If you’ve recently decided to pursue the hobby of forzatography, or just need a refresher course, this is for you!
Content
Camera Settings
Composing
Taking a Photo
Cars & Locations
Camera Settings
Knowing your camera is the first step to taking great photos. Let’s start with discussing the settings within photo mode, and what each of them do
Composing
Now that you know how your camera works, let’s put those settings to good use.
Rule of Thirds
Quantum Drifter did a great breakdown of this simple composing technique, so I see no need to reinvent the wheel
In general, you want to make the photo interesting, so don’t be afraid to experiment with your zoom and position.
Taking a Photo
Now that you’ve got your settings nailed down and your composure juuuuuust right, it’s time to take the photo. FH4 let’s you choose where to put the watermark, so use this to your advantage. Typically, you’ll want to put in the corner that has the highest exposure OR the most noise (trees, bushes etc.) (Who remembers the best days when FH3 had no watermarks for like 5 mins?)
For example
When I put the watermark in the bottom right, the logo is washed out because the background is almost as the bright as the logo itself. This minimizes it’s appearance within the photo itself, making it less distracting to the viewer.
Cars & Locations
Well now you know how to take amazing photos in forza, let’s talk about the though process behind your photo. While being spontaneous can be fun sometimes, putting a little thought into your photos can pay off in the end.
Cars
Not all cars are created equal. Some are visually interesting, some look like wet cardboard boxes. There’s a reason why you see the same ferraris and lamborghinis with the vents, exposed motors, and detailing being shown in photos around here. That being said, those who go outside the box and shoot something you never see earn some respect in my book. I would recommend starting with the poster cars like Huayras or P1s to get a feel for things before exploring your options
The colour of your car also plays an important role in your photos too. You have to consider colour, material, and brightness. Your single stage primary colours, in my opinion, are more difficult to shoot, bright red being the worst offender. Metallics are nice because they reflect crazy amounts of light and tend to come across as more realistic. Darker colours can come across as flat if you are shooting in dark conditions as well, so be mindful of that.
Locations
Seeing as this is an open world game, the variety in locations is practically endless. While it is true that the car is the star of the show, the location plays a important role in your photos. You should strive to find the balance where the location is interesting but the car does not look out of place. An example of this would be a Jeep on a mountain top, which makes sense right? A Jeep doing tandem drifts with silvias, maybe not. Knowing your map is key here, as you may know of some cool alleyway spot that no one has ever seen, but is perfect for what you’re envisioning
If you’d like some more reading material, please read Quantum Drifiter’s Forzatography Wiki from Forza 4. While the all the info may not be relevant to FH4, it provides a solid in-depth breakdown of Forzatography.
Forzatography is very similiar to IRL photography, and the skills needed for both are quite universal. Radiologix48 has suggested some links that may be of use for the new photographer
Below I will provide some examples of how adjusting your settings can make a huge difference.