It’s no doubt that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a beautiful game, but its photo mode can take it to a whole new level. In addition to breaking down the features of the photo mode, the devs also provided tips on how to make your photos look even better. Sony has also uploaded a new trailer showcasing the photo mode’s capabilities, which you can enjoy further down the article.
Developer Insomniac Studios states that, if you’ve used their past games’ photo modes before, “you’ll feel right at home.” It’s nearly identical to the photo mode featured in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The mode showcases a variety of options to choose from, like a field of view, focus distances, filters, and frames. A new addition, however, is character poses. These include default ones that are available from the start of the game, as well as “weapon-specific” poses which players can unlock after purchasing a new weapon in-game. Just like real-life photography, Senior Content Artist Shaun Besman mentions that the “rule of thirds” is very important:
The rule of thirds is your friend! Imagine your screen was divided up evenly 2 lines down, 2 lines across, forming 9 squares. Wherever the grid lines cross, that’s a great focal point position to have our hero’s or dreaded enemy’s face be!
Players can combine these with facial expressions to give your photos a unique presentation. If you want to go the extra mile, however, Insomniac has also added a Visual Effects mode. This allows you to toggle effects on and off and add animated effects to your shots. You can then turn these into gifs or videos to give your presentations a little more life.
And last but not least, ray tracing really pulls its weight around when it comes to the photo mode’s lighting system, which allows players to add and put light sources anywhere they wish in the scene. You can add up to three different light sources, from wider-reaching sphere lights to more accurate spotlights, in order to give your photos that extra oomph. Senior Content Artist Justin West agrees, recommending:
Make sure to take advantage of lights when creating images in Photo Mode. Lights will help you make your subject stand out from the background, and can add more depth and dimension to your images.
To get a better idea of how these features work together in-game, you can check out the official Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Photo Mode trailer below:
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is available now exclusively on PS5.
[Source: PlayStation Blog]
