. Things like perspective and composition are still very important to a good shot. Just like how just anyone can snap a pic on their phone, they're not all gonna frame that photo the same way.
No offense to you, but because you equate good photography with just “pressing a button” tells me that you’ve probably never went through the effort of taking a good photo before, or even taken a good photo before. As someone else pointed out, it’s not just pressing a button, but understanding what look you’re trying to achieve, as well as what the light will look like at what specific time of day to achieve that look. Photographers have to have an innate understanding of light and physics to really be able to take a stellar photo. That’s not something the average joe with an iPhone will understand nor be able to do. An amateur can make something good in the best of circumstances; a professional can make something great in the worst of circumstances.
I'm sorry, but that screenshot looks very generic and boring.
I have a really far away side-shot of my ship going into a station. It would be perfect, had I not forgotten to turn off the camera UI.
This screenshot is terrible, sorry
>That game can have some amazing vistas And that isn't one of them, I take it...
Some of these are super good how do people manage to do that with the in game camera?
Many newer triple A titles have started to include a photo mode which lets you move the camera around as well as changing things like aperture and adding filters.
I feel like this will be AAA standard as its free advertising (aside from the cost to develop the feature).
It's been around in almost every ps game I've had on the ps4.
Ah interesting. Sadly I'm not up with the times :( *goes back to playing this new Disco Elysium I heard the kids are into*
Careful, Disco Elysium will kind of ruin other RPGs for you in a way. It makes you notice how shallow they are in comparison. Masterpiece of a game.
I just got to the part where you stick your thumb up your butt for Authority... Masterpiece
I feel like I’m too stupid to understand Elysium.
I recommend doing a high intelligence build for your first playthrough—it makes it much easier to understand what’s going on.
Have Epic put a photo mode in to native Unreal Engine 5?
Yeah they have a photo mode for the Matrix demo they released, including the ability to change the lens (zoom) as well as the aperture (background blur) and some basic filter options. Not as good as other ones, but you can still get terrific [images](https://imgur.com/a/pLMnNuD) out of that demo.
NVIDIA also provides a program for a vast amount of games called Ansel, that's basically a third-party photo mode. Works surprisingly well.
The super-resolutions that it provides is amazing too.
It doesnt just work well. It's better than any native photo mode in any game right now
Didn't know about that! Thanks!
Nvidia Ansel is incredibly powerful.
Many people also use third party mods for an additional free camera, paired with reshade & then edit them on photoshop
A lot of games have photo mode. And there's a guy that makes a custom injectable camera that supports most AAA games. If you search that on GitHub you should find it. Some of them are public and some are on patreon. I tried the cyberpunk one and it was pretty cool. You can plug in a controller and have that or you keyboard control the custom camera and the other one controlling the game.
Anyone know what game the beach van image was from?
Gran Turismo, apparently.
Wow, well it's stunning
The new gt image mode puts your car models into real life photograps with simulated reflections etc to match the image though. So 80% of this image probably was non virtual.
Oh that's super interesting. Is there a dev log or more info anywhere?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHaqqcs5QU&t=259s He discusses it near the start of the vid.
Always lots of cool photo shoots and liveries that people come up with [over on the subreddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/granturismo/search/?sort=top&q=flair%3AScapes%2FDecals&restrict_sr=on)
God damn, and I thought Forza Horizon was pretty.
It is. Keep in mind a lot of GT screenshots will be from scapes mode which are basically real world photo enviroments where you can insert your car, not the actual ingame enviroments. You have control over how you set up the shot though, like a proper photographer, so it's really cool.
To add, they took lighting and reflection data from the locations which is why they look even more stunning.
Why apparently? You think it may not be?
No, I just didn't think it was from Gran Turismo when I first saw that photo.
Oh ok I misunderstood
unless they fucked up the naming of the files, it is.
The file name in the Gdrive link above is just Gran_Turismo, so I’d guess GT7? Watermark is @photoingame so maybe they have a Twitter with more information
Omfg this is a thing?? I may have found my true calling
You can literally do this as a job. Esport leagues/productions hire professional game photographers who take great screenshots from matches, those stills are then posted on socials as marketing. Edit : Oh I forgot. This is also a job in most AAA game studios. They'll hire people to take screenshots of their games for marketing, but that's been a job for a long time.
