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NikkeiSimmer's avatar
5 years ago

How to Tutorial: Up Your Photography Game in the Sims Turn Your Screenshots into Lasting Memories

Tips from a Photographer

Part 1 - The First Part of Developing Lasting Screenshots is the Quality of Your Photo.

Your Sims are little digital people and like most people are a microcosm of actual society. Within the limitations of programming and subroutines, they pretty much have the same hobbies and aspirations that living breathing humans have. Whereas YOU as the Watcher are the tag-along to their little on-screen adventures; the one entrusted with the family camera. When we take vacations, when there are family occasions or celebrations, what do we do?

We pull out the camera, of course. A photographer's primary goal is to capture memories. It's what I've done during the course of my own life and at one point was a career.

The most important part of photography is determining what the subject of your photo is going to be. Is it some remarkable scenery (with your end-goal that the story-line being that the Sim took this photo and you want to have it be a professional caliber photo?) Well, then you have to think like a photographer. Every photo starts from scratch: checking your angles, your sightlines, are there any distracting elements in the photo. And that's what you're going to have to do with the camera angles in your sims game.

1. What is your subject? Who are you photographing, What's the takeaway for the viewer in the shot? Isolate the subject and take the shot. Get in close if you have to.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SOuj4toQGMo/V5vste1n0wI/AAAAAAAAIxg/BqokcO4Klu4Cljt458jqzP3izd0oRLAogCKgB/s1600/_DSC5445-Edit.jpg
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jQ7p2rDHMVg/XvDtYnnk5kI/AAAAAAAAg9E/5j-4UKslMNEbOz-w3qLT1Sg_Wx5GCBE_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot-24.jpg
Use unusual angles - get uncomfortably close.

2. Watch for distracting elements - if you have to wait to take the shot - wait to take the shot. Strive to eliminate as many distracting elements out of your camera view as possible before you take the shot. Sometimes you're going to have to wait until invariably some annoying NPCs or townies get out of the way.

Just like in reality.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W6sRNxWR-jw/V5gE4eeQdnI/AAAAAAAAIv8/1VKZe4cu_oUdJshuK5B9cLXjJ0KKd5eOgCKgB/s1600/_DSC6163.jpg

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DgeM2T4AeiQ/XwB9cRyJjcI/AAAAAAAAhUw/TtEJA4sc0YAq3v2TcMRDFRtFL7voDh-GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot-58.jpg

3. Line up the subject in your photo. Make sure the any elements in the photo line up to draw a path to the subject that you're trying to highlight.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fsSOk2KSmOA/XwCAWPJnNJI/AAAAAAAAhU8/HFvMrE2m524oYMKD76oipelcnl4LFe-OACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/LineUpYourSubject.png
You're trying to lead the eye to the subject of your photo.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FSnnH_HUNhk/XvwzVsaQ_7I/AAAAAAAAhP8/07SY_r3YjKE-AEKgk0dc3JWrNv-Y6gBAACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot-143.jpg
Just like in this shot...except it is who the subject's attention is fixed on and you can trace her line of sight right to the "culprit".

Can you see the subject in this image? It's a little more difficult, but it's there.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2AO1qmG7Pbw/XwCET5TDiXI/AAAAAAAAhVI/X3w4kiI0_lYftTziiIpmOsunN5SNryDUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot-7_SEP1_10-18-2018.jpg

(this will be a continuing thread - as I add to it - so mods, please keep this open).

5 Replies

  • I am sure this will be very helpful to some :)

    I know absolutely nothing about photography but I do know what I find appealing. I know my screenshots have improved a lot since my first simming days but I think that's because I have taken literally thousands of pics over the years. I have taken at least 40,000 images in the last two and a half years! :D

    Edit to add: It probably wouldn't hurt to talk about the camera controls as well. I know that tilting an image can make all the difference but not all would know how to do it.
  • Very useful. I tend to use clip art for my building images when working in CAW so learning a bit more about what to do to get better screenshots is helpful.
  • So cool! Excited to see more tips here, @Nikkei_Simmer. :) It's always fun to see how Simmers use real photography concepts to make their storytelling pics more engaging.
  • Great thread @Nikkei_Simmer! :star:
    I don't know that much about photography but I do know that a good grasp of the camera controls is essential for taking good photos. For example, the scale and distance can totally change a sim's appearance. See the difference here where the camera is pretty much in the same spot but one is zoomed out and one is zoomed in. Usually there is nice sweet spot between extremes that allows you to get a nice close up picture while retaining some background detail. You can probably explain it better :sweat_smile:

    https://i.postimg.cc/SRpm3hdN/TS3-W-2020-07-05-22-04-42-04.png
    https://i.postimg.cc/mkNTG5p3/TS3-W-2020-07-05-22-04-51-53.png
  • Don't hesitate to use "portrait layout" either, @coco. :) And try different camera angles as well. Especially with the beach backdrop of Sunlit Tides. :)

    4. Use the Rule of Thirds to Increase Tension in Your Photos - Draw your viewer's eyes away from the center of the image to your subject.

    Here's an action freeze shot of Haruo on a bike in Vancouver (world by sneakfeline0)
    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RIzvNxO4T-4/XwLgNV3UXVI/AAAAAAAAhWA/eAfjBA9Ht6kH6HxfcueYbOw0wKvPRxl3ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot-30.jpg

    There's a photography rule called "Rule of Thirds" which divides the photos up into quadrants meaning that you have nine quadrants in a photo. The centre quadrant is called the snapshot as that is where most casual shooters always tend to have their subject situated in it because that's where it's most comfortable.

    Photographers as they gain experience tend to shy away from the snapshot quadrant as they want to tell a story with their photography.

    Take for example my owl photograph. The owl itself wasn't the subject of the image. The image was to draw your eyes to the owl's piercing gaze (the eyes). Notice how the eyes were not in the center of the photo?
    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wRRzs9WwhCg/XwLkqhKVKoI/AAAAAAAAhWM/VH1HkzbcGr0oBPQkHXhmq3LUx_w_HvNlACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/_DSC5445-EditRo3.png
    It was to create tension to drag one's sight to the eyes. Note how I used rule of thirds to center my subject right on the two intersecting lines. And further, the shoulders of the owl and the tuft of her ear lands squarely on those lines as well.

    Note that Haruo is not squarely in the center of my screencap either. :)

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