Game Photography

Introduction

I have chosen Warframe as my game of choice. Without beating around the bush, I chose this game for the sake of doing this bonus activity. The thing is, I do play a few PC games, but all of them have no photo mode, which is quite unfortunate given that it could have been easier to navigate things on my end. Because of this, I tried searching for free games online, heavy on the "free," which had photo mode. This fortunately became my first choice because of its graphics, and also unfortunately, because I had navigated this game way too late, which had me limited in the maps and characters that I was able to use in Captura--Warframe's built-in photo mode. That said, I was only able to use 3 maps; worse, features like adding enemies, and changing weapons and characters were also not possible. I honestly went complacent since I had this preconceived notion that photo modes would offer everything for free, just like how practice lobbies work, but I was definitely proven wrong. Relatively, the maps offered all had a similar ambience of what's inside a spacecraft, where I was hoping to use some landscapes and outside shots for my work. Given this regard, I utilized Tenno, the Warframe default character, as my main subject for all of my shots as a way to give dynamics to the universal spacecraft background I had.

Below are my PC specifications:

With a 75 Hz and 23" monitor, I can say that my PC is on the decent range for it to still be called a gaming setup. It's a little bit on the potato end, but fortunately, the graphics in Warframe are not entirely laggy at all, since I was only using Captura--the story will definitely be different if I try to play with high graphics on--I might not be able to play at all LOL. Overall, given that my PC specs can decently handle the game, the challenge that I assume I face, and did face, is the range of techniques and skills in my composition, since this is the first time I will be doing photography in a virtual setting. With this being my first, I think I did a passable job on my work. Explore them below.

Photoset

Warframe's Captura

I was glad that it had all the features I was looking for. Captura have DOF control, exposure, color correction, light modifications, and change of game speed, which allowed me to timingly pause and capture fast-paced action sequences I was aiming in my shots.

Transcendence

Shot location: Infested Ship Hologram

Screen Resolution: 1920x1080

Equivalent Frame Size: 16:9

My vision for this shot was to make Tenno feel like he was being transcended to a higher body of reality. I shot it at a slightly lower angle from his body to emphasize more of the light that is trying to pull him up. I did not go all the way down as I still wanted the shot to see his face, where I was able to capture Tenno's side profile and see how the beaming light played contrast on his face and body. I aimed for a rule of thirds on his thigh area as I wanted to emphasize the curvature of his legs, wherein it is positioned that supports his movement of "going up."

In order to ensure that the lights of the subject, main light, and background lights all come into play, I dimmed the scene light from Captura itself, added Bloom to ensure Beatiful glow of the lights where it is needed, adjusted rotation of shadows from Tenno and his own light dials, and enhanced saturation and contrast.

Au Blood

Shot location: Grineer Galleon Cargo

Screen Resolution: 1920x1080

Equivalent Frame Size: 16:9

I do not specifically know what it is called, but I wanted this shot to be like what you would see in posters of anime where it showcases the main character and such---basically wanting Tenno to look like a protagonist, here comes the hero, savior of the day type of vibe. To execute this, I added a shallow DOF that slightly blurred Tenno's background, jumped at the perfect time + attack using his melee weapon, and adjusted the contrast and exposure. I also applied the rule of thirds, where I placed Tenno at the left vertical line of the grid to give leeway and screentime for his sword.

Gotcha

Shot location: Grineer Galleon Cargo

Screen Resolution: 1920x1080

Equivalent Frame Size: 16:9

For this shot, I wanted the vibe of Tenno catching his enemies off-guard from above and calling it a gotcha moment. This shot is the same principle as Au Blood, with the rule of thirds being applied (Tenno being positioned on the right vertical line, enhancing exposure since the shot was against the light and shotted from below + top horizontal line aligned with his eyes, and adding a shallow DOF as well but adjusting its dial that will help cast the focus on Tenno's face and not entirely his foot. I just felt like it would be overkill to add the focus on his sole since that would be an empty focus to begin with. Also, the gotcha moment is anchored by Tenno's face and the kunai he is holding, so it would just make sense to put the focus on Tenno's upper body.

