Pro-Tip: Screenshotting

I've seen some of you guys post these amazing looking screenshots and for the life of me I can never get mine to look nearly as good.

What're some suggestions you can give to the community to enhance their screenshots?

Anything. Locations, poses, times of the (Eorzean) day, photo editing software, whatever.

I'm looking for help getting nice shots of my character playing Bard songs, but I always have a problem timing it right because the screen capture feature seems to only let you grab a certain amount of shots within a given time frame. (Or is that just me?)

My pro-tip: Pressing the Pause/Break key will have your character face the camera. I'm well aware the majority of the community knew this already but I've been playing this game since 1.0 beta and I just found that out a couple of months ago. Just throwing this out there on the off chance someone else didn't know this. I accidentally hit the key while taking some shots and it blew my mind lol

some of the better quality screen shots I've seen have been Photoshopped for lighting and color.

SweetFX makes my screenies pretty...

Main thing is using SweetFX which really enhances the lighting and colour and removes the grey scale aspect of it.

The other important thing to keep in mind, is composition rules. Taking screenshots are much like taking photos. Following some simple rules really enhances the pictures.

For example:

http://i58.tinypic.com/2z6doqg.png

Framing the picture on the sides just makes it look... nicer. It fits well, meshes together.

http://i58.tinypic.com/f1e0qo.png

This one here, again. By framing the lower part of the picture, you're creating layers within the picture. It gives it more depth, you see?

The obvious answer to top of the line screenshots, is to not only use a cellphone for it, but to rotate it slightly and to stand at the side of the screen when you do it.

Supersampling does wonders for screenshots if your video card can handle it. Otherwise it's mostly people touching the picture up in post, toying with saturation levels and what not.
http://images.bluegartr.com/bucket/g...c5bdb5d95b.jpg

Another tip is using the grid rule. Don't put your subject/main focus in the dead centre of the image. Divide the screen by 2x imaginary lines (vertical and horizontal) then put the points of interest where those lines meet.

http://designmodo.com/wp-content/upl...2/10/focus.jpg

Jeckyl's shots are a good example of that.


1st picture - The larger, lit flowers land on the bottom left intersection, while the tall mountain is in the upper right.
In the 2nd picture - The position of the character, the 2x corners sections of the "arc" in the wall, and the tall mountain to the left - all land on or near these imaginary intersections.

Is it sad I just found out about the Pause Break thing?

I've been abusing the look at camera feature since it was patched in. I switched it to Home, since Pause|Break is the SweetFX update key (default, anyways, and there's no reason to change it like most any other hotkey)

I started using SweetFX again a couple months ago (It stopped working with either GeForce Experience or one of the graphics card patches and I never set it back up) and I am mindblown by the fact that I managed to go two months without it. The world is so bland without it.

I'm not a scenery screenshot taker, I mostly just take pictures of my character and make scenery gifs.

Anyways, SweetFX is the best. You can set it up any way you want - bright and colorful, dark and gloomy, sharp and realistic, just a touch up, whatever. So I really recommend it if you're on PC and your graphics card can handle it. It will immensely improve your screenshots. Plus, if you do it right, you might never need to edit your screenies. :P

Lighting can make a big difference in the atmosphere of picture. If you feel that the screenshot is too dark, or you find it a bit gloomy overall, try using the Sun Minion. It’s a minion that illuminates its immediate surroundings, but will disappear when you press the “Hide UI” key/button while it keeps illuminating its surroundings.

For example:

Without the Sun Minion:
http://i.imgur.com/jEgN6na.png

With the Sun Minion:

http://i.imgur.com/lyTEaqm.png

Sometimes, by adding a little touch like having your character look at something else or towards the camera in a certain angle can give that little bit extra:

Set my character to the new idle position while having her sword and shield out, turned the camera behind her, have her look at the camera and then changed the position of the camera a bit so that she doesn’t look directly at the camera.
http://i.imgur.com/zKOgFLY.png

Used the same idea here.
http://i.imgur.com/QqqhOSc.png

Just like combining multiple things like poses and emotes:

Just using the “idle pose” with your weapon out.
http://i.imgur.com/Z4zd8js.png

Here i had my character face the NPC next to me (without selecting him, but using the “face camera” function) followed by the “surprised” facial expression.
http://i.imgur.com/6MqrFr1.png

Sat down at the other side of the bench, changes the idle position to where my character leans back and used /shuteyes.
http://i.imgur.com/ao3GxZM.png

depends on what kind of SS you wanna take :)
but i see a lot of ppl taking vanity pictures, at night time, or in poorly lit rooms; wait for sunlight...
If you want to take a wet-looking selfie, you can go punch a water sprite, and have it splash you with water, so you don't need to wait for it to rain.

