How do you take a good screenshot?

Hey guys,

I have been trying to take some nice screen shots and post them up on an image site. The only problem is no matter what I do all of my shots look too dark. I see all these people with bright great looking screenshots and I am just curious if anyone has some tips to take some real nice pics of their characters.

Thanks!

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Grey Ghost Music

change the settings onyour game

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Don't forget, right now it's nighttime pretty much everywhere... so it's dark.

Try after the halloween event. Alternately, take them inside a mission or, depending on lighting, your SG base.

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change the settings onyour game

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Okay, let's set THAT aside for now.

Seriously, it takes more than just changing your settings in game, although the higher your graphics settings, the better your base picture is. Up your Gamma a notch or two to start, as well.

The first thing you need to consider is composition. Anyone can take a pic of a character just standing there. Try to get an action pose, if you can, or just an unusual angle. Also, unless you're trying to get shots of your character's powers, turn most if not all of them off. Take two or three shots from different angles to use in post production, in case you find something you like about one.

Next, import the pic into a good graphics program, like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop. These programs have a variety of tools to enhance pictures, clean them up, or apply a variety of artistic filters to the image. A little bit of touchup can make an ordinary pic into a masterpiece.

((Sorry I don't have any examples to show you. I'm not on my computer at the moment.))

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Hmmm well I have my graphics cranked ...that's not the problem. It's strange really .....it can look real bright on my screen and then be real dark on the screenie. I might have to try that whole open it with Paint or something and up the brightness on the pic.

Any recommended zones with good lighting? My SG base is kinda dark lol.

Thanks for the suggestions so far though....the helpful suggestions

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Grey Ghost Music

Some good places are usually indoor settings, like City Hall, the Freedom Corps building, Hospitals, the University, and the Vanguard DPO. I don't recommend Pocket D, because the lighting can get really wierd in places.

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if the screenie's really dark, then try pasting the clipboard into Paint or Photoshop or whatnot.

Not sure if there'll be a difference... but one could be a screen capture, while the other is a single-frame dump from the game engine (pre-image-processing).

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"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."

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change the settings onyour game

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Actually this does not work for screenshots. Only for what you're seeing while in the game.

In order to get your screenies to be bright, you'll need to play with it in an editor like PSP or Photoshop or Gimp or pick another program Adjust the brightness/contrast or the gamma settings, that usually does the trick.

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Repurposed

QR

Well I've been working a screenshot guide, you can take a look if you like. It's got purty pictures and hopefully some helpful advice.

Alty's Guide to Screenshots


I'd also suggest using the free photo editor like GIMP --It has the same tools like photoshop but for free (If you need one, of course)


This wil help with your darkness issue. You'll need a program that lets you adjust the brightness./contrast and RBG channel levels which gives you more precise control over brightness.

In any case, location does help a bit as well.

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Wow Alty, that article rocks!

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Oh thank ya Now that I've exposed it, this means I have to complete that editing section post haste

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That is an excellent guide -- good job!

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The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction

Amrat wrote:

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Hmmm well I have my graphics cranked ...that's not the problem. It's strange really .....it can look real bright on my screen and then be real dark on the screenie.

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If I'm not mistaken, this is what happens when you adjust the brightness on your monitor (using its contrast/brightness controls) instead of adjust the Gamma setting in-game.

No matter how much you brighten your monitor, the in-game depiction doesn't change unless you lighten/darken the game's base level with the Gamma adjustment.

--NT

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They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!

If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville

[ QUOTE ]
Hmmm well I have my graphics cranked ...that's not the problem. It's strange really .....it can look real bright on my screen and then be real dark on the screenie. I might have to try that whole open it with Paint or something and up the brightness on the pic.

Any recommended zones with good lighting? My SG base is kinda dark lol.

Thanks for the suggestions so far though....the helpful suggestions

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This happens to me all the time. When you take a screenshot, it takes it at the "factory" brightness setting. Since I have my brightness in game set to 85% (which makes it brighter), when I take a screenshot, I open it in photoshop and adjust the brightness by 15%. This makes the screenshot equal to what I see in game.

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No matter how much you brighten your monitor, the in-game depiction doesn't change unless you lighten/darken the game's base level with the Gamma adjustment.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sadly, and learned from LONG time in-game Screenie experience, the in-game Gamma level setting in the Graphics Menu option won't affect the actual screen-shot results outside of the game. The base-lumination levels will still be recorded in both the game's .TGA and .JPG export formats. No amount of in-game settings will lower the Gamma in the screen-file itself, only the signal sent to the on-screen monitor.

Only real chance for best, brightest results is to have good illumination settings in the game-world's environment (get outside during day-cycle, sonny!) or use as we do... the level-adjustments afforded in the graphic post-editing program such as Photoshop.

You CAN affect the day-cycle levels if you use the Demo-Editor and record the screenshot there, as you have numeric-control over the game's Real-day clock during the demo-file playback. Of course, working with the Demo-editor, you won't have the 2-D UI graphic overlay, but most times that is a GOOD thing.

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