Get Kids Into Photography

Video games are often praised for how good they look. Some games let you use these beautiful spaces to take photos. It's a feature that's growing in popularity both in terms of how often its providing and how much people are using it.

We worked with The Fourth Focus to identify a series of games that can take you from beginner photographer to understanding the ins and outs of framing, aperture, depth of field and shutter speed. The Fourth Focus is a resource focused on the modern art of video game photography, and home of The Virtual Photography Awards.

Good games to start with, like Alba or Pokemon Snap, offer the ability to take quick snaps as part of the game. From there you can graduate onto basic camera control in games like #Drive, Wilderless and Genshin Impact. Once the basics are understood you can move onto games like Horizon Forbidden West or Ghost of Tsushima that feature realistic camera settings such as focal length and aperture f-stops for a truly authentic effect, and time-of-day control so that the light is always right.

Some photo modes, including Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart, The Last of Us Part I, and Kena: Bridge of Spirits, even let you add in custom lights, while the likes of Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport include shutter speed for total control of dynamic motion blur.

This list includes 16 games from the last 26 years, with 695 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to learn photography in video games. We break them down into the following areas:

• 1. Point and Click
• 2. Simple Photography
• 3. Working With Settings
• 4. Full World Camera Control