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Originally Posted by AdamuKun322

Is it sad I just found out about the Pause Break thing?

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Nope, like I said, I accidentally found out about it. It freaked me out too because I didn't even know I fat-fingered another key. all of the sudden my character turned and looked at me. I had a Bill & Ted WHOAAAAAAA moment. Mind Blown...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Radacci

If you want to take a wet-looking selfie, you can go punch a water sprite, and have it splash you with water, so you don't need to wait for it to rain.

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You can also use certain emotes like /disappoint and /grovel while standing in water (like fountains, lakes, rivers or even the sea). (^_~ )

I often do these thing for screenshots:

• wait for the right light, time of day, weather
• try to show my character in the environment
• use various emotes or poses and try to find locations that match or enhance them
• try to get different angles... for example in battle, I may swing the camera low or to be behind the target for a different vantage point
• adjust the 3rd person camera height as appropriate for the image I want (when I have time)
• crop images so my character is not exactly in the center
• sometimes I adjust saturation or contrast afterwards, but try to do so subtly

A few images I recently posted...

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...143fc0dfe5.jpg

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...212b259154.jpg

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...e7773573d5.jpg

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...0341bd282c.jpg

Few questions!

I'm on ps4 can I do the "look at camera thing" in any way? Seems really cool.

I'm an artist and I love to take a lot of screenshots just like I like to take photos in real life =)
However I've found that often I want to take a shot on my mount but pressing the required buttons to make the hud disappear always dismisses the mount and by the time you fumble it back your "moment" has often passed.
Is there any way to get around this?

Can one for example macro the hud toggle instead?

There is a way to put your character off center by creative use of targeting. It's been discussed over in ENTM threads, but I have yet to understand how it works. Hopefully someone else can chime in on this.

On the PS4, you use the keyboard's scroll lock key to drop the UI (I think it's L1 + click bottom left of touch pad on the controller). You will need to set up a keybind for "Face Camera". It's in the settings. I have mine set to the End key.

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Originally Posted by Sadana

There is a way to put your character off center by creative use of targeting. It's been discussed over in ENTM threads, but I have yet to understand how it works. Hopefully someone else can chime in on this.

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If you select a target and lock on to it, then that object we be centered in the screen rather than your character. So by moving yourself or the camera around you can get yourself into various off-center positions.

I find this a bit challenging for screenshots though, since your body will always be facing the object you locked onto and you cannot swing the camera around as freely as you are normally able to. You can use the pause-break button to have your character turn his/her head to the side... bit it's still rather limited.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mikita

If you select a target and lock on to it, then that object we be centered in the screen rather than your character. So by moving yourself or the camera around you can get yourself into various off-center positions.

I find this a bit challenging for screenshots though, since your body will always be facing the object you locked onto and you cannot swing the camera around as freely as you are normally able to. You can use the pause-break button to have your character turn his/her head to the side... bit it's still rather limited.

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Ohhh, I see. Yeah, that was what caused me a lot of confusion. My back was always to the camera and never got a decent shot this way. :/ But I've seen some damn good screenies that used this and I couldn't figure it out. >< Maybe if I turn off that "keep camera distance" setting...

Without SweetFX:

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...111-213114.png

With SweetFX:

http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...111-213112.png

More informations: http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...weetfx_how_to/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keydah

blip

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Maybe you can help me out, I had never heard of it until I saw this thread so I downloaded it to try it out.
for some reason it doesn't save the screenshots for me
It says the screenshots will be saved in the same location the files are but I just can't get it to work

Help please? :D


Edit:
I upload a lot of pictures to instagram and it's great to edit your picture just a little but can still make it look so nice

http://scontent-b.cdninstagram.com/h...71093767_n.jpg
http://scontent-b.cdninstagram.com/h...90652299_n.jpg
http://scontent-a.cdninstagram.com/h...31553085_n.jpg
http://scontent-a.cdninstagram.com/h...90885435_n.jpg

This thread is wonderful so far...thanks everyone!

does anyone have tips for taking pictures while your character is singing? i keep missing the exact moment I want because the client wont let you repeatedly mash the print screen button.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kiara1

Maybe you can help me out, I had never heard of it until I saw this thread so I downloaded it to try it out.
for some reason it doesn't save the screenshots for me
It says the screenshots will be saved in the same location the files are but I just can't get it to work

Help please? :D

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I don't use SweetFX or FFXIV's screenshot taking tools - I use Fraps. But when I hit Print Screen on accident, it saves a picture to my D:\Games\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\game folder, where I put SweetFX. Are they going there? I have 29 (mistake) pictures sitting there in that folder, named "ffxiv.exe_DX9_20150129_234542.bmp" or whatnot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dayspring83

This thread is wonderful so far...thanks everyone!

does anyone have tips for taking pictures while your character is singing? i keep missing the exact moment I want because the client wont let you repeatedly mash the print screen button.