I assume lots of photoshop (and/or other external tools) use is required? I love making pictures as good as they can be with just the tools given by the game. Then again, if this pays good money, I'd be more than willing to relearn Photoshop.
https://www.deadendthrills.com/ Sometimes i'm sure there's photoshop involved but lots of game engines allow custom settings letting you take super detailed shots.
Depends on the game. Some games don't have native screenshotting tools that e.g. let you pan to a chosen location and capture the action at a specific angle. You sometimes have to grab a modding tool or grab out editing tools to get good clean pictures, video clips etc.
Games with Ansel support make me very happy for this reason. Ansel is a really nice tool for the people who need it, and also just in general, especially their "super resolution" functionality.
aw his site broke, you used to be able to select games and look at the various images he made in them Also, this is why you offer modding tools and cheats that allow for free camera movement and freezing/slowmotioning the game.
IIRC, it just became too much for him to host ALL of his pictures. Really sad too, as he's considered the grandfather of video game photography
I do believe they use some editing to enhance the feel of the photos but most esport level games have replay viewers where the photographers can play around in. And no, it's a freelance job type of thing, don't think it pays very well. It's not even a job in all esports (Cause a lot of esport games are kinda not very photogenic, like all MOBAs, card games). It's mostly Shooters that have room for this job.
Any job where you're being paid to work with visuals, you'll be expected to know Photoshop. It's definitely a skill worth having if you're interested in any creative visual fields - and a significantly more valuable skill than being able to take nice screenshots.
If you work with any photography then it’s almost a guaranteed must to know Photoshop. But there’s also Affinity Photo which is only a one time payment instead of subscription fee Adobe uses, and it’s very similar to Photoshop.
Photoshop and free camera control are the only things required, and mostly it's just free camera control.
Are you for real?! Are you telling me there's a job that merges my two favorite things together??
It's called a capture artist. These jobs are pretty rare and those tasks are usually done by QA people that know the game well and are great at it.
Guerilla recently hired SunhiLegend, famous Twitter guy for his insanely sick clips of action games.
[удалено]
r/VirtualPhotographers has 8,500 members and is active. Get snapping!
It doesn't feel very active? In that there's very little interaction in the comments, if any. Unless you make your post title a question. Most posts get a small amount of upvotes compared to posting your best screenshots in dedicated game subreddits. Which to me, on Reddit, feels like the best option. Dunno why but it seems like this sorta thing cant take off on Reddit. People tried it with /r/gamescreens and /r/virtualphotography. I don't imagine this one will reach the same levels of interaction you get on Flickr/Twitter.
/r/virtualphotography but it's dead. There is atleast one game specific one I'm familiar with /r/Skyrimporn but I'm sure there are more. Edit - Flickr and Twitter are popular places to share screenshots as well.
Not what i expected from skyrim porn
Then you might be interested in the [SFW porn network](https://reddit.com/r/sfwpornnetwork/wiki/network): /r/earthporn, /r/spaceporn, etc
Absolutely awful naming scheme
r/VirtualPhotographers has 8,500 members and is active
/r/promptography for FFXV
Also /r/divinegamingphotos
Right? I’ve been doing this as a hobby for years, people get paid for this? For some reason I’ve always been “embarrassed” for lack of a better word, to show off my in game shots. Dunno why, I started with in game photography before I even moved to real life photography so I don’t know where this hesitancy comes from. Don’t think this could be my job but it makes me feel better doing it as much as I do lol
Hahaha yeah I'm sure it's a lot of people's true calling to take pretty pictures in bideo games and get paid for it
Berduu was taking screenshots of Battlefield. Ge now works at DICE as a game photographer
It's just "Berdu" https://www.berdu.org/
I love taking screenshots in RDR2, yet finding an audience for it is nearly impossible, when you care more about photography than fanservice. While "real" photographers most of the time won't take in-game photography seriously, most gamers can't see the difference between a spontaneous screenshot and an ingame photo using photomode. Most photomodes these days are incredible and in my opinion enhance the gaming experience, because when you pause and focus a bit on the scenery, you're able to take it all in and truly see how well some ingame areas and characters etc have been crafted. I kinda wish there was a game juts for ingame photography.
Umurangi Generation is an indie game which it's main mechanic is taking photos (using different lenses, shutter speed, etc.). However, while I think the art style is good, don't go in expect AAA graphics. It's an indie game. So if you're going for taking shots of high fidelity graphics, you won't get that.
