Bonus Activity 1: Game Photography

THIS ACTIVITY CONTAINS THREE SECTIONS:

Pre-Production (System, Scouted Locations, Expectations)
Photoset (Selected Five Pictures for the Activity)
Self-Reflection (How's the Game Photography Experience?)

Ad Astra Abyssosque

"TO the stars & the abyss"

Playing online games has been one of the activities that has helped me unwind and meet new friends. Before the pandemic, I had been playing cozy games like Neko Atsume and Notice Me Senpai, but when the pandemic struck, I got hooked on playing open-world action RPG games. And that's why I'll use the game Genshin Impact for this activity, as it has a special place on my laptop, being the first game I've played in this genre.

The nostalgia isn't the only reason why I chose this game, but also for its landscapes and architecture are reminiscent of real-life sceneries. I'm also fond of the game's story - from the world's nature, lore, and history of each region in Teyvat to the personality (and JP voice acting) of each character featured in each story and quest. This made me appreciate the game

Pre-production

SYSTEM, SCOUTED LOCATIONS, AND EXPECTATIONS

SYSTEM USED

Windows Version: Microsoft Windows 11 Home Single Language
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600H with Radeon Graphics, 3.30 GHz
Installed RAM: 16.0 GB
System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Display: AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics
Display Type: 1920 x 1080, 144 Hz | Display Resolution

As I'm playing online games with my gaming laptop with NVIDIA GeForce RTX having a 144 Hz refresh rate made it possible to run the games with medium to high settings while still retaining a smooth experience. But for this activity, I'll be showing my custom graphic setting in-game as running it with high quality will cook my laptop's processors, haha *laughs nervously.*

CAMERA AND GRAPHICS SETTINGS

I'll be showcasing first the camera function of the game. Genshin Impact's camera settings are easy to follow having similar functions to a phone's camera setting such as customizing depth-of-field through background blur – adjusting the blur radius and blur distance to create emphasis on the subject of the picture. The game also has additional functions that can help the players create an interesting photo through the help of options for the character's facial expression and poses. However, players can also wait for the character's "idle animation" where the character will move when not being "controlled" for a while. This idle animation is nice to capture as it reflects the character's personality which can be utilized to create a creative photo where the character seems to be engaging with the environment or tell a story through it if effectively used. Lastly, the game also has a function where we can freely adjust the time in-game – selecting the right lighting, preferring a blue sky over a star-filled sky, or maybe capturing a unique photo during the golden hour! 🌇

Depth of Field

Camera setting that enable blurring of background through adjusting blur radius and blur distance

Select Time

This function enables players to freely control the time in-game. You can choose to shoot during the morning, afternoon, the starry night sky or even the golden hour!

Character Poses and Expression

Freely adjust the facial expression and select set character poses

Graphics Setting In-Game

I've customized my settings to prevent my laptop from lagging while capturing photos but not compromising the graphics quality of the game. Here are the screenshots of my graphic's setting!

SCOUTED LOCATIONS

Genshin Impact has many regions as the story has been running for years. On the bright side, there are many memorable places for me due to their picturesque scenery or simply because of how the landscape can tell a story by being involved in the world's lore and story quests. It was hard choosing which locations to feature in this activity as there are regions that I prefer to capture due to having bias on a specific region's sceneries (*ehem* Inazuma Region that features Momiji trees and shrines filled with Sakura). In the end, I've decided to showcase each region in the game. I' won't include the latest region (Natlan) as I haven't explored the places yet, hence, the 5 regions will have each picture featured here. 🌃

