This beautiful Red Dead Redemption 2 shot just won Virtual Photographer of the Year competition

GamesRadar writes: You can see our selection of finalists' pictures in the boast shots from the likes of Ghostwire: Tokyo, Horizon Forbidden West, Batman: Arkham Knight, Ghost of Tsushima, and more.

[LordoftheCritics]

Some nice grabs.

[VenomUK]

Never say that at a beauty pageant.

[seanpitt23]

They upgrade GTA5 but not this WTF are rockstar doing….

[Smok91]

You act like Rockstar isn’t going to re-release RDR2 for this gen

[GamerRN]

Ironically it needs zero upgrades, just an uncapped frame rate. The graphics are already better than GTAV XS version.

GTAV fidelity mode is 4k 30fps, and uglier than RDR2 Xbox One X Edition.

Honestly I don't understand what they did with that upgrade...

[MadLad]

Nothing besides adding some weak raytracing.
It's just the PC version running on high/ultra settings.
Blows my mind I had the PC version running great all the way back when on a GTX680, and they still can't even deliver on the latest Xbox/Playstation.

[Eidolon]

It would need resolution upgrade for PS5, PS4 Pro wasn't native 4K. But even just a 60fps uncap would be great.

I was just happy they upped the res and brought it to 60fps. Idk why it took them this long, though, it's hardly next-gen. Fortnite did better.

[MadLad]

GTA 5 makes them billions in microtransactions. Gotta prioritize them shark cards.

[Eidolon]

Surprising. I can't play it because the matchmaking absolutely blows, I just want a quick game and not have to shuffle through modes. It's probably great for groups of people, though. As long as you got the setup.

[ANIALATOR136]

All they're doing is taking a picture of work that another artist has made though

[plmkoh]

Andy Warhol is famous for reprinting other peoples art as well.

[0hMyGandhi]

I mean, that applies to a huge swath of photography. Sidewalks, buildings, parks....They were outright created by people, or their design influenced the ebb and flow of it.

I'd also argue that as games get more and more advanced, with interactions within the environment and other objects become more physics-driven (aka: results that may be harder to reproduce because of a lack of "canned" animations) that we are going to get more and more breathtaking shots. I think it's pretty neat.

[FortWaba]

This is a very stupid outlook.

[generic-user-name]

Then you should become a famous photographer, you've figured out the secret.

[ChubbyBlade]

I can see why. The others are really nice but they look super staged. Photography is usually at its best when it captures a real moment that can speak in so many ways.

Whether you like RDR2 or not, that image evokes a ton of imagery. Desperation, loneliness, a long journey, being tired, nowhere to go, everywhere to go, etc. the others, to me anyway, come off more as the kind of thing you’d see for advertising. Which isn’t bad but it just makes the RDR2 image stand out more.

[Nacho_Z]

That was the only one that made me feel anything. Beautifully composed too. A worthy winner.

[0hMyGandhi]

The winning shot is good, but there are a bunch in there that are even better (in my opinion). The shot of Aloy sitting and reclined back in the tall grass is absolutely gorgeous, The VW centered on a reflective lake (I think) is equally amazing.

The winning one does make sense though, has an old-timey, classic feel to it that is still damned impressive.
I think competitions like this are super fun, especially as photo modes get better and better.

[ChubbyBlade]

I think the reason the red dead one won was simply…it looks like an actual photograph taken in the moment. The rest look fantastic but they look very staged. They look like something you’d get a poster made of where the red dead looks like something that would be featured in national geographic or a featured work in actual photography circles.

It looks like a photographer snapped a very specific moment in time, which is usually what the best and most celebrated photos are. When they’re raw and not posed or set up for a shoot. That’s what makes it stand out amongst the rest. The others you could toss into any marketing campaign. They’re just insanely pretty but don’t tell much of a story. The red dead image tells you a lot even at first glance. It does a good job of capturing an entire era of history

The person who capped it also clearly has an eye for photographic composition. The image leads the eye through it. It’s not busy. It’s simple yet communicates a lot. The others don’t have the same effect.

[generic-user-name]

That Abby shot is impressive.

[smolinsk]

The most boring and predictable shot won, it has been done way to much that shot. I Like the first one, so raw.