shadowkitty
Mistress of Shadows
One of the most frustrating things us console users face when playing a game as beautiful as Skyrim is the inability to take a good screen shot. Let’s face it, we all love to capture a great moment, scene or show what our characters look like. Most times the photo looks sandy, or over-exposed or lines are running through it. Well I have a few simple tips for you to use so that you can produce post-worthy shots you can be proud of. While I don’t proclaim to be an expert photographer, I have done a little research on the matter and have played around on my little camera.
For these examples I used a canon PowerShot SX120 IS 10x optical zoom, 10 mega pixels. A pretty basic camera. My TV is a 32” LCD.
ISO – this tells us how sensitive your camera’s light sensor is to light exposure. On a digital camera you can lower or raise the ISO, depending on what sort of picture you want to capture. For a picture of a TV screen you want the ISO to be on 200 or 400. BUT, you may need to raise or lower the ISO, depending on how dark your room is.
Shutter speed – To compensate for the screen refresh rate on your TV screen you want to turn down your shutter speed on your camera. Usually 1/20 is a good point. This will reduce those annoying lines across your photo.
Tripod – As you have lowered your shutter speed, there is more of a chance of camera shake. Using a tripod is essential if you don’t want to end up with blurry photos. Try to get your camera at a height where it looks just slightly down onto the middle of your TV screen. If you don’t have a tripod, then sit it on any stable surface.
Room – if possible, try to darken your room as much as you can and DO NOT use the flash on your camera. This will prevent glare, and flash spots on your photos.
Have a look on your camera; you might even have a “TV” setting on it, like mine does. I did find I had to raise the ISO though, as the setting was on 80 and it made the photos too dark. So look at the settings, and play around to get the ideal balance for your situation.
And that’s all there is to it really. Take some time to play around to get the adjustments right for your environment. It will be worth it when you can post your awesome photos for others to enjoy.
For these examples I used a canon PowerShot SX120 IS 10x optical zoom, 10 mega pixels. A pretty basic camera. My TV is a 32” LCD.
ISO – this tells us how sensitive your camera’s light sensor is to light exposure. On a digital camera you can lower or raise the ISO, depending on what sort of picture you want to capture. For a picture of a TV screen you want the ISO to be on 200 or 400. BUT, you may need to raise or lower the ISO, depending on how dark your room is.
Shutter speed – To compensate for the screen refresh rate on your TV screen you want to turn down your shutter speed on your camera. Usually 1/20 is a good point. This will reduce those annoying lines across your photo.
Tripod – As you have lowered your shutter speed, there is more of a chance of camera shake. Using a tripod is essential if you don’t want to end up with blurry photos. Try to get your camera at a height where it looks just slightly down onto the middle of your TV screen. If you don’t have a tripod, then sit it on any stable surface.
Room – if possible, try to darken your room as much as you can and DO NOT use the flash on your camera. This will prevent glare, and flash spots on your photos.
Have a look on your camera; you might even have a “TV” setting on it, like mine does. I did find I had to raise the ISO though, as the setting was on 80 and it made the photos too dark. So look at the settings, and play around to get the ideal balance for your situation.
And that’s all there is to it really. Take some time to play around to get the adjustments right for your environment. It will be worth it when you can post your awesome photos for others to enjoy.
