I’ve been talking to a few people over the last month about how I edit my photos. I thought it would be nice to share with you all what I do and use! I hope, if you read this, that this is helpful for you. If you would like to know more it’s below the cut! It’s VERY LONG. So be prepared.

I’m going to start off by showing you a couple of photos to kind of break down the difference in exactly how much work I put into these shots. Although I now have a set of 2 (and a 3rd I am still working on) what I call “Frankenactions” that I use, I tend to spend anywhere between 2-10 minutes depending on the screenshot in editing. 

Example 1:

As you can probably already tell… what I do and how I edit is pretty different based on which save I am in. They all have different feels to them. I love for “The Ghosts of Flora Wren” to have this very dreamlike quality to it where the edges are soft, the colors dramatic, and it is all very dark and haunting. Below is what I use for each save (including my new vanilla AU):

The Ghosts of Flora Wren: 

Reshades: Silent Hill | Pastoral Haunting  
I switch between these two based on the mood of the scene. As a warning… these two are pretty hard on your computer. I can’t really be in game shooting for more than an hour before everything starts lagging and I just generally hate my life.

Actions: Pop! | Yogi Bear | Averia’s Preview Picture Action | Wooldrawn’s Action Set

Here’s where it gets tricky. I don’t use all of the elements from any of these! I start by using “Smooth” from the Pop! Action set, then I use Averia’s Preview Picture Action w/ Topaz, I use the “Color Balance 1″ and “Resize” from Cowplant-Pizza’s Yogi Bear, and then I finish off with “A lil dramatic tbh” from Wooldrawn’s action set. 

Extra: 

A lot of these images become very dark. If they are too dark I will duplicate the layer, change it to “screen” and lower the opacity until I’m satisfied. I sometimes will up the saturation and adjust brightness/contrast as needed. 

Example 2:

Nova BPR and “Rainy Days and Lemonade” Alternative Universe: 

Reshades: Whiisker’s Prismatic | Cowplant-pizza’s Breakfast-Tea

Prismatic is pretty much my go to. I love this preset. It is easily my favorite that I use so far. 

Actions: It’s honestly the same as I’ve been using for Flora Wren! So all of those you can find above. ❤ I have been experimenting a little to come up with something I like just for these sims… but so far I can’t find anything that I like better.

Example 3:

The Torches:

I think I’m finally at a point where I like how these screenshots look? It’s been a process. I want them to be bright, colorful, and fun. 

Reshades: Picky Pikachu’s Cinematic 

Actions: Pop! | Clean and Clear | Pink Cotton |  Wooldrawn’s Action Set

Again I use “smooth” from Pop!, then I will use ONLY the Topaz setting from “Clean and Clear”, I run the whole “Pink Cotton” action. It makes everything soft and bright, and finish off with “a lil dramatic tbh” from the last set.

Others:

I have been playing around a lot more and there have been times I’ve used specific things for certain effects and only use it once. Here are some other good ones to look into!

Brindleton Bay Action – I used this for Kiku’s murder scene. 

Au’Natural Action –  I love this one. It’s a very good “simple click and go” that does something almost similar to the nonsense I do above. It’s not quite as dark, crisp, and dramatic as I would like though. So if you don’t have the patience for what I do GO HERE.

Cowplantpizza has been releasing a lot of reshades recently and they are all amazing. So just go ahead and download all 3 from her blog.