Screenshot Tips & Tricks: Telling Your Story

When you’re trying to tell a story or convey a message, there can be a lot of little details to choose between. Here are just a few tips to get you started.

The Language of Emotes

There are a lot of emotes available to players, from a simple grin to a full body motion. When you’re looking to take a screenshot of characters, these can be really helpful in to convey the message.

LOTRO Lorebook: Emotes

Sometimes it can be tricky to get the right pose or expression with your character. For example, the “thumbs up” at the end of the /cheer emote.

Spamming the F11 key while your character performs an emote can help to catch that perfect pose

Speech Bubbles

Speech bubbles from characters are a great way to add some “in-game” text, especially if you’re trying to capture a particularly amusing moment at a role-playing get together.

turn speech bubbles on/off under options –> UI setting –>Floating Information –>Chat Bubbles

Colors & Dyes

Colors are an important part of any screenshot, whether it is trying to match up outfits for a performance at a role-playing event or simply trying to coordinate an outfit for your character to quest in.  There are a variety of dyes available to customize the color of your armor and cosmetic pieces.  Some vendors sell them, you can receive dyes as quest rewards, and Scholars make them.  If you’re like me and are less than talented at figuring out what colors compliment and which clash, you may want to refer to a color wheel.

Here’s an example of a simple dye change on a Sleeveless Summer Dress.

Summer Sleeveless Dress – default color

Summer Sleeveless Dress – indigo dye applied

Also, here are some great tips from Sandbur!

• Know your colors! If you’re trying to get a good shot of blue armor, avoid orange light. Orange is the compliment of blue, enough so that in the color darkroom orange is known as “minus blue,” meaning that when blue is removed from white light, orange is left. Light with little blue in it cannot illuminate blue armor. Shoot blue armor mid-day, in shadow, or find some blue lights at night, perhaps in Moria.
• And remember the time of day influences the light rather drastically, sunrise and sunset providing dramatic yellow/orange light.
• Shadows have a blue/violet color, night looks mostly blue.
• Complimentary colors to avoid:
  • red-green
  • orange-blue
  • yellow-violet

Cosmetics

The use of cosmetics is another great way to convey a theme or message. It’s a great way to get a group coordinated or to convey a certain idea or emotion.

Cosmetics can be found a number of different ways; through vendors, those with the tailoring profession, special events, and more.

You can wear cosmetics at any level but LOTRO has two outfit slots (outfit 1 and outfit 2). These allow a character to have two different cosmetic outfits set up and switch between equipment, outfit 1, outfit 2 (screenshot).  LOTRO Wiki has more in-depth details on how the outfit options work.

Here are a few examples of using cosmetics to help tell your story.  Notice these bands are coordinated in clothing and color.

Weatherstock 2010 - Hobbiton Philharmonic

Weatherstock 2010 – Sons of Numenor

Whats Next?

Next well discuss the advanced graphics settings as well as some easy out-of-game tweaks you can make to your screenshot in Screenshot Tips & Tricks: Advanced Settings & Post Processing

• Screenshot Tips & Tricks: An Introduction
• Screenshot Tips & Tricks: Perspective
• Screenshot Tips & Tricks: Lighting

Comments, suggestions, or questions? Send them to: orchida@casualstrolltomordor.com