Picture Taking Help?

[KCeeV291]

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I really wanted to know how to take clearer pictures. My pictures don't seem to stand out like the others I've seen on here. I've gotten some tips, but they don't really change anything. So could someone tell me or give me some advice? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

[Madison-Simple-As-That]

Hmmmm, get a better flash player, set the texture and quality on the game to high, and that should improv eit quite a bit. I take pictures and they never stand out, not quite as clear but not at ALL blurry and I like it fine.

[Tenshii~Akari]

I'm sure you'll find all the advice you need in this thread.  There's also HystericalParoxysm's tutorial.  

[Theraven]

my trick is to have all the ingame settings on high, then using gadwin to save screenshots as Tiff files (they come out in 1280x800).

after I'm done with picture taking, I open the pictures in photoshop, and sharpen them (after I'm done with all the other editing I usually do, like brightening and such).

I usually make a new layer of the background layer/edited picture and then put a smart filter on top - making the filters editable, then put a smart sharpen filter on top of it (usually with my own "standard" setting with amount 85 - radius 0,7. The other default sharpening tools you've got little or no control over, unlike smart sharpen).

How much sharpening depends on how good your ingame graphics are. You just have to experiment with how much you need. But if you start to see clear white lines around edges in the picture, then you took it too far. If you don't sharpen the printscreen pictures, they actually have a tendency to become a bit blurry when you resize.

after that, I adjust the image size with all the layers still there. It keeps the settings from getting lost - unlike if you flatten the layers before adjusting the size. (I also use the bicubic sharper function before clicking OK).

(a good idea is to now save the tiff file as a new file so that you both have the original and the edited file, just in case)

I then flatten the layer, and save as PNG. You can save as JPG too (use highest settings), and sometimes you have to do that - but keep in mind that JPG takes away picture information already in the first saving. If you save the same picture many times using JPG, especially if you use lower settings than the highest, it will in the end become blurry. PNG uses other ways of rezising the filesize, and won't do that to your pictures. The filesize is a bit bigger than JPG, but the quality of the picture is a lot better.

here's what I mean - you don't see it so good in the post, but if you look at them against each other (like save to desktop, and go through them there), you can see it very clearly:

my usual settings


without smart sharpen (or without sharpening at all)


flatten layers before adjusting image size


the JPG with the highesst saving setting looked almost like the PNG one - but check what happens when I turn the settings to the lowest:

big difference, huh?


hope this (very detailed tip tutorial) helps

[lewisb40]

Nice Raven. I wouldn't know what to do in photoshop. Decided to take a class this January. I am getting behind the times. *Whoosh* right pass me.

Will refer to this post once I can understand what you have instructed.

[Theraven]

well, I learned the thing about smart layers when I had photoshop classes last year) I took one year with digital photography). Also the thing about JPG versus PNG. And a lot of other things. I've worked with photoshop for over four years now, i think. Had a little photoshop when I had art classes at school a few years ago too - but we didn't learn much there, to be honest. Mostly I just mess around a little in photoshop, and suddenly find new things to do


another thing: I use the brightness/contrast layer to brighten up and get a tiny bit sharper colors in the pics (don't use too much, because you'll get weird glowing effects on the pictures with too much contrast). Keep in mind that I use the CS3 version of this function - and it's a LOT better than the earlier versions (according to the teacher I had, anyway). I'll see if I can test this too...
 
EDIT: and my teacher was right.
the picture in the middle is the first picture above. The one to the left is 100% contrast with CS3, the right side one is 100% contrast with the legacy option in CS3 (which is the same as use of contrast with earlier PS versions - I did test with Photoshop CS too, and it gave me the same result. I've got no clue which options CS2 or any other picture editing programme has).



and one essential tip for any editing at all in photoshop: use layers where you can. It does make the files somewhat bigger - but if you do a mistake, it's so much easier to correct than if you use the editing that goes straight on the picture. I've got a bunch of other tips too - but I usually find it easier to show them than to tell about them. There are also several photoshop/picture editing tutorials all over the net too.

But don't be afraid to ask me about anything. I'm not an expert in photoshop (definitely not), but I know most of the essential things, at least when it comes to picture editing.
(just don't overload my PM box with help questions... )

[Peony07]

Hi, A couple of things you can do is to use Gunmod's camera hack (from MTS2), which allows you to zoom in closer. Another would be to use is a 3rd party program (like FRAPS, very easy to use) for taking the game shots; it gives you larger,  clearer shots than the in-game option.

[Karla!]

thanks a lot! =]