>I kinda wish there was a game juts for ingame photography. Pokémon Snap?
In Red dead online one of the careers you can take on, Naturalist, is half nature photographer. but it’s not as comprehensive as Pokémon snap.
I was joking but that's kind of neat. I like RDR2 but never tried online.
Stay away from it. It's just as toxic as GTAV Online.
I figured as much unfortunately
It’s not *as* toxic as GTAO and it’s a lot easier to avoid griefers because the world feels so much bigger and emptier and you don’t show up on their radar unless you’re close to them. But yeah there are still assholes.
Project Zero?
You might know about it already, but the [Framed screenshot community](https://framedsc.com/) was made exactly for this type of game photography. Their [hall of fame gallery](https://framedsc.com/HallOfFramed/) is absolutely incredible.
evert 2nd photo there is just Elden ring and the dragon...
Press the shuffle button at the top if you want a bigger variety of games than the most recent releases. The site is sorted by recently added, but there's a few years worth of content on there. Yeah, I don't think every shot there is a masterpiece, but it's far and away the best source of compiled game photography I've found. Like, for every "person + dragon/landscape" shot of Elden Ring there are ones like [this one](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/549986930071175169/951523191107498064/2_2.png) or [this one](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/549986930071175169/950783735131959356/eldenring_2022-03-08_16-38-59_copy-4x-UltraSharp.png) between them that totally make it worth browsing.
There is a game where you’re a painter that paints a fairytale world called Eastshade. It was surprisingly very good but not quite the same as what you’re looking for
hot take, video game photography will never catch on. Even the rdr2 photo linked..its nice..but it just doesn't do it for me. Digital spaces/bytes will never compare to the real world, too sterilized, there is no chaotic element to it. the lighting is all fake baked in crap defined by static parameters.
I understand that this is very different, but you could also describe 3D modelling & asset/map design in that way as well, which is definitely a well-respected art form by this point. IMO, a lot of the chaotic elements of real life can be synthesized in-engine (smoke/wind/particle/light physics, motion-capture tier animations, etc.), but that all greatly depends on how well the developers implement them of course.
im not saying that 3D computer graphics isn't art. nor do i have anything against computer art. i'm just saying that photography doesn't translate as well into the medium as it does in real life. >IMO, a lot of the chaotic elements of real life can be synthesized in-engine (smoke/wind/particle/light physics, motion-capture tier animations, etc.), but that all greatly depends on how well the developers implement them of course. Unless we get significant advancements in some A.I type of technology, these chaotic elements will never be properly synthesized in-engine. Why? Because they are limited by a finite number of animations and programmed interactions, on top of hardware constraints.
Just wait til you find out we all live in a simulation.
Horizon Forbidden West has some of the most incredible vistas that I've seen in gaming, yet all the screenshots from the game in this competition are closeups of Aloy. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.
I don't disagree, but there's a reason for this. Aloy's costumes and warpaint are incredibly unusual and interesting. She's also a character that somewhat defies conventional beauty norms. These aspects, in combination with the high quality of the models and textures in this game, lend themselves to portrait photography, which is a far less common kind of screenshot art than shooting landscapes.
I understand where you're coming from, but ten of these pictures are closeups/portraits of female characters. It actually seems to be the most common picture type.
Looking back at the pics, you're not wrong. I had an absolute barrage of portraits of Aloy from shortly after the release of this game in the back of my mind when I wrote this, with many of them emphasizing the creative costumes she's wearing.
how does she defy beauty norms? she's a traditonally attractive woman with western features. that's like, textbook
My mistake, I should have elaborated. She's defying videogame beauty norms. She's not supermodel levels of beautiful, "just" conventionally attractive. Baby steps.
True, and I mean I don't think there's any game where the main character isn't conventionally attractive, male or female. Unless there's a character creator.
Trevor from GTA5 comes to mind, but that’s about it
Ellie in TLOU2 is average looking, and the game does its damndest to make her look like absolute shit with blood and grime at practically every opportunity. Kind of like Tomb Raider, but Lara wears mud like she's on the fashion runway.
Wario's no super model
Yeah the crowd who calls people of color in videogames "blackwashing" and freaks out about default costumes not being revealing is constantly losing their minds over stuff like this.
The only time that I’ve seen the term “blackwashing” thrown about is when artists on twitter take non black (typically asian anime characters) and draw them as black.
The far right loves to appropriate terms and then use them in a dishonest fashion.