Hellfire

Shot location: Grineer Galleon Cargo

Screen Resolution: 1920x1080

Equivalent Frame Size: 16:9

My vision for this shot is what we commonly see as riflers who position themselves, hiding from somewhere and shooting their enemies from...somewhere. I like this shot because I timed it where the bullet tracers can be seen and saturated enough, complemented with the Bloom feature, to enhance the concept of fast-shooting, all-out bullets. Furthermore, I also added a shallow DOF to position Tenno as the main subject, and his left eye just perfectly aligned with the right vertical line of the 3x3 grid. I also dimmed the scene lighting, enhanced the individual lighting dials of Tenno, and adjusted his shadow rotation dial, to enhance the light being cast from the bright bullets. Additionally, I used Captura's color correction tool, and chose from its presets to enhance the overall contrast, then manually adjusted the preset's dial to unsaturate it a bit.

Anarchy Fissure

Shot location: Grineer Galleon Cargo

Screen Resolution: 1920x1080

Equivalent Frame Size: 16:9

This is the type of shot that I would immediately think of when game photography comes to mind. Since I am not able to add enemies, where initially I planned to do a couple of fighting scenes for this activity, I just planned it in a way that Tenno himself is doing all the action. So for this, I timed it the moment Tenno double jumps and uses his aerial melee attack. This was one of the hardest to capture since his landing was just too fast and had an inaccurate landing at times. Luckily, I was able to shoot a couple, and tried to find a nice angle that would show the overall structure of the sword, and emphasize the radial movement of the metal sparks that was caused by it. Additionally, I also adjusted its DOF to be shallow so that the entire focus would be Tenno's sword, accompanied by the rule of thirds where I positioned the sword at the 2nd bottom horizontal line, and enhanced shadows, contrast, and exposure.

Conclusion

Overall, my enjoyment and fulfillment from this activity outweighed the cons. Cons, you might ask. Since I have mentioned that this is the first time I would be trying game photography, I did have a hard time more on how I can expand the limited map and character resources Warframe Captura allows. Given that I admittedly installed this game days before the deadline, I was not able to fully explore and play the game longer and farther than I would usually do, given the time constraints I set myself up with. I really wanted to utilize the games I do play like Valorant, Marvel Rivals, Overwatch, Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery, Naruto, and Roblox (well, I may just have unnecessarily yapped the games I play), since I am already familiar with them, even if I rarely play any of them as of date. However, I was still up for the challenge and was happy convincing myself to continue doing the activity because I almost backed out since I did not want to play further just to unlock the resources I needed for Captura. Yes, there are millions of games online, but unfortunately don't know any of them. And yes, it was indeed my fault for having the limitations I had.

Analyzing the concept of game photography from what I have experienced in comparison to real-life photography, I can say that both have their strengths and weaknesses that make them similar yet so different.

For me, game photography felt like the world was my oyster. Everything was my chess piece, where everything was under my control. This, however, does not necessarily apply to every game, where each photo mode feature and component varies. That being said, another con aside from the game creators and their ambition for the photo modes is the specs that your device needs to run these games. With great photo modes comes a great price. Without a good graphics processor and overall specification, you can only do so much to play the games that your device can handle, compromise the visual quality of the game which is futile, or preserve the quality but wait tons of lightyears just for the game to crash because your processor could not handle it. Circling back, game photography offers you a variety of "set equipment" that you can choose from, characters, and whatever you need, photo mode conditions aside. With the limitless possibilities it offers, however, some people like me could find it overwhelming--overwhelmed from excitement, and overwhelmed from the thought of "unlimitedness." I have experienced both because I wanted to try all the shot angles and compositions I can do just to have the shot for this activity, but also overwhelmed because there are many variables in the game that I would not know where I should position, from where I should capture, because every nook and cranny can be a space to hit that shot! However, I did wish that there was more creative freedom for the characters themselves on what they could do, wear, and act, unless there were mods added to the game--unlike in real-world photography, where the freedom is all yours.

Bearing these in mind, it can be said that both can be unlimited and limited in their own ways; but definitely, cross-learning is applicable where the concepts of photography from one can be applied to both ends--just like how I applied my learnings from real-world photography to game photography.

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