Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Photo Mode & Shots Guide

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy ships with a full photo mode that unlocks after the first cutscene in Chapter 1. The photo mode is paused-time and pause-physics, so it captures the scene exactly as you saw it. There is no in-game sharing UI; photos are saved to disk in PNG format and you can browse them in the system gallery or share them via the Steam overlay. This page is a guide to the toolkit: every slider, every frame, every filter, and how HDR interacts with photo output.

How to open photo mode

Photo mode opens with the touchpad on PS5, the View button on Xbox, or the F10 key on PC. You can open it at any time during gameplay except during a scripted cutscene or loading screen. Sophia freezes in place, the HUD disappears, the Sphere Meter freezes, and the camera detaches from her.

Photo mode is not available in multiplayer or in Chapter 15 (new game plus tutorial). It is available in every other chapter, including the Venice prologue and the late-game Crete sections. Photos can be taken in any of the 14 chapters.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy photo mode walkthrough (camera, depth of field, time of day)

The five tabs

The photo mode has five tabs, mapped to L1/R1 on PS5 or Q/E on PC.

Camera

The Camera tab controls the free camera. The default is a third-person offset; you can switch to first-person, free orbit, or cinematic dolly.

• Camera Type: Third-person (offset behind Sophia), First-person (Sophia’s POV), Free Orbit (rotate around the focal point), Free Camera (no anchor, fly anywhere), Cinematic Dolly (locked rail track).
• Field of View: 20° to 120°, default 60°. Wider values give the open-Venice feel; tighter values give the intimate-Chapel feel.
• Roll: -45° to +45°, default 0°. Lets you tilt the horizon. Use for forced-perspective shots.
• Camera Speed: 0.5x to 4x, default 1x. The fly speed of the Free Camera.
• Collision: On or Off, default On. When On, the camera stops at walls; when Off, it can pass through walls. Useful for composition work, especially through windows or arches.

The camera does not detach from Sophia in Third-person or First-person. In Free Camera it does, and you can fly anywhere in the loaded chapter geometry.

Composition

The Composition tab controls framing and depth of field.

• Rule of Thirds: toggle, default On. Shows a 3x3 grid overlay.
• Center Cross: toggle, default On. Shows a center cross.
• Horizon Line: toggle, default Off. Shows the level horizon, useful for landscape compositions in Chapter 6 Crete.
• Focal Distance: 0.5 m to 50 m, default 5 m. Sets the focal plane for depth of field.
• Depth of Field: 0 (Off) to 10 (Max), default 3. Higher values blur objects outside the focal plane.
• Aperture Simulation: f/1.4 to f/22, default f/5.6. Affects the depth-of-field falloff; lower f-numbers give shallower depth of field.
• Bokeh Shape: Round, Hexagonal, Octagonal. Affects the shape of out-of-focus highlights.

The Composition tab is where most photo-mode work happens. The default 60° FOV with focal distance 5 m and DoF 3 is the safe starting point. Lower the aperture to f/2 for portrait shots of Sophia; raise it to f/16 for landscape shots of the Cretan coast.

Lighting

The Lighting tab controls exposure and color grading.

• Exposure: -2.0 EV to +2.0 EV, default 0. Lets you brighten or darken the scene without affecting the underlying tone-mapping.
• Contrast: -50 to +50, default 0. SDR-only control; has no effect on the underlying HDR image, only on the photo output.
• Highlights: -100 to +100, default 0. Affects the upper portion of the tone-mapping curve.
• Shadows: -100 to +100, default 0. Affects the lower portion of the curve.
• Color Temperature: 2000K to 10000K, default 5500K. Lower values warm the image; higher values cool it.
• Tint: -100 (green) to +100 (magenta), default 0. Color cast.
• Color Saturation: 0 (B&W) to 200 (hyper-saturated), default 100. The full range from monochrome to over-saturated.
• Bloom: 0 to 100, default 50. The bloom intensity on bright objects.
• Vignette: 0 to 100, default 0. Adds a darkening around the corners.

This is the same set of controls you have in the in-game Settings → Display, but applied per-shot. The difference is that in photo mode they affect only the saved PNG; in-game they affect the live image.

Filters

The Filters tab is a list of preset color grades.

• None (default)
• B&W High Contrast
• B&W Soft
• Sepia
• Cool Blue
• Warm Orange
• Venice Mist (cool, slightly desaturated)
• Crete Sun (warm, high contrast)
• Crete Storm (cool, desaturated)
• Vienna Gold (warm, mid contrast)
• Vienna Night (cool, low contrast)
• Horror (heavy green tint, deep shadows)
• Dream (soft, lifted shadows)
• Painterly (posterized, mid saturation)
• Noir (B&W with hard contrast)

The filters are non-destructive overlays; you can adjust the Lighting tab settings on top of any filter. The cleanest workflow is to pick a filter for the mood, then nudge exposure and shadows to balance the shot.

Frames

The Frames tab overlays decorative borders.