Mondstadt - Whenever I'm asked which region I am most fond of, Mondstadt will be my answer despite my love for Japanese aesthetics rather than European ones. Despite the German inspiration of the architecture and sceneries of the game, I still loved how this region is more inspired by fairytales and books like Arthurian legend in its story, lore, and even the characters. Regardless of its inspiration, I always say that "Mondstadt is home" as this is where the adventure began. As such I wanted to capture this feeling of "home" in my picture of this region! 🏡
Liyue - This area is an inspiration of Chinese culture and architecture. But what I want to capture in this region is the "grieve" lore of the place where a lot of Liyue's deities have met their end and lost their friend in the aftermath of the Archon/God War. I want to capture a "dark" photo with a tinge of fear and loneliness in my picture of this region. 👻
Inazuma - As I've mentioned before, this area is heavily inspired by Japanese aesthetics. The region is full of beautiful scenery such as areas filled with Momiji trees, tori gates and shrines, and roads full of sakura! 🌸
Sumeru - This region is full of deserts and greenery where you can explore to your heart's content. Since it's the land of wisdom, I want to take a snap of something that exudes "seeking of something" that describes the theme of the region. 🔍
Fontaine - I think what I love the most in this region is how sunflowers have been abundant in its areas! I remembered how I enjoyed Fontaine's world quest that centralized with the usage of themes of sunflowers which I want to feature in my photos of my Fontaine-inspired teapot with a sunflower field! Sadly, there are no areas in Fontaine filled with sunflower which is why I've created a realm teapot (it's like a Minecraft mode in Genshin haha) where I can put as much as flowers to my heart's content!🌻

EXPECTATIONS

As I've briefly mentioned what kind of photos I want to capture in my scouted locations, I'll be talking about what composition I want to do. I plan to take landscape, architecture, and portrait photography!

I'll be doing landscape photography where I want to emphasize the scenery of the world while architecture photography for pictures where I want to emphasize the buildings and structures seen in the game. As for portrait photography, I want to challenge myself to take a snap of a photo that tells a story. I think this would be the hardest as it needs precise direction of composition which may have limits on the game's functions and tools. Nevertheless, they say that "imagination is your limit" and I would like to take up this challenge to practice/improve my composition skills! I think this activity will be a good opportunity for me to improve my weaknesses and try to experiment with what principles and techniques I can use.

Aside from those mentioned, I just hope that I can utilize the game's functions in my favor as it has limited settings I can work on as well as my worry about the graphics quality if it's enough to capture sharp images. I think I'll try to use a few post-processing (like cropping) but I'll strive to avoid using editing of colors and sharpening to avoid affecting the overall look of the photos. I'll also try to discuss my reasons for my post-processing and why it is needed to do on my raw photos (please check the collapsible "raw photo versions" part for this analysis!)

Lastly, I want to enjoy this activity as if I'm just doing it to de-stress and re-immerse myself again with Genshin Impact's world as it's been a while since I played and explored its world.

And with that, let's proceed with the next part of this activity! If you want to chill and jam while reading the entries, you can listen to my favorite Genshin Anniversary Fansongs on YouTube!

"Let the Wind Tell You"

Genshin Impact's 1st Anniversary Fansong

"If You Suddenly Think of Me"

Genshin Impact's 2nd Anniversary Fansong

Photoset

Five (5) Photos I was fond of!

May the Wind Guide you 🍃

📸 Windrise, Mondstadt

Raw Photo versions (1)

I decided to crop the photo to emphasize the windmill more rather than featuring the whole scene where surrounding greenery and mountains can be seen. The cropped version looks more like architecture photography compared to the raw photo which leans more toward landscape photography! I also tried to capture the scene at nighttime but preferred the tone of the bright sky that fits the picture's intent!

The first thing that comes to mind whenever I need to describe the city of Mondstadt is how it is the land of freedom – just like the element of wind that is unrestrained and does things at its will.

As such, windmills have been one the symbols of Mondstadt where we can see how relaxing the breeze of the wind is. It was hard to capture the motion of the rotor as shutter speed cannot be adjusted in-game. This is why I decided to emphasize the whole windmill instead by cropping the image and following the Rule of Thirds composition style where the blades of the windmill are at the center. I didn't use depth of field or blur effect in this one since I'm aiming to have a "natural" photo of the place, the windmill as the main focus amidst the houses and trees around it!

Overall, I liked how it turned out as I was also able to utilize the Radial composition as well where the windmill blades guide you where to look. The contrast of the blue sky to the greenery and windmill as well as the leading lines (the small landform behind the windmill and the stepway of the windmill guiding your eyes to go look at the rotor) helps distinguish the elements in the picture and have that relaxed countryside vibe!

