Tips on AWESOME screenshots.

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

There are several threads in this forums (such as the 'show off your Ranger' thread) full of game screenshots. Some of us post pictures that look...well, like game screenshots. And some of you post AWESOME (all-caps necessary) screenshots that look like paintings for a fantasy calendar, close up, posed, and glorious.

How about some tips on making great screenshots for those of us who just try to get the character centered and hit F6?

[Danikat.8537]

I'm not sure I'd consider any of my character shots awesome, but my advice would be while you're running around in Tyria try to look out for good spots to take screenshots, and either try to remember them or write them down. Places with a nice but not too busy background and good lighting. It also helps if it's at the top of a slope or cliff, or you're otherwise able to get the camera low down without it getting stuck on the ground. You might not always want that angle, but it's nice to have the option.

Also don't forget you can change the camera position relative to your character, how close you can zoom in and your graphics settings to get a good shot. Since you don't need to do anything except pan the camera around you may be able to push your graphics above what you can normally use (if that's below the maximum).

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

CTRL + SHIFT + H tohide/show UI

Options, Graphics Options, Setting Preset: Best Appearance (during the photoshoot)

Options Graphics, Camera: Horizontal Position, Vertical Position Near/Far, Field View. For centering your character perfectly without messing arround with the right mousebutton and the wheel.

Look for locations with a good external light-source. For example a bonfire, light beams/crystals or a colorful area aura like the omnipresent red in Bloodstone Fenn. Try standing near the light sources and inside the light sources.

Look for locations with awesome backgrounds. Panorama views might look good when playing, but character shots are for closer range. So make sure the environment is also in closer range. You want to show your character, not the area a few miles in the background.

Never make only one screenshot. Even if you are in a location with nothing going on and your character standing still, take several pictures and select the best afterwards. You will be surprised how many differences can be noticed.

Use skills which create visual effect and/or lets your character pose change. Take as many screenshots as possible during the animation. Take you time selecting the best. If nothing looks good enough, re-try. Some skills offer very unique poses and effects within a few certain frames. Those are hard to catch.

When looking for cool spots, always explore during daytime AND night-time. Some locations look boring during daytime, but shine during night-time.

Character selections screen is mostly no good idea even for an easy screenshot. If you have trouble getting a screenshot of the entire character, stand on an object/rock or small hill and zoom in from the bottom. If the object looks ugly, change direction. Maybe there is a bush/grass nearby.

When you have the screenshot of your choice, grab an easy picture-viewer (e. g. irfan view). Go to options and increase the contrast. This gives more powerful colors and increases visual-effects a lot. Also have a look on the brightness settings, to soften the contrast-improvement a bit. Maybe check the changing-colors option to give the screenshot a certain color-sheme. Those are a few very easy things, which require a few seconds of time and 0 skill. You will be impressed how much you can improve a picture with these few options.

[Silmar Alech.4305]

My tip for good screenshots: Don't screenshot, record a video instead. Then load the footage into a media player that allows single stepping through every video frame. Choose the frame with the best scene and export as picture. This way you don't need to find the right timing for pressing ALT-PRINT - it's somewhere in the video.

I use OBS for recording and created a special recording configuration for screenshot sessions: (almost) lossless quality but only 10 fps. This way you can choose the right picture from a slideshow afterwards while the quality is good enough for a standalone picture, even for a shot with high motion.

[Donari.5237]

HnRk has good tips! I'll add that you don't have to mash 3 keys at once to toggle the UI, you can hotkey it how you like. I keep mine on F11 to have it very close to the PrintScreen button.

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

Thanks for the tips!

I think I need to learn to control the camera better, because when I zoom in, it seems to zoom in above the character's head and the body gets cut off at the bottom of the screen.

[amibritain.4591]

Use the command line -bmp to save screenshots as bmp files not jpeg. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments Creates lossless screenshots in game. And everything that HnRk said too.

[Biff.5312]

Another note - if you have your toon face a wall, then move the camera to look out from the wall, it pushes the image forward and you get a 'zoomed in' effect that allows closer shots than if you just zoom the camera in from open space. I've found that if you face a pile of rocks, it gives you lots of options as you 'look out' from the rocks at your toon.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

The best screenshot is not a screenshot but a video. When you have a fast computer with Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can enable Windows DreamScene and set a video as wallpaper. Dowload a YouTube dreamscene like one of these, rename to (filename).wmv, right click set as wallpaper.

Or even better: use screen recording software like nVidia ShdowPlay or Fraps to record your own character to get a stunning animated desktop like this one:

Users of Windows 8 and Windows 10 are out of luck, because MS ditched this awesome feature just as the computers became powerful enough to use it without a big performance penalty. But hey, Windows 7 is better by leaps and bounds anyways.

[ZDragon.3046]

@"TheQuickFox.3826" said:The best screenshot is not a screenshot but a video. When you have a fast computer with Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can enable Windows DreamScene and set a video as wallpaper. Dowload a YouTube dreamscene like one of these, rename to (filename).wmv, right click set as wallpaper.

Or even better: use screen recording software like nVidia ShdowPlay or Fraps to record your own character to get a stunning animated desktop like this one:

Users of Windows 8 and Windows 10 are out of luck, because MS ditched this awesome feature just as the computers became powerful enough to use it without a big performance penalty. But hey, Windows 7 is better by leaps and bounds anyways.

This is by far one of the most epic things ive ever seen great job o.o

[Drizzt.1796]

How then would you take videos?

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

This is a very useful, practical guide.https://imgur.com/a/YOQ9h?fbclid=IwAR0e9vA5LgizrmXeKvWk5qF_gTn0OWRy8SkD4cpJ8eobZ-lMro6WoDJd2rA