Taking Screenshots Like a Pro for Photography Day

It’s Photography Day today!  Did you know that in Wizard101 and Pirate101, you have a kind of camera built right into the game? We call it “taking a screenshot.” It’s very handy and a great way for fans of our games to catalog their wonderful times, great friends, and happy moments.

The first thing you should know, taking an actual photograph of your computer screen with your phone or a camera is probably the easiest way to ruin a good photograph! The colors never come out right, you’ll get lines through your picture, and it’s never very straight. You’d be surprised how many photos our Community team sees like this. Just say “No” to taking pictures this way!

Next, to take a simple screenshot, all you have to do is press either the F12 button or the PrtScn button. Like magic, your screen is captured and saved in a file on your computer. The location where your screenshot is saved flashes on your screen for a moment, and usually that’s located in your Documents folder in a subfolder called “Wizard101.”

Now if you want to take a screenshot like a pro and really make your screenshots shine, we have some tips that will help you work your magic and impress your friends.

• Remove the Interface – Before you take your screenshot, hold down the Control key and Press G. Control+G removes the health and mana globes, the quest arrow, and all the other things on the screen that are getting in the way of your great screenshot! After you’re done, just press Control+G to bring all of those handy icons back into view.
• Back up against a wall – This is kind of tricky, but sometimes you can back up against a wall and your player will disappear from view so you get a nice screenshot of the environment only. In Pirate101, this is even better because you can hold down your right mouse button and move around to position your “environment-only” screenshot.

• Shoot for even higher quality – Looking for an even higher quality screenshot? Go into your game settings and try putting your game into its highest resolution and select full screen size! Try turning Bloom on and off and see which one you like better.
• Edit like a pro – If you use the PrtScn button, you can open up another graphic program like Photoshop, Gimp, or even Window’s Paint, and use Control+V to “paste” your screenshot. Then you can enhance the colors, crop it, and save it in a higher resolution format that’s still web-friendly, like .png files.

• Don’t overdo it – Once you start messing around with filters and features in Photoshop, it’s very easy to go crazy and make a beautiful catastrophe of a picture. Eek! Stick to the basics and make your favorite game shine!

When you’re all done, your Community and Social Media team would love to see your creations! In fact, we repost the screenshots we receive on Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr! So join in the fun and send us your best creations for Photography Day to community@kingsisle.com!

Do you have a really good tip for taking a good screenshot? Please leave a comment below!