Picashot August VP Spotlight: Meet Astrayn

Hello, Picashot Fam!

Welcome to September! It's that time when we have conversations with our virtual photographer of the month and it did not disappoint.

We were able to discuss with @astrayn whose photos we have been admiring for a while. He makes use of minimalism in his art and you know what they say about using little to say a lot...

We also learn about his photography process, favourite games and more. This is a delightful chat and you'd see for yourself soon.

Enjoy!!

What is your earliest memory of virtual photography?

My earliest memories of Virtual Photography are from 2021 when I used to play gta 5 with graphics mods installed. I started taking screenshots in the game cause it looked so pretty. Then I started screenshotting other games as well and I really loved AC Origins in particular for that.

Your name is quite interesting — astrayn. How did you come by it?

Astrayn comes from the Latin word… no haha it’s just a combination of my favourite things, astronomy + Zayn (my fav singer). I chose the name astrayn because it is original, unique and sounds cool which was very important.

I noticed that most of your photos were taken on a PC. Do you ever play games on Playstation, or Xbox?

I never owned any consoles, I only ever had a PC so that's why all my photos were captured on PC.

Do you have a favorite game to play? If yes, why is it your favorite game?

Currently my fav game is Bioshock Infinite, I love the atmosphere, the soundtrack and of course the story, it's fantastic.

Let's talk about your style. It's so different, minimal and cinematic. Did you start out knowing you wanted to make your photos this way?

Nope, I started out just wanting to take pretty pictures that's all. It blew my mind to see what others were creating in the same games I played and I wanted to do better and take cool shots.

Do you have any favorite virtual photos that you've taken? If so, what makes them special to you?

This one from AC Unity is one of my favourites. I am very proud of this one and it won me an award! Makes it even more special.

This shot is all about timing and luck. It is one of my favs because it is super unique and very difficult to recreate.

Who doesn't want to fly like the birds? But how many can? Not even Spider-Man. In truth he's not flying, he's free falling but in this moment it ceases to matter.

Gorgeous pictures!

Do you have a particular process when it comes to taking your game photos?

Yes, Firstly I install Reshade, camera mods and mod menus if the game is supported. In-game, I use photo mode or camera tools to compose my shot and Reshade for post-processing effects like depth of field, tilt shift, colour grading etc. Some mod menus allow for weather and time control which is super useful. After that, I hotsample the game to a much higher resolution using programs like SRWE and take the screenshot.

Which post-processing tools do you use for your photos?

For editing, I use Snapseed, Lightroom or Gimp. In-game, I use Reshade.

Are your photos inspired by anything/people i.e game devs or virtual photographers?

Yes, I'm always inspired by our amazing community of VPers and game devs. Some of my photos were heavily inspired by other creators and some by concept arts and music album covers.

In what ways has virtual photography enhanced or affected your gaming experience?

Definitely enhanced. I love taking pictures in video games and I love soaking in all the details the devs put into it. The ability to explore in-game worlds as a photographer rather than the protagonist is exciting and makes games more enjoyable to me.

How long do you play games on average?

It's pretty irregular but I can say 2hrs.

What’s your favorite thing to do apart from gaming?

I like to draw, edit photos and videos, build websites, and scroll VP on social media.

You've posted over 50 shots of Assassin's Creed Origins on Picashot. Looking at that, what would you change about the game's photo mode?

Definitely add a 180° tilt and 200 times the range lol. After that I'd like to change Bayek's expressions, and outfits within the photo mode. That'd be cool.

You've entered a couple of virtual photography contests and you even won a VP Award. Can you share your experience preparing for these contests?

There's usually no preparation involved, I just enter the best photos I have. For the Ubisoft photo mode contest in particular, I didn't have any eligible entries so I took over 170 photos in a week and sent the best ones.

Wow. That’s impressive.

We have five questions, ready to answer?

Is there a particular game you want to play but haven't been able to?

I have a long list of games I wanna play - Cyberpunk 2077, The Invincible, Ghost of Tsushima, Sifu and Nobody Wants to Die.

You can only play one forever. Which one will it be? — Stray, Kena: Bridge of Spirits or Ghostwire Tokyo.

Stray 😻

Which of these games will you combine to make a new game — Rise of the Tomb Raider, Spiderman Remastered, Bioshock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto 5?

Spiderman Remastered and Bioshock Infinite, I'm imagining Spiderman in a dark and twisted multiverse story, don't mind me.

Can you share a gaming/virtual photography experience that had an emotional impact on you?

I feel like every comment or VP feature has an emotional impact in a positive way, but winning the VP award for the action category has definitely been the highlight moment for me.

Do you have a favourite quote from a game?

“Papo, jump!”

-Khemu

Assassin's Creed Origins

Thanks for sharing. Moving on…

When did you first learn about Picashot?

I first learned about Picashot last year through Twitter.

What’s your favorite Picashot feature?

The albums feature. I love the ability to add anyone's pictures into albums so I can create different themed albums like cars-only pictures, black and white pictures and so on.

Are there any features you'd like to see on Picashot?

Drag and drop files to upload on web version on desktop would be nice.

Any advice for aspiring virtual photographers who want to emulate your kind of style?

If you have an idea of a shot go try and create it in the game, and don't just stop there go beyond it, try different angles, lighting, weather, colour filters etc. Learning Reshade would help greatly and some of the effects in there are really useful for creative shots. Keep snapping and keep practising!

Thank you Picashot for having me and asking some great questions! It's been a real pleasure of mine to answer them. Thank you! ❤️

Thank you, Astrayn! You are a star! Keep sharing those amazing photos on Picashot! We love them.

Follow astrayn on Picashot!

Read our conversations with other VP artists

Picashot July VP Spotlight: Meet Giuseppe

Picashot June VP Spotlight: Meet Karla

Picashot May VP Spotlight: Meet Josh

Picashot April VP Spotlight: Meet Linda

Picashot March VP Spotlight: Meet Rosa