Night City Photo Guide

Getting Started with Night City’s Photo Mode

Night City is a visual marvel, a concrete and chrome jungle bathed in the perpetual glow of neon. Every corner, from the grimiest alley to the most opulent corporate lobby, tells a story. Cyberpunk 2077’s robust Photo Mode is your personal braindance recorder, allowing you to pause the chaos and capture the city’s breathtaking, dangerous beauty. Before you can start building your portfolio, let’s cover the fundamentals of getting started.

How to Activate Photo Mode

Accessing Photo Mode is simple, allowing you to freeze a perfect moment in the middle of a firefight or during a quiet drive through the Badlands. The default controls are consistent across platforms, making it easy to jump in no matter how you play.

• PC: Press the N key.
• PlayStation: Press both the L3 and R3 buttons (the analog sticks) simultaneously.
• Xbox: Press both the Left Stick and Right Stick buttons simultaneously.

Once activated, the game will freeze, and the Photo Mode interface will appear, giving you complete control over the scene.

Understanding the User Interface

At first glance, the array of sliders and options might seem daunting, but the UI is logically organized into five main tabs. Getting familiar with what each tab does is the first step toward creative control.

• Camera: This is your primary toolkit. Here you’ll find options to switch between first-person and drone cameras, adjust the Field of View (FOV), and control camera rotation and position.
• Depth of Field: This tab lets you control the focus of your shot. You can enable and adjust the “bokeh” effect, blurring the background or foreground to make your subject stand out with cinematic flair.
• Pose: When your character, V, is in the shot, this tab is your virtual director’s chair. You can select from dozens of poses, change facial expressions, and even direct where V is looking.
• Effect: This is where you manipulate the image’s look and feel. Adjust exposure, contrast, and highlights, or apply pre-made filters to instantly change the mood of your photograph.
• Stickers: The final touch. This tab allows you to add various frames and in-world stickers, from corporate logos to graffiti tags, directly onto your image.

Essential First Settings

Before you start snapping away, a couple of quick adjustments can dramatically improve your workflow and the quality of your initial shots. Think of these as setting up your virtual camera before a big shoot.

First, navigate to the Camera tab and find the option for Grid. We highly recommend turning on the Rule of Thirds grid. This simple 3×3 overlay is a classic compositional tool that helps you place your subject off-center, creating more balanced and visually interesting images.

Second, if your goal is to capture the sprawling cityscape or a moody interior without V in the frame, you’ll want to hide your character. In the Pose tab, the very first option is typically Character Visibility. Simply toggle this off. This allows your drone camera to explore freely, focusing entirely on the stunning environment Night City has to offer.

Mastering the Camera: Your Cybernetic Eye

Once you’ve activated Photo Mode, the camera itself becomes your most powerful tool. Think of it as a detachable cybernetic eye, capable of seeing Night City from perspectives you never could during normal gameplay. Understanding its core functions is the key to transforming a simple screenshot into a stunning photograph.

Camera Type: First-Person vs. Drone

The first choice you’ll make in the “Camera” tab is the type. Each has a distinct purpose and is suited for different kinds of storytelling.

• First-Person View: This is your immersive, “through V’s eyes” perspective. It’s perfect for capturing the world exactly as your character sees it. Use this mode when you want to emphasize a sense of scale from a human perspective, like looking up at the towering skyscrapers of Corpo Plaza, or to capture the gritty details of a back-alley transaction up close. It grounds the viewer in the moment, making the scene feel personal and immediate.
• Drone View: The drone detaches the camera from V, giving you complete freedom to fly around the immediate area. This is the workhorse of Photo Mode. Use the drone to pull back for sweeping cityscapes, get high above the streets for unique architectural shots, or position the camera low to the ground for dramatic, imposing angles of your character or vehicle. It allows you to compose your shot with precision, turning the environment into your personal photo studio.

Field of View (FOV) and Focal Length

The Field of View slider is your virtual lens. It controls how much of the scene is visible, fundamentally changing the look and feel of your image. A wide FOV is like a wide-angle lens, while a narrow FOV mimics a telephoto or portrait lens.

