In-game Photography

We replace a camera with a controller for this week’s episode of the B&H Photography Podcast, but if artistic interpretation of your surroundings is the goal, is there any difference between the two? Today, we talk gaming and photography and, specifically, the practice of in-game or virtual photography. While grabbing a screenshot of your high score is nothing new, using a gaming system’s increasingly advanced photo tools to capture images of the gaming world in which you are immersed is becoming a discipline unto itself. For sure, some gamers are still looking to show off their accomplishments and share them with fellow gamers, but others approach it as a landscape photographer, documentarian or combat photographer might, utilizing light and exposure controls to create dramatic images that showcase or even surpass those created by the game itself.  We are joined today by our in-house gaming expert, Akeem Addy, as well as Tobias Andersson, Senior Producer of the Hunter: Call of the Wild, by Avalanche Studios, and two gamers who have explored in-game photography from distinctive perspectives, photographer Leo Sang and artist Eron Rauch.  We also take time talk a bit about the history of in-game photography and suggest games with some of the strongest photo tools. The debate about whether this is “real” photography will rage on. However, our guests are over that, not only creating beautiful and interesting photos, but elevating the dialogue to create images that question the relationship between the virtual and the “work-a-day” world. Join us for this multi-faceted episode and let us know your thoughts on gaming and photography—and even share with us your best images on Twitter @BHPhotoVideo with #BhPhotoPodcast. Guests: Akeem Addy, Tobias Andersson, Leo Sang, and Eron Rauch Image: by Leo Sang from Battlefield 1