The Cyberpunk 2077 photo mode offers incredible depth – here’s a beginner’s guide to taking brilliant virtual snaps in Night City.
The Cyberpunk 2077 photo mode is a bit of a godsend for the Christmas break – while the holidays are usually a great time to get stuck into both gaming and photography, now you brush up on both simultaneously from your sofa. Of course, Cyberpunk 2077 is far from the first game to have a photo mode – many popular games, from Red Dead Redemption 2 to Ghost of Tsushima, have embraced in-game snapping. But Cyberpunk’s mode is one of the most advanced we’ve seen. Why spend time crafting the perfect composition when you could be playing the game instead? Because the game’s designers and engineers have spent countless hours painstakingly creating detailed environments for you to explore, and they can make some genuinely impressive shots for virtual portfolios on the likes of Instagram. When a photo mode is as fully realized as the one in Cyberpunk 2077, it can also be a great way to practice your photography (for both virtual and real worlds). Cyberpunk 2077 may have been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons, but its photo mode is proving such a success that it’s got its own Twitter channel, while Night City snaps commonly top Reddit’s ‘Virtual Photography’ subreddit. If you fancy getting involved this Christmas, here’s how to take great snaps in the Cyberpunk 2077 photo mode (and other photogenic multi-verses with similar snapping potential). Cyberpunk 2077’s photo mode offers a surprising amount of depth, giving you everything from adjustable aperture to vignettes. But what exactly do those words mean, and how can you use them to get creative? Below, we explain five of the most important photographic terms you’ll need to understand to make the most of this virtual studio. But first, it’s helpful to explain where you can find Cyberpunk 2077’s photo mode in the first place. If you’re on PS4, PS5, Xbox One or Series S, you can access photo mode anywhere in the game simply by pressing your pad’s two analogue sticks (L3 and R3) simultaneously – this will effectively pause the game and bring up the camera options. Playing on PC? You can open it simply by pressing the ‘N’ key. To take a shot, you simply press in the right analogue to remove the camera HUD and then capture a screen shot, using your controller’s screenshot button. The camera menu also lets you save three custom presets and add preloaded stickers, frames and backgrounds to your pictures. Each screenshot you capture creates an 8.2MP image, which saves to your PSN or Xbox account for you to download and share via their respective apps.