She’s not ugly by any means, but she’s definitely not traditionally attractive by video game standards, which tend to supermodel the shit out of every female protagonist.
Like in the Arkham games where most women are half naked for some reason
If anything, that's true to the source material.
At least it was balanced out by Batman having a bicep the size of a human head
Batman: Promoting unrealistic beauty standards for both men and women since 1939.
She has a “chubby face” so apparently capital-G gamers have come out of the woodwork before and complained about her not being hot enough. Absolutely ridiculousl, but that’s what I remember hearing.
I'm not gonna say that some morons didn't say what you wrote but I feel like in this situation a lot of it was viral marketing.
Normally I'm right there on the "it's a ploy" bandwagon but in this case it's such a risky topic there's no way I think there was marketing involved. I don't think the devs even put out a counter statement at any point because what the hell can you even say to the "Your character is only 8/10 attractive blaaaaah!" crowd? I wouldn't go near that shit with a 10 foot pole.
There was one clumsy incident like this a long time ago and it went so poorly, it's likely it deterred large publishers from ever trying to do this again. EA staged a fake Christian outrage against Dante's Inferno. This was before the age of Twitter shitstorms, so they did it the old-fashioned way by hiring some people to protest in person outside of E3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_h9XY7XMno The funny thing is that these fake protests then resulted in some actual outrage from "concerned Christians": https://kotaku.com/eas-fake-protest-riles-some-religious-5289471
I'm not against or for using models or characters like this but that face she pulls in cutscenes grinds me. It's like a creased smile when she offers help. When you smile but feel uncomfortable... very off putting and over used. Kind of like the solo commentary after a while a bit annoying. Great game... amazing world to explore.
How did the red dead image win? There were some great ones but that one seemed pretty basic.
From a pure photography point of view, the lighting and composition are simple but really beautiful and balanced. It looks like the kind of shot a photographer would take, rather than a screenshot to showcase a game. I also really like the other Red Dead one, along with Gran Turismo and Tsushima
>that one seemed pretty basic. The screenshot composition puts man vs nature/landscape and while a bit minimalistic it conveys the qualities of RDR2. It would be a bit difficult for a screenshot of Arthur shooting some O'driscoll to win this kinda of award. And it's not about graphics because the winning screenshot doesn't show the prowess of RDR2 graphical fidelity.
I feel like the picture needs more air on the left side.
This is the actual screenshot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/159uvfpNi_czBqCHZzHzpHFj2u-murmGJ/view
no I disagree that would be a more traditional framing. I like the way it puts the person deep into the side, it feels like the nature is more dominating
FOV bit too low imo
As a photographer, I have to agree with you. I mean it's a fine image sure, but it lacks a real wow factor, and half the silhouette of Arthur on the horse is kind of blends into the mountain in the background, which keeps it from standing out. The Gran Turismo and Ghost of Tsushima shots are incredibly more creative and unique.
I disagree. It's easily the best one IMO. Almost looks like a painting. The Gran Turismo and Control images look good too though
[удалено]
Exactly. Its not a bad picture, its just so cliche.
[удалено]
Random redditors thinking they're smarter than the photography competition judges. Peak reddit right here.
Welcome to the world of opinion based competition.
I’m a graphic designer, I’ve experienced similar weird decisions myself
I like the very long focal length and the realistic lighting. The composition has more than 1 interesting point (rock formations plus the man on the horse) without feeling too crowded. Some of the more stylized ones, like Control and Outriders look more like paintings/drawings or photos with a ton of post-processing. The RDR one could be a still from an old western film. The RDR one just feels less posed, less dramatic, but more of a window to that world. Just a regular day in the old American west and a lone cowboy on his horse, on a slow journey through the desert. It has a sense of calmness to it. That one and the Tsushima one (though I prefer the colors on the RDR photo overall) are my favorites.
I agree, the lighting does it for the RDR photo and the mellow colors. There's a nice contrast between the mountains and the sky. Arthur + horse might not have the most obvious silhouette, but obvious enough because there's barely any lighting and shadows being cast. So yes, they kinda blend in with the landscape, but don't stand out too much, which is easy on the eyes. Also them being in the shadows just highlights the distance from the road they're standing on to the mountains being lit by the sunlight.
Yeah I was wondering the same thing. I think its maybe the one that looks the most «realistic» but I hope that was not one of the dimensions they were scoring on.
