Thanks man =) I will admit that a lot of it is down to the in-game photo editors the games have. Eg NVIDIA Ansel and stuff.
Like compare these two. The first one is without any editing, whilst the second one has a few settings tweaked like Retro, Depth of Field and Contrast.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Also I can't do Photoshop. Compare Swaeft's picture from the start of Destiny 2 with mine, there's a massive difference because he can do artistic stuff.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Swaeft's
Mine
Last edited by Commissar Caligula_; January 09, 2019 at 08:50 PM.
Hey now, what's this unfair comparison? I certainly am not as skilled as you, don't pick an outlier to falsely inflate my confidence. Stop, it's working, my ego is rising! I just saw your VM as well, so I'll reply to that here together:
None of my games are ansel supported, sadly... The second one already looks vastly superior, I think you submitted that in a GPOTW before? Did it win? I can't photoshop either, but thank you for the praise. I'm not going to tell you what software I use. As Farengar from Skyrim says, must preserve some professional secrets, yes?
I'm only kidding, I use this freeware called Photoscape. Ever heard of it? I've tried a few different softwares before, Lightroom, Photoshop, GIMP, but I think this is the easiest one to use, and it's what I've been using to edit all my AAR photos and (G)POTW submissions. Most of the time I simply adjust contrast and saturation, but I'll see if I can find what changes I made to the destiny 2 photo. Why is it raining in my intro and not yours? Hmm...maybe they changed it over the years, I only got my copy of Destiny 2 last November when it went free for a week.
I'm only kidding, I use this freeware called Photoscape. Ever heard of it? I've tried a few different softwares before, Lightroom, Photoshop, GIMP, but I think this is the easiest one to use, and it's what I've been using to edit all my AAR photos and (G)POTW submissions. Most of the time I simply adjust contrast and saturation, but I'll see if I can find what changes I made to the destiny 2 photo. Why is it raining in my intro and not yours? Hmm...maybe they changed it over the years, I only got my copy of Destiny 2 last November when it went free for a week.
Btw, what is reshade?
Nice I'll check it out some time.
Reshade/SweetFX/GemFX are basically programs where you download (or make your own) preset that has stuff like depth of field, contrast, gamma, ect ect built into it so the same settings are applied to every screenshot. And then you can switch between numerous presets if you want. For example here's a random one from Witcher 3. Scroll left and right on the picture to see with/without the preset. That site is where you find most presets.
Or here's an example from Total War Attila. Without GemFX. With GemFX.
I've probably got a few screenshots somewhere of the exact same shot with/without the preset but I can't find em atm. The preset I use for all my Attila shots was made by one of the guys on the Ancient Empires mod team for Attila.
Honestly if you're using stuff as advanced as reshade/sweet/gemfx I don't think you need photoscape.
Speaking of which, they sound cool and look really great, but I am hesitant to download because I don't want the same filters applied to all my games. I like to manually tweak the values of my screenshots.
So Runescape 3 has a free camera mode, and you can make a few edits such as choosing from a list of skybox presets and lighting presets. You can edit the lighting presets and create custom ones to a degree (change the colour and intensity of the light, the fog and the volumetric lighting). Heres a few screenshots:
Man, now I feel a hint of nostalgia and I kinda want to fire Runescape up again. Shame on you for causing this with those beautiful screenies Caligula!
Edit: Wow so I actually went to check it out and I find that I was permabanned for 'macroing major' during a period that I didn't even play and apparently there is no way to appeal this cos that's Jagex's stand. :S
Last edited by Swaeft; April 10, 2019 at 06:15 AM.
Man, now I feel a hint of nostalgia and I kinda want to fire Runescape up again. Shame on you for causing this with those beautiful screenies Caligula!
Edit: Wow so I actually went to check it out and I find that I was permabanned for 'macroing major' during a period that I didn't even play and apparently there is no way to appeal this cos that's Jagex's stand. :S
Here are some Call of Duty WW2 and Spellforce 3 screenshots.
Call of Duty: WW2
Spellforce 3 & Spellforce 3: Soul Harvest
I only thought to take screenshots during the final mission of Call of Duty WW2. I might replay it on the easiest difficulty with no HUD if I can to get some other good ones.
Last edited by Commissar Caligula_; July 15, 2019 at 05:08 AM.
I only thought to take screenshots during the final mission of Call of Duty WW2. I might replay it on the easiest difficulty with no HUD if I can to get some other good ones.
You really should, from what you've posted so far they look like oldie goldies. But I must say I love the spellforce ones more, I enjoy the royal, elegant architecture and the top-down skyrim-esque feel. You've captured them rather well. My favourites would be the ones with the halls and the soldiers, and then the landscape shots a close second. Great work!
Awww... That last comment was a trainwreck. It had a joke about me going to a modern art fair fairly recently to see Witcher 3 screens because of you and instead got to see X.
X being a photo I took of a hilariously ugly statue. Moderation then intervened because it decided that was NSFW.
So no complaint at all. It was a compliment since it implied I'd pay for a hilariously overpriced ticket to see your stuff hanging on the walls. It certainly couldn't be worse than what I saw there.
Apologies especially for that accident with the name. I typed the first two letters and then my brain just froze. And I need to find more people to rep because I still can't do it to you.
How long did it take you on average to compose those images? You probably had to use the storyboard UI for some of them, right?
Originally Posted by Cookiegod
From Socrates over Jesus to me it has always been the lot of any true visionary to be rejected by the reactionary bourgeoisie
Unlike Swaeft, my favorite is CoD. I have nothing against Spellforce (of course, these screens have their own beauty), but I was hooked by CoD. Great screens, Caligula.
Awww... That last comment was a trainwreck. It had a joke about me going to a modern art fair fairly recently to see Witcher 3 screens because of you and instead got to see X.
X being a photo I took of a hilariously ugly statue. Moderation then intervened because it decided that was NSFW.
So no complaint at all. It was a compliment since it implied I'd pay for a hilariously overpriced ticket to see your stuff hanging on the walls. It certainly couldn't be worse than what I saw there.
Apologies especially for that accident with the name. I typed the first two letters and then my brain just froze. And I need to find more people to rep because I still can't do it to you.
How long did it take you on average to compose those images? You probably had to use the storyboard UI for some of them, right?
Ah right lol, I'm sure the statue was great.
Eh idk how long it takes to do the screenshots. If the game either has NVIDIA Ansel, or its own custom camera tool like Witcher 3, Ghost Recon Wildlands or the two Assassin's Creed games then I'll spend quite a lot of time taking screenshots. I think for Battlefield 5 I spent most of my time playing the campaign just taking screenshots. If the game doesn't have a camera tool though, then I generally don't bother taking screenshots or I don't take many, especially games where you can't hide the HUD (like Call of Duty WW2).
I haven't gotten around to using Witcher 3's Storyboard UI mod yet, for a few of the screenshots I entered animation commands into the console to force Geralt or those around him to perform certain animations, eg the leaning, kneeling and sitting animations. Most of them are just taken as I play though, I rarely bother to input specific weather that I want into the console.
90% of the editing for all of the photos is done in the in-game camera options, eg NVIDIA Ansel I'll adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, depth of field, ect ect but I'm at editing photos (I just use paint.net) so I don't do much touching up afterwards.
Here are my screenshots for Borderlands 3. As always I've spent way too much time taking screenshots rather than playing the game, and as a result I haven't even left Pandora yet. https://imgur.com/a/zlQ4t2q
There are a few duplicates as I tried out different filters and effects.