The Last of UsPart 1 takes place in abeautifully haunting worldfilled with cinematics and in-game moments where you’ll want to snap plenty of pictures. Whether you’re capturing a curious glance from one of the protagonists, or thedisgusting visage of an oncoming clicker, you’ll want to make the most of the photo mode settings.
RELATED:The Last Of Us Part 1 Accessibility Features RevealedThe first thing you should know is that you can go into the game’s settings and enable a shortcut for photo mode. Enable this shortcut to be able to press L3 and R3 simultaneously as a way of opening photo mode and instantly pausing your game. This makes it so much easier to capture a fleeting moment whether it’s in-game or in a cinematic. If you miss a moment during a cinematic, pause the game and select “replay cinematic” to try and get your perfect shot.
The Basics (Camera)
While future images are all modifying the samescreenshot of Joel and Ellie, this one differs in order to show off the bottom bar of basic options. The first thing you’ll want to do is choose between Custom and Game next to camera mode. The game is going to give you the exact viewpoint you were looking at in-game. Custom is where you begin the journey of making a screenshot your own. This will allow you to make use of a roll, which can add a slant to your image. You can expand the field of view. The triggers on the controller will allow you to zoom in and out while the twin sticks will allow you to swivel around the character. For most basic screenshots, you won’t even need to leave this tab.
Depth of Field
This tab gets further into the nitty-gritty of editing an image. Depth of field will allow you to shift the focus of the screenshot, making characters, objects, and the background clearer or blurrier to highlight the details you want to see. Here in this shot, the protagonists are blurry while the background remains crisp and clear.
This might be the most useful tab that you can utilize while customizing your shots. The Last of Us can be a very dark game both in cinematics and in-game footage. For certain screenshots, increasing the brightness will allow you to see things much better. Even when screenshotting a cutscene, increasing the brightness can highlight the look in someone’s eye or reveal the details of their face. While the original game’s darkness might play well in motion, sometimes making things a little brighter enhances a still image rather than a moving one.
Screen Effects
This tab gives you sliders for chromatic aberration, film grain, and motion blur. While these can all have their place, film grain has the most potential to add texture to your shots. This tab doesn’t come into play all the time, but it certainly has its uses. Play around with the different sliders and options to get a feel for them.
RELATED:The Last Of Us Is Becoming The Next Skyrim, And That’s Not Good
The filter tab allows for some of the most drastic customizations available to you. Not only do you get to select a filter that’s going to change the tone and look of your image, but you also get to decide the intensity of that filter. Maybe you’re looking for something subtle, then set the intensity slider closer to 20. You also have the option here to hide certain characters, making it possible to just get shots of the world around you or one character in particular. In the image above you’ll notice Joel is missing.
This tab is pretty simple. It allows you to darken your border while customizing just how dark you’d like it to be with the intensity slider. Your mileage might vary on this, as The Last of Us is typically dark enough already in regard to lighting and borders.
The options under the frame tab can make your screenshot feel truly your own. You can make big, sweeping changes to the shot, turning a simple image capture into a thoughtful piece meant to express something about your playthrough. Be sure to cycle through all the options and have fun with it. While The Last of Us can be a serious game, there’s room for you to have some silly fun with your screenshots.
RELATED:The Last Of Us Part 1: Top Story Moments In The Game
Stamp on a logo and customize your image like a little postcard. Logos allow the player to really have fun just plopping down a bit of customization to make an image their own. The great thing is that you also have the option of customizing your logo’s position, size, and intensity. Any logo can be big and bold or small and subtle, allowing you to really express yourself through your screenshots.
While adjusting the brightness can be a simple way of seeing an image better, this tab allows you to get into the true nitty-gritty of lighting. The good news is that it also allows you to save up to three profiles of settings. So, if you find a lighting style you’re happy with, you don’t have to lose it. You can leave that as “Light 1” and select it whenever you desire. You’ll really have to play around with these settings a lot, but if that seems intimidating, just try altering the brightness to see if that’s all you need. This tab is truly for lighting fanatics and there’s a treasure trove of options at your fingertips.
Your customization options carry over from shot to shot. So, if you increased the brightness for your last screenshot, opening photo mode will show your new image with that same increased brightness. If you ever want to start from scratch, go to each tab and hit triangle on your controller. This will bring (individually) each tab to its default setting. Feel free to try out every setting available to you, because you can restore the default setting with the click of a button!