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I'm very bad at that too. I use Fraps, so it lets me take pictures far more often, but not always often enough. I, personally, just record it if I don't want to miss a specific thing then play it in VLC and take the screenshots from there because then you can replay it from the same angle as many times as you like or go back and forth half a second or whatever you need to do. It's a bit complicated, but it's better than playing the song forty times and missing the right second each time.

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A few splitscreen pics of No SweetFX vs my SweetFX
(meant to post them in my first post then fell asleep waiting for daytime...)

http://i.imgur.com/qV1TMHB.png

http://i.imgur.com/5BjM6tb.png

http://i.imgur.com/8cX6Vbv.png

Holy crap sweetfx looks amazing! I want to use it now but I'm gonna wait until after I'm kicked out of ENTM if I get in.

A note on the lock on thingy discussed in the ENTM thread: To lock on to things on pc select them then type /lockon. I haven't tried this yet but perhaps a way to get around the flaw you guys mentioned in using /lockon would be to go into your settings and disable automatically facing your target? If you do that remember to re-enable it so you don't go into titan ex as a blackmage and freak out when it won't let you attack. Using /lockon will allow you to place your character offcenter.

The Wind-up Sun is a great tool (as mentioned).

It can also be used to create a "lock on target" wherever you want - Especially considering that when you hide your UI, the sun becomes invisible.

So a nice tip.. Run to the "centre" of the image you want, call the minion, take a few steps back, lock on, then adjust your camera.

Another tool for taking good environmental "selfies" is simply have someone else take it. Regardless of what you may try with own camera adjustments and target locking, some form of pictures you'll just never be able to take better than another player will so it helps having friends in that regard.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keydah

A few splitscreen pics of No SweetFX vs my SweetFX
(meant to post them in my first post then fell asleep waiting for daytime...)

http://i.imgur.com/qV1TMHB.png

http://i.imgur.com/5BjM6tb.png

http://i.imgur.com/8cX6Vbv.png[/center]

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Mind sharing your sweetfx settings? :o

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Originally Posted by Sayori

Mind sharing your sweetfx settings? :o

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[Here]'s a pastebin link to my settings. :)

SweetFX looks like it just increases saturation. You could play around in Photoshop to achieve a similar result from the looks of it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chiramu

SweetFX looks like it just increases saturation. You could play around in Photoshop to achieve a similar result from the looks of it.

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You could. SweetFX is just post-processing. It does sharpening, bloom, saturation, HDR, vibrance, FX/SMAA, etc. It does a lot of what you could do in Photoshop, it just does it in-game while you play - which makes a huge difference if you're graphically inclined. FFXIV has very dull colors. :P But as this is a thread about screenshots, not game playing, yes, you can achieve all of that (and likely more) in Photoshop, with no hit to your FPS.

This is sweet! Had a year of photography back in art school and all of this just hits home xD! Great tips! THANKS!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keydah

You could. SweetFX is just post-processing. It does sharpening, bloom, saturation, HDR, vibrance, FX/SMAA, etc. It does a lot of what you could do in Photoshop, it just does it in-game while you play - which makes a huge difference if you're graphically inclined. FFXIV has very dull colors. :P But as this is a thread about screenshots, not game playing, yes, you can achieve all of that (and likely more) in Photoshop, with no hit to your FPS.

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Ah, I thought SweetFX was a photo editing software :p. I like the in-game colours as they are personally though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keydah

[Here]'s a pastebin link to my settings. :)

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Thanks!

/10char

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keydah

I don't use SweetFX or FFXIV's screenshot taking tools - I use Fraps. But when I hit Print Screen on accident, it saves a picture to my D:\Games\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\game folder, where I put SweetFX. Are they going there? I have 29 (mistake) pictures sitting there in that folder, named "ffxiv.exe_DX9_20150129_234542.bmp" or whatnot.

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been trying everything now, I even downloaded some kinda program that would automatically change settings for me.
So I changed it so that F9 will take screenshots
and I've tried different keybindings and nothing will save any screenshots in the folders.

Steam compatibility overlay is set to 1
Started ffxiv using steam, and boot.exe and tried using sweet fx in different folders but just nothing will make it work

Anyone with similar problems who managed to fix it?