God of War Photo Mode explained by real-life photographer
This will come in handy for other games too
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
If you've ever played around with photo mode in God of War or any other game and wish you knew what the hell an F-Stop was, who better to explain than any actual photographer?
That's the premise behind Photo Mode Perspective, a series from YouTuber Mir-or-Image that's all about breaking down how to take better pictures in games by using real-life photography skills - or conversely, helping you understand real-life photography better through the medium of video games (it works both ways). The latest episode breaks down God of War's in-depth photo mode, explaining what each individual setting means for the in-game photos you can take.
For instance, Mir-or-Image breaks down how field of view and focal length are really two sides of the same coin, and which kind you should typically use for what photos: "Normally if you're going to take a picture of someone, try to avoid wide-angle lenses unless you're trying to capture a scene, unless you're trying to capture a background or something surrounding the person. That's when you should probably use a wide-angle lens. But if you're taking a photo of someone, something more along the lines of telephoto would work a little better."
Mir-or-Image also explains what F-Stops are both in actual, mechanical camera terms, and what they mean for your photos with a virtual video game camera. I had honestly forgotten what all those numbers meant since my high school photography class.
Photo Modes are only getting more intricate and more common in games, so even if the letters "DSLR" mean absolutely nothing to you, it's worthwhile to get a handle on the basics of photography.
Hopefully, the sequel has an even better photo mode - check out everything we know about God of War 2.
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.