The woods at night🌃

📸 Wuwang Hill, Liyue

This photo was one of my favorites as it was fun directing the composition of this picture. First, the balance between the light produced by the lamp held by Emilie and the dark background of the woods at night contrasted well. Rhythmic elements such as the trees and the (descending) leading line of the pathway in the wood were a nice touch to help emphasize the subject (Emilie) and the direction of the picture's story.

This portraiture attempts to capture a story in my mind where Emilie is walking alone in the haunted woods of Wuwang Hill in the middle of the night. The only light source in this photo was the moonlight and the lamp which helped create an eerie mood in the picture. The tone of the picture also matches Emilie's expression, particularly how the direction of the photo seems to make her expression appear "cautious" of her surroundings. Going for the Rule of Thirds composition was the safest to apply here to emphasize the subject as well as using a bit of depth of field by adjusting the blur radius and distance to create a distinction between Emilie and the background. Although the blur slightly affected the lamp's light scatter, it still turned out nice as it made the shine of the light more visible and natural. As for post-processing, I've only cropped it slightly to remove the game's watermark and still matched it with the Rule of Thirds to make Emilie placed in the center of the picture.

It was fun experimenting with the idle animation of the character and using principles and composition styles to fit the story I wanted to convey in the photo!

Raw Photo version (2)

As you can see with this shot, Emilie is slightly not in the center of the picture and there are rocks that are distracting in the background which ruins the rhythmic element of the trees in the picture, hence, decided that cropping the picture was the best option (size: full screen cropped on my Xiaomi Redmi Note11 Pro Camera).

Fall in love like the sakura🌸

📸 Amakane Island, Inazuma

This entry was the hardest for me as I want to capture this place in a way that you feel like you're the one going up on the Sakura pathway and passing by the Tori Gate like you're the one playing the game.

I shot this picture during nighttime to have that feel of having a stroll in the middle of the night to unwind and just enjoy the breeze of the night air. Shooting at night fit my intent perfectly as well as how the lanterns lit the pathway to the Tori Gate. The usage of the leading line (pathway and lights along it) emphasizes the direction of the picture – guiding the eyes of the viewer where to look. Rhythmic elements are also observable in this picture like the Sakura trees, the lights on the ground as well as the lanterns. Lastly, it was hard experimenting with the Golden Spiral composition in this snap where the Tori Gate was "isolated" from the other elements of the picture. Depth of field was not utilized in this photo as I wanted to capture the whole landscape.

Raw Photo version (3)

The raw shot already turned out great and just needs minimal editing such as cropping the in-game watermark as well as omitting some elements that may distract the viewer to focus on the Tori gate and lit pathway filled with sakura.

Venture into the unknown 🛣️

📸 The Orchard of Pairidaeza, Sumeru

This location was the most difficult to find and capture in my experience as the cave was too dark. I tried capturing different parts of the cave to experiment with the lighting but in the end, this photo of the cave of The Orchard of Pairidaeza was the best as the distance to the light source was just right – not too bright nor too dark. I love how the intensity of the blur in this photo helped adjust the lighting which created a contrast between the bright end of the cave and the dark part of the cave's tunnel. The slight blur also helped emphasize the character compared to the background.

I was supposed to omit the character by using the "hide character" setting of the camera but decided to use it to my advantage to tell a story while capturing this landscape. The character Collei looks like someone venturing into the unknown (enter background song 🎶, just kidding). The leading lines of the cave's pathway made it seem like Collei was descending to the dark cave and looking adventurous with her pose as if looking at what lies ahead of her journey.

As for the composition, I used the Rule of Thirds where the character is positioned at the center of the picture. I also would like to add that the composition also fits the Golden Spiral as the distance between Collei, the pathway of the light end of the cave, and the negative space placement fit the cropped version perfectly of this picture.

Raw Photo version (4)

I think the shot is fine despite not being cropped but I prefer to crop it due to the in-game watermark as well as doing minor adjustments like omitting some negative spaces that are not that helpful with the composition.