• Wide FOV (Lower Numbers): Use a wide field of view to capture the grand scale of Night City. It exaggerates depth, making objects in the foreground appear larger and more prominent while pushing the background further away. This is ideal for capturing vast cityscapes, the full height of a megabuilding, or the claustrophobic density of a crowded market.
• Narrow FOV (Higher Numbers): A narrow field of view is perfect for portraits and isolating subjects. It compresses the distance between the foreground and background, making distant objects appear closer and larger. This effect is fantastic for character portraits, as it flattens features for a more flattering look and helps blur the background, making your V pop. Use it to focus on a specific detail, like a neon sign or a piece of graffiti, without the distraction of the surrounding chaos.

Composition Basics in a Vertical City

Night City is a chaotic, layered environment. Applying some basic photography principles can bring order to that chaos and create a visually appealing image.

• Applying the Rule of Thirds: The first setting you should enable is the grid. The Rule of Thirds suggests placing your main subject not in the center, but along the lines or at their intersections. Placing V or a key landmark on one of these points creates a more balanced and dynamic composition that is naturally more interesting for the human eye to look at.
• Using Leading Lines: Night City is full of lines that can guide the viewer’s eye through your photo. Look for roads snaking into the distance, the glowing rails of the NCART system, massive pipes running along buildings, or the hard edges of brutalist architecture. Position your camera so these lines lead towards your subject, creating a powerful sense of direction and depth.
• Framing Your Shot: Add depth to your photos by using environmental elements as a natural frame. Shoot through a doorway, a broken window, the gap between two buildings, or under a skybridge. This technique adds context, creates a sense of being a hidden observer, and draws the viewer’s attention directly to the subject within the frame.

Directing Your Subject: Posing V

A great landscape shot is one thing, but Night City is a story about people. Placing your V in the frame turns a simple picture into a narrative. The Pose tab is your digital director’s chair, giving you precise control over your protagonist’s body language, expression, and focus, transforming them from a simple avatar into the star of your visual story.

Choosing a Character Pose

The first step in directing V is selecting a base pose that fits your scene. The Photo Mode offers a vast library of options, thoughtfully organized into distinct categories to help you find the perfect stance for any situation.

• Idle Poses: These are your go-to options for environmental portraits and storytelling. You’ll find a range of natural stances, from V leaning against a wall and crossing their arms to sitting on the ground or checking their phone. These poses are perfect for capturing a quiet, contemplative moment against the city’s chaotic backdrop.
• Action Poses: When the chrome hits the fan, this is your category. These dynamic poses capture V in the heat of battle, brandishing a variety of weapons (even if you don’t have one equipped), or using cyberware. Use these to freeze-frame the explosive action of a firefight or create a promotional shot of your V looking like a legendary merc.
• Vehicle Poses: Your ride is an extension of your personality, and these poses let you show it off. Whether V is leaning coolly against their car, sitting on the hood of a motorcycle, or hanging out of the window, these poses are essential for automotive photography and capturing the freedom of the open road.

The key is to match the pose to the mood. A stoic, arms-crossed pose works wonders in a corporate plaza, conveying defiance against the system. A relaxed, seated pose on a noodle shop stool, however, tells a story of a local just trying to get by. Experiment and see how a simple change in posture can completely alter the narrative of your shot.

Fine-Tuning Expressions and Gaze

A pose sets the scene, but the face tells the story. Once you’ve chosen V’s body language, you can dial in the emotional details with precision. The “Pose” tab offers options to change V’s facial expression, moving beyond a neutral default to emotions like anger, happiness, surprise, or sadness. A subtle smirk can add a layer of confidence, while a grimace can sell the intensity of a combat scene.

Equally important is directing V’s gaze. By default, V will often “Look at Camera,” creating a direct, engaging portrait that breaks the fourth wall. This is great for character showcases. However, toggling this option off gives you a powerful storytelling tool. With it disabled, V’s eyeline remains fixed forward relative to their pose. By carefully positioning the drone camera, you can make it appear as though V is looking at a specific object, an NPC, or a distant point of interest, adding a sense of purpose and immersion to your photograph.

Interacting with the World

The most compelling photos are those that feel like a captured moment from a larger story. You can achieve this by using V’s poses to create an interaction with the environment and its inhabitants. Instead of just placing V in an empty space, look for opportunities to build a scene.

Position V leaning against a graffiti-covered wall in a Watson alley, and suddenly they’re part of that environment. Have them sit on a bench next to a musician in Japantown, and a silent story unfolds. Use an action pose where V is aiming down the sights, but frame the shot so they’re aiming at a security camera or an Arasaka patrol. These contextual interactions make your photographs feel alive and grounded in the world of Night City, transforming them from static portraits into dynamic narrative snapshots.

