Episode 13 of my irregular photo journal - Fully (and feudally) digital again
I had a nasty case of an unknown sickness a few weeks back which has left me stuck at home with no way of going out to shoot whatsoever. The only way to keep my creative thoughts flowing was to turn back to virtual photography just like I did back during the first few Covid lockdowns when I shot “virtual street photography” in the gorgeous world of Red Dead Redemption 2. I wrote about it back at the start of 2021 in this blog post.
But the world of RDR2 has already eaten plenty of my time and I wanted something different, something new. I dabbled in the photo modes of Spider-Man, AC: Oddysey, God of War and other games on my PS4 but none of it felt right. None of it felt “real” enough to pass for good enough photography to scratch my creative itch. Until I tried Ghost of Tsushima.
The game takes you to an island situated right between Japan and Korea during the Mongol invasion of the 13th century. It definitely is not the most accurate depiction of feudal Japan, but it is an absolutely beautiful one. The visuals are highly romanticised to fit the look we’re used to thanks to many period movies. Speaking of movies there is even a so-called “Kurosawa” mode where the game's visuals switch to a contrasty and grainy black and white whilst the dialogue goes from English to Japanese. Even the smaller details like sound becoming less dynamic and surround-like or the intensity of the wind getting turned up a few notches give the game a perfect feel of playing the Seven Samurai or any other Kurosawa medieval movie.
You’ve probably guessed that was the mode I used for the majority of the game and you’d be right. Especially looking for scenes to photograph. The photo mode even lets you switch to a 21:9 aspect ratio to get a proper cinema feel. That along with a fully customisable focal length, depth of field, exposure, weather, time of day and tons of other details makes for a great few hours practising photographing something none of us is most likely going to see within the constraints of our time.
Needless to say, I spent the remainder of my bed-ridden week wandering around the island of Tsushima looking for widescreen compositions to capture in moody black and white. It was definitely lovely to try even though my nine-year-old PS4 is barely holding on. The images here aren’t even 1080p.
Which ones are your favourites? Have you shot any in-game photography since my last post about it two years ago? Which game is your favourite for that?