Focused on You 📸

I was debating on the last picture to feature on this activity but decided to feature this portraiture of my favorite Fontainian character named Charlotte! This picture was the hardest to pick as I'm not quite sure if this is the best photo to describe the region of Fontaine, nevertheless, here I am defending my choice haha *laughs nervously.*

Anyway, the reason why I picked this aside from the character being my bias, is how the Golden Hour was captured in the background. I loved the way the gradient or the mix of blue hues and tinge of the orange sunset blended. This matches the colors of the sunflower well compared to the other option shots I have. I've also utilized the depth of field here by adjusting the blur distance and blur radius of the background to the subject. However, we can see that there's a bit of blur on the hand part of Charlotte as she was doing her idle animation while I captured the photo, hence, affecting the blur setting I've set resulting in a bit of motion blur. Nonetheless, the blurring of the background still helped to emphasize the character and the sunflowers making Charlotte apparent.

We can see that rhythmic elements can be observed in this image where sunflowers can be observed. Lastly, the composition style used in this photo is the Rule of Thirds, with the lines overlapping Charlotte's slightly raised arm, her face in the center of the picture, and the sunflowers on the outer boxes of the composition.

📸Sunflower Field, Serenitea Pot Realm

Raw Photo version (5)

This is the uncropped version of the selected photo. At first, I was hesitant to add this to the list but cropping made the picture look better than I imagined. I was debating whether to make this entry a landscape photo rather than portraiture but decided that the latter one looks better and has the less cluttered rhythmic element of the sunflowers that may be too distracting to others. Here's the cropped version that looks more like a landscape photo. I think versions are okay but depends on my intent and whether what I want to emphasize more – the scenery or landscape (1st photo) or the character and its action or portraiture (2nd photo) .

Self-Reflection

How's the game photography experience?

The activity was quite overwhelming at the start as I looked back at how "boring" and flat my pictures were before. Photography is not really my field of expertise and applying my current skill to game photography seems daunting. I was encouraged to keep trying while the days passed by as I tried to explore the camera settings of the game and also watch some YouTube tutorials on how to do compositions in-game. I remembered how I took a lot of pictures before I was satisfied with the ones featured here!

To be honest, the camera function was limiting as Genshin Impact's tool only offers adjustments on background blur such as changing the intensity of the blur radius and blur distance. I faced some difficulty with this aspect of the setting as it sometimes blurs the objects the character is holding or parts of the character that are in motion. Nevertheless, being cautious of this instance or taking advantage of the motion blur it creates have been some of the ways I've done to compensate with the blur function. This was not the only challenge I've faced with the functions of the game camera but also how I can't "freeze" the characters when they move or do not have the option to freely trigger the character's idle animation. This consumed a lot of time as I was moving back and forth to adjust the time, lay down again my blur setting, and then wait for the character's idle animation to trigger again (then do the same cycle if I'm not satisfied with the shot).

The camera function in Genshin Impact is definitely different and offers less function than my phone camera where I can adjust the shutter speed, ISO, exposure, the aperture, and freedom to adjust the focus of the camera to my preferred part of the scene I want to capture. The biggest difference between the camera in-game and a phone camera is the option to have gridlines (Rule of Thirds, Golden Spiral, etc.) included in the interface. On a positive note, this trained me to imagine the grids and be mindful of my composition!

Nonetheless, game photography enabled me to practice taking pictures, especially portraiture and landscape ones as it is hard to capture them in crowded places (I can just turn off the crowd density in-game to avoid capturing unnecessary elements in the picture.) It is also easier to capture certain angles in-game as it does not require a tripod to have a stable shot. And of course, adjusting the lighting as well as the time of the day was one of the biggest perks of game photography as you can freely control it – especially, if you want to compare whether something suits the bright or night sky and even have unlimited time to capture photos during Golden Hour.

Overall, the game photography experience was quite fun to do as it helped me enjoy photography in a way that I was able to capture moments and sceneries I'm fond of in-game. The activity was also a relaxing way to practice photography as you do not need to commute or deal with noisy crowds in places as you can enjoy it on the four corners of your room and screen. This activity not only offered enjoyment but also made me learn how to apply principles and techniques while taking a picture. I was mindful of the composition styles, the colors, the contrast and lighting, the usage of depth of field through blur, as well as the direction or intent I have when I snap a photo!

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