Lighting and Effects: Capturing the Neon Soul

If the architecture is Night City’s skeleton, then its light is the soul. The endless glow of neon signs, holographic ads, and flickering streetlights is what gives the city its signature atmosphere. Mastering the light, both ambient and artificial, is the key to elevating your photos from simple screenshots to evocative art. The ‘Effect’ tab in Photo Mode is your digital darkroom, where you can fine-tune the mood of every shot.

Harnessing Night City’s Ambient Light

Forget setting up complex three-point lighting; in Night City, the world is your light source. The environment is saturated with vibrant, dynamic lights that you can use to your advantage. The trick is to learn how to see and position yourself to make the most of them.

• Use Signs as Your Key Light: Position V so that a large neon sign or a glowing advertisement acts as your main light source. This can create dramatic side-lighting that highlights the contours of their face and cyberware, or a powerful backlight that creates a striking silhouette against the city.
• Seek Out Mixed Lighting: Some of the most visually interesting locations are where different colored lights intersect. Look for an alley where the cool blue glow from one sign spills onto a wall already washed in warm orange from a streetlamp. Placing V at this intersection can bathe them in a dynamic, multi-tonal light that feels quintessentially cyberpunk. Jig-Jig Street and Japantown are fantastic for finding these spots.

Manipulating In-Game Exposure and Highlights

Once you’ve framed your shot, the ‘Effect’ tab allows you to control how your virtual camera “sees” the light. These sliders are your most powerful tools for balancing a scene and making colors pop.

• Exposure for the Environment: Exposure controls the overall brightness of your image. A shot taken in the dazzling brightness of Corpo Plaza will need its exposure lowered to prevent the highlights from becoming pure white. Conversely, a photo in a dimly lit alley in Watson will need the exposure boosted to reveal details hidden in the shadows. This is a key aspect of advanced exposure control.
• Contrast for Punch: Contrast is the difference between the light and dark areas of your photo. Increasing the contrast will make the darks darker and the brights brighter. This is the secret to making neon colors truly sing against the dark city nights. A slight bump in contrast can make a flat-looking image instantly more dramatic and vibrant.

Applying Filters and Visual Effects

Filters and effects are the final layer of polish that can define the style and mood of your photograph. While it’s easy to go overboard, a subtle touch can make all the difference. Here are a few examples of how these settings can transform a scene.

Example 1: Bringing a Dark Scene to Life

This shows the fundamental power of the Effect tab. A photo that was initially too dark and flat becomes a dramatic portrait simply by adjusting two sliders. Don’t be afraid to push the exposure up in dark areas to see what details you can recover.

Example 2: Setting a Noir Mood with Filters

Filters are a powerful shortcut to a specific mood. Instead of manually tweaking every color setting, try cycling through the built-in filters to find a base that matches the vibe you’re aiming for, whether it’s gritty noir, vibrant synthwave, or a faded memory. This is a great way to achieve a dramatic look, similar to what you might aim for during the blue hour.

Example 3: Adding Cinematic Texture

These final effects are best used with restraint. A slight vignette darkens the corners, drawing the viewer’s eye to your subject. Film grain breaks up the digital smoothness, adding texture and a gritty feel. Chromatic aberration can mimic the look of a vintage camera lens, adding to the realism or creating a stylized “glitch” effect. The key is subtlety; you want to enhance the image, not overwhelm it. This kind of artistic control can be especially useful when trying to capture the atmosphere of night city photography.

Prime Photo Locations: A District-by-District Tour

Night City is a character in itself, a sprawling megalopolis of conflicting styles and moods. Every district offers a unique visual palette for the discerning photographer. To get the best shots, you need to know where to look. Here is a guide to some of the most photogenic locations across the city and its outskirts.

Watson

The starting point for many, Watson is a district of rebirth and decay, where neon-drenched streets hide a gritty underbelly. It’s the quintessential cyberpunk landscape, dense with stories and visual texture.

• Jig-Jig Street at night: This is the beating, glowing heart of cyberpunk photography. The sheer density of neon signs, holographic ads, rising steam, and bustling crowds creates a visually overwhelming and endlessly fascinating scene. Come here after dark for the most iconic shots.
• The dense markets of Little China: During the day or night, the markets offer incredible opportunities for street photography. Focus on the details: the food stalls, the intricate decorations, the faces in the crowd. It’s a perfect place to capture the pulse of daily life in Night City.
• The overlook near V’s first apartment: Just a short walk from Megabuilding H10, you can find a vantage point that offers a stunning panoramic view of the City Center skyline. It’s an ideal spot for wide, establishing shots, especially during sunrise or the golden hour before sunset.