• None (default)
• Thin Border
• Thick Border
• Vintage Plate (sepia-toned border)
• Horror Plate (dark border, scratch effect)
• Cinematic Bars (letterbox-style 21:9 bars)
• Polaroid (white border, year stamp)
• Dev Diary (engineering-drawing style)
• Miniature (tilt-shift frame)

Cinematic Bars is the most commonly used because Resonance is rendered at 21:9 Hor+ internally and the bars match the native framing. The other frames are stylistic; pick based on the mood of the shot.

Per-chapter recommended shots

Chapter 1 — Venice prologue

The opening chase sequence on the rooftops is a strong photo-mode subject. The recommended settings are Venice Mist filter, Exposure -0.3 EV, Vignette 30, focal distance 8 m to put Sophia in focus against the rooftop background.

Chapter 3 — Greek Sword arena

The Greek Sword reveal in Chapter 3 is a set-piece moment with strong backlight. Use the Free Camera type, position the camera below the blade, shoot upward. The backlight through the window will bloom. Recommended: Crete Sun filter, Highlights +30, Shadows -20.

Chapter 6 — Crete outdoor

The Cretan coast in Chapter 6 is the most photographed scene in the game. Recommended: First-person camera (Sophia’s POV looking at the sea), FOV 90°, focal distance 20 m, Crete Sun filter, Exposure +0.3 EV.

Chapter 8 — Vienna palace ballroom

The chandeliers in the ballroom chapter work well with HDR-aware photo mode. The HDR toggle and midpoint slider from the HDR calibration page carry over to photo mode output. Recommended: Free Orbit camera, focal distance 5 m on the chandelier, Aperture f/1.4 for the bokeh effect, Bloom 70.

Chapter 12 — Underground chambers

The underground chambers in Chapter 12 are pitch black with Sophia’s lantern as the only light. Recommended: First-person camera, focal distance 2 m on Sophia’s hand, Bloom 90, Horror filter, Exposure -0.5 EV.

HDR-aware photo output

This is where photo mode interacts with the HDR calibration page. Photo mode outputs a PNG file in the system gallery or Steam screenshot folder. The PNG is rendered in the same color space as the live game:

• HDR toggle Off: PNG is saved as 8-bit sRGB.
• HDR toggle On, SDR display: PNG is saved as 8-bit sRGB with the HDR tone-mapping applied. Visually equivalent to a well-calibrated SDR screenshot.
• HDR toggle On, HDR display: PNG is saved as 10-bit Rec. 2020 with PQ curve. The PNG is HDR-capable. To view it correctly, open it in Windows Photos, Photoshop, or any HDR-aware viewer with the HDR display attached.

The HDR-aware photo output is the most subtle part of Resonance’s photo mode and the most commonly missed. The 8-bit PNG looks flat on an HDR display because the highlights are clipped; the 10-bit PNG looks correct.

Where photos are saved

On PC, photos are saved to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Resonance\Screenshots\ as Resonance_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS_NNN.png where NNN is the shot number. The full path is shown in the photo-mode UI on save.

On PS5, photos are saved to Capture Gallery → Resonance → Screenshots.

On Xbox, photos are saved to Capture & Share → Recent captures.

Photos can be shared directly to Twitter/X, Facebook, and Discord via the platform’s capture UI, but only as 8-bit PNG. For the HDR-aware 10-bit PNG, share the file manually from disk.

Steam screenshot integration

On PC, photo mode is integrated with Steam’s screenshot overlay. Press F12 to bring up the Steam overlay screenshot UI; photos from photo mode appear in the Steam screenshot gallery automatically. They are also added to Steam Cloud if you have Steam Cloud enabled, and can be uploaded to your Steam profile screenshot gallery.

The Steam screenshot overlay uses the 8-bit PNG, not the HDR-aware 10-bit PNG. If you want HDR-aware screenshots, use the disk save.

Common workflows

Portrait of Sophia

1. First-person camera, FOV 50°.
2. Focal distance 2 m, Aperture f/1.4, DoF 8.
3. Exposure 0, Shadows +20.
4. Bokeh shape: Round.
5. Filter: None.

Wide Cretan landscape

1. Free Orbit camera, FOV 90°.
2. Focal distance 50 m, Aperture f/16, DoF 2.
3. Exposure +0.3 EV, Highlights +10.
4. Filter: Crete Sun.
5. Frame: None.

Horror scene

1. Free Camera, FOV 60°.
2. Focal distance 4 m, Aperture f/2, DoF 6.
3. Exposure -0.5 EV, Shadows -30, Highlights -10.
4. Filter: Horror.
5. Frame: Horror Plate.

What this page covers next

• HDR calibration — the HDR toggle and slider affect photo output.
• Best settings — DLSS 4.5 and FSR 4 affect photo mode resolution.
• Crossplay — you cannot share photos cross-platform directly, but the in-game photo mode UI is identical on PS5 and Xbox.