Baby steps into taking a good screenshot:
1) Take one of your favorite characters and go to a place where the surroundings will complement him/her. Avoid as much as possible large, blocky objects such as large-textured walls and stuff like that.
2) Light it up. Every map in GW has a unique light source that comes from one direction. Make your character turn around and notice how light changes as it refracts on him/her. Your character should face the light at no angle larger than 45 degrees.
3) Strike a pose. Like I mentioned in a previous screenshot post, your character is never-tiring, never-complaining and always-willing model (wouldn't fashion photographers love GW models
). Try emotes and such and repeat them if necessary while observing the gestures. somewhere along the line you'll find something worthy of capturing. 4) Capture, capture and capture again. Just make sure that your screenshots are taken without the interface, in my case SHIFT-F12.
5) Give your shot a makeover with your favorite image editing program. As always, keep your originals safe and experiment away.
So here are my selected works and some behind-the-scenes tidbit. In some I've decided to put the before and after.
Saiko, fire elementalist. I decided to spice this screenshot with reddish colors in order to enhance the theme of fire. The location is on the south-east of Shing Jea and the emote used is bowhead.
Original image:
Enhanced image:
Bethany, necromancer. I was looking for a calm and moody place. Found the location near Fort Aspenwood. There's no emote here that I can remember using. (Original accidently deleted. Save your files!)
Isako, warrior. I wanted to capture something reminescent of classic, post-renaissance european paintings along with a touch of greek-roman poses that have been used on so many statues. Luckily, the flex emote and the area just outside Shing Jea monastery allowed me to do just that. This is perhaps the shot from which I received the most comments in thread and PM.
Original image:
Enhanced image:
Saeko, monk. She's my newborn and started playing her just a few days ago. The setting here is, again, the outside of Shing Jea monastery and the emote is bow.
Original image:
Enhanced image:
Isako again. I wanted to capture the essence of the warrior heading with dedication into a dangerous battle. I wanted to give the same feel as when Maximus heads into the Roman Coliseum for the first time in "Gladiator". I found the perfect place for this shot in the last mission where teams have to defeat Shiro. Of course, I had to go alone and the only problem was Mhenlo who kept getting into the picture. To lose him and give me some leverage I used sprint and took screenshots after screenshots while working the angles. Of course, the Kurzick armor has the small drawback of putting front and center a part of Isako's anatomy that somehow's distracts a bit. But I think the overall effect more than compensate. No emotes here, I had Isako walking backward while I was taking the screenshots.
Isako, once more. This time around I wanted to capture a pensive moment. This shot could relate many things but what came to my mind was what could Isako feel after defeating Shiro. There, near a harbor, she could watch the Canthan people reprising their daily lives in a peaceful setting. I rather like the emotion that transpires from this image. The location is the northern part of Raisu's Palace and the emote used is ponder.
Isn't Isako great? Some might think that she's wondering how she went from butt-kicking warrior to supermodel. Well, for this shot I wanted to achieve the "traveler's" look. If the background sets a calm, the shield and sword held by Isako makes the viewer feel that there's some danger lurking about (maybe a butt-pinching crab?). I found this little place north of Minister's Cho estate along the beach. There's no emote for this image.
Noa, ranger. In this shot I wanted the viewer to hear the distant rumbling of the approaching thunder, the bristling of the leaves, to smell the humidity in the air and to feel the first droplets of rain.
So, feel absolutely free to comment and ask questions.
Bethany