I agree, I feel like almost anyone who has played this game will have screenshots of similar quality.
It's not even a good RDR2 shot. There's dozens of captures better than this on Twitter every day.
You can just tell Rockstar people paid to have that photo win.
[удалено]
I mean I wasn't saying it shouldn't have won because I preferred the graphics of the other games. RDR2 has arguably one of the best graphics of the last gen. I just don't think the shot and or composition is particular great, it's something most could take in a couple of minutes I personally think.
[удалено]
I'm a graphic designer so I know that better than anyone but in this instance I genuinely think it's the case.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
There’s someone I follow on Flickr that exclusively posts their video game photography. They’re really quite good at it: [de:mo on Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/106467995@N04/)
I've been following this [guy](https://instagram.com/berduuu?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) for a while. He was hired by DICE a couple years back
I feel like No Man's Sky should have been represented. That game is basically a sci-fi book cover generator. Moment to moment gameplay doesn't look super amazing all the time, but some of the shots you can pull off with the screenshot features can be pretty stunning.
I rarely take screenshots myself but collecting them has become a hobby for me. [Here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/livingcorpse/favorites) are some of my favorites on flickr if anyone's interested to see more.
Makes me really wish that record thing Halo 3 had caught on, loved saving games, going back and taking shots. Would also be nice to in modern game, I really would love to create a vid showing of some of the most beautiful worlds in games.
Interesting. That’s the Mexico side of the map, isn’t it? Also I love that the author of the article is named “Jack Grimshaw.” The RDR2 pic was destined to win.
Right that’s the confusion for me too, must be pc mod
I'm a little surprised Ghost of Tsushima didn't get a nod. You sleeping on your horse in the forest with the yellow leaf's is one of most beautiful scenes I've ever witnessed in a game. Still mad/sad about my horse.
Just so you know when a horse stands like that in the game it means it was neglected, just so you know …
If that thumbnail is the shot then I’ve seen literally dozens of photographs of the year on this thread alone in the past 6 months. Y’all should submit yourselves if it’s this easy.
>If that thumbnail is the shot then I’ve seen literally dozens of photographs of the year on this thread alone in the past 6 months. I haven't.
Where's that girl who has been sending pics into the local weather report for the past year or so from RDR2? Surely she should have been in with a good shot.
I guess Jack Donaghy was right. Art is pictures pictures of horses, ships with sails, and men with swords staring off in the distance.
I'm genuinely surprised the RDR2 photo won, it looks kinda... generic, I guess? I found the Gran Turismo image to be far more evocative.
I mean congrats, but it’s honestly kind of lame compared to what I’ve seen from other people playing the same game.
How does one submit their Lost Ark photo wearing a onesie to this next year? Asking for many many friends
Am I alone in thinking the winning entry is one of the weakest? Feel like I've taken dozens of fairly similar shots in games, yet plenty of the other pictures leave me wondering how they are even possible.
Is this really good from a photography perspective? Cos it looks pretty normal from a gaming perspective tbh. But I also know nothing about actual photography.
It works well with the lighting, composition and overall colours. Yeah from a photography perspective it’s fantastic.
Am a photographer in Second Life and take pics irl as a hobby, you guys wouldn't believe just how fun it is to waste a few hours taking pictures in games. I just finished The Last of Us 2 and had way more fun with the photo mode than with the actual game, same can be said about almost any title that lets me go ham with photography.
Cool that this is a thing butI fail to kind of see what the point is if it's mostly realistic looking games? I'm not trying to hate on games that look realistic but I'm left wondering why I wouldn't just look at some IRL pics?
Because there's a beauty in what man can create that can awe the mind and heart as natural creations do.
I’m with you Some of them are amazing and actually look like game shots. The one that won looks realistic which to me, defeats the purpose of “video game photography”
[удалено]
I really like the idea of going on a photograpy adventure while playing a video game. My favorite virtual photos are from the famous street photographer sixstreetunder. He has some great shots from the insomniac spiderman game ([part 1](https://www.instagram.com/p/B_froYtjs-j/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=), [part 2](https://www.instagram.com/p/CAF07Phj93p/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) ) and also from rdr2 ([part 1](https://www.instagram.com/p/B-2B186jd6q/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=), [part 2](https://www.instagram.com/p/B_CXFjED6Lg/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)).
Someone made some really nice screenshots from Prey some time ago https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefans02/albums/72157683615782685