Westbrook

Home to the affluent and ambitious, Westbrook is a district of sleek designs and cultural fusion. It’s cleaner than Watson, but no less visually rich, blending Japanese-inspired aesthetics with hyper-modern corporate architecture.

• The iconic holographic koi fish and bridges of Japantown: A must-see location. The massive, slowly swimming holographic koi provides a surreal and beautiful centerpiece. Frame your shots using the traditional bridges and glowing lanterns for a perfect fusion of old and new.
• Cherry Blossom Market’s traditional-meets-future vibe: This market feels more curated than those in Little China. Its blend of traditional torii gates, cherry blossom holograms, and high-tech vendors provides a unique backdrop for portraits and environmental shots.
• The opulent mansions of North Oak: Perched in the hills, North Oak is where the elite reside. The sterile, modernist architecture and pristine streets offer a stark contrast to the rest of the city. It’s the perfect location for automotive photography or capturing the cold beauty of corporate wealth.

City Center

This is the cold, corporate heart of Night City. The scale here is designed to be intimidating, with towering skyscrapers that pierce the clouds. It’s a playground for photographers who love architecture, symmetry, and overwhelming scale.

• Corpo Plaza’s overwhelming scale: Stand in the middle of the plaza and look up. The convergence of massive corporate headquarters creates powerful, dramatic lines. Use a wide Field of View to capture the sheer size and dominance of the architecture.
• The skybridges connecting the downtown skyscrapers: These elevated walkways are fantastic compositional tools. Use them as leading lines to guide the viewer’s eye or as frames to contain a distant subject. They perfectly illustrate the city’s extreme verticality.
• The somber beauty of Memorial Park: A small oasis of calm amidst the corporate chaos. The holographic trees and digital gravestones offer a poignant, quiet beauty. It’s an excellent spot for more reflective and atmospheric shots, especially in the rain or fog.

Heywood

Heywood is a district of stark contrasts, where the gleaming luxury of the city center bleeds into tough, tight-knit communities. This social friction creates a compelling visual narrative.

• The dramatic contrast between the Glen and Vista Del Rey: In a single frame, you can often capture the sleek, modern high-rises of The Glen and the dense, worn-down apartment blocks of Vista Del Rey. This juxtaposition tells a powerful story about the inequality at the core of Night City.
• The colorful Valentino’s territory: The Valentinos infuse their territory with vibrant culture. Look for the large, colorful murals, heavily customized cars, and religious iconography. It’s a fantastic area for capturing shots bursting with personality and color.

Santo Domingo

The industrial engine of Night City, Santo Domingo is all about function over form. Its beauty lies in its raw, industrial might and the sun-baked, working-class communities that power the city.

• The industrial might of Arroyo’s factories: The landscape is dominated by massive factories, towering smokestacks, and a web of pipes and power lines. This area is perfect for gritty, industrial-themed photography. Try shooting at dawn to see the structures silhouetted against the rising sun.
• Capturing the sun-baked, working-class feel of Rancho Coronado: This suburban area offers a different slice of life. The rows of identical houses and wide, empty streets under the harsh sun create a unique, almost surreal atmosphere. It’s a great place to tell the story of the city’s blue-collar heart.

Pacifica and the Badlands

On the edge of civilization, these two regions offer a vision of what lies beyond the neon glow. One is a monument to failed dreams, the other a vast, untamed wilderness.

• The decaying grandeur of the Grand Imperial Mall: Once a luxury resort project, Pacifica is now a combat zone ruled by the Voodoo Boys. The half-finished, crumbling structures, especially the Grand Imperial Mall, are hauntingly beautiful. The decay and overgrown vegetation create a powerful post-apocalyptic aesthetic.
• The stark, beautiful emptiness of the desert surrounding the city: The Badlands provide a breathtaking contrast to the claustrophobic city. Use the vast, open spaces for minimalist compositions. It’s the ultimate location for automotive shots or capturing a lone figure against a dramatic sunset. The emptiness here speaks as loudly as the city’s noise.

Developing Your Style: Thematic Photo Shoots

Once you’ve mastered the tools, the next step is to find your artistic voice. Night City is a vast canvas, offering endless opportunities for different photographic styles. Focusing on a specific theme for a photoshoot can help you create a cohesive and powerful collection of images. Here are a few popular themes to get you started.

Cyberpunk Noir

This classic genre is a perfect fit for Night City’s dark and gritty atmosphere. Noir is all about mood, mystery, and moral ambiguity, conveyed through dramatic visuals. The goal is to create scenes that feel like a still from a futuristic detective film.

• Embrace the Shadows: Light is only half the story; shadows are your best friend in noir. Look for deep, dark alleys, underpasses, and interiors where light barely penetrates. Use shadows to conceal parts of your subject or create menacing silhouettes against a single light source.
• Pray for Rain: Rain is the ultimate noir catalyst. It slicks the streets, creating stunning, mirror-like reflections of the city’s neon glow. A rain-soaked trench coat and a contemplative pose can instantly sell the entire aesthetic.
• Hunt for High Contrast: The most effective noir shots often feature extreme contrast. Position V so they are partially illuminated by a single, harsh light source—a flickering street lamp, a blinding headlight, or the glow from a vending machine—while the rest of the scene falls into deep blackness.

Action and Combat Photography

Capturing the kinetic chaos of a Night City firefight is a thrilling challenge. Photo Mode allows you to freeze time at the most dramatic possible moment, turning a frantic battle into a beautifully choreographed piece of art.

• Timing is Everything: The key to a great action shot is pausing at the peak of the action. Try to capture the moment of a muzzle flash, the impact of a bullet, the arc of a thrown grenade, or the instant you activate powerful cyberware like Sandevistan or Mantis Blades. This is a great example of using shutter speed to your advantage.

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• Use the Drone for a Battle Overview: While the first-person view is immersive, the drone camera is invaluable for combat shots. It lets you pull back and frame the entire scene, capturing V, the enemies, and the environmental effects all in one dynamic composition.

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• Focus on the Details: Zoom in on the small things that sell the action. Ejecting shell casings, sparks flying from a ricochet, the intricate details of a cybernetic arm, or the visceral spray from a shotgun blast can all make for a compelling close-up.

Street and Environmental Storytelling

Sometimes the most powerful stories are the ones happening in the background. This style of photography focuses on the city itself and its diverse inhabitants, turning you into a digital documentarian of this dystopian world.

• Capture Candid Moments: Hide V and use the drone camera like a telephoto lens to observe the citizens of Night City. Frame an NPC looking wistfully at a mega-building, a vendor passionately haggling in a market, or a couple sharing a quiet moment on a crowded street. These slices of life make the world feel real.
• Let the Environment Speak: Find scenes that tell a story without any people at all. A forgotten teddy bear in a grimy alley, a luxurious corporate lobby after hours, anti-corporate graffiti scrawled on a wall, or a makeshift shrine in a backstreet. These shots capture the soul and history of the city.

Automotive Photography

The vehicles of Night City are characters in their own right, from sleek hypercars to rugged badlands beaters. Give your favorite ride the spotlight it deserves with a dedicated automotive shoot.

• Location, Location, Location: Match your vehicle to the environment. A sleek Rayfield Caliburn looks at home amidst the towering glass and steel of Corpo Plaza, while a rugged Thorton Galena “Gecko” belongs on the sun-scorched dirt roads of the Badlands.
• Play with Reflections: A car’s polished surface is a perfect canvas for reflections. Use the neon-drenched streets of Japantown at night or the wet pavement after a rainstorm to paint the car with the city’s light. This is a great way to experiment with night photography.
• Find the Power Angle: Get your camera low to the ground and shoot upwards at the car. This classic technique makes the vehicle look more imposing, aggressive, and powerful. Experiment with different angles to highlight its best design features.
• Add a Human Element: Don’t just park the car; interact with it. Use the vehicle-specific poses to have V lean against the hood, sit on the trunk, or stand by the door. This adds a sense of scale and story to the shot.

Advanced Techniques and Pro-Tips

Once you’ve mastered the basics, it’s time to push the creative boundaries of Night City’s Photo Mode. These advanced techniques will help you add that extra layer of polish, narrative, and professional flair to your shots, transforming good pictures into unforgettable ones.

Leveraging Weather and Time of Day

Night City is a living world, and its dynamic weather and time-of-day systems are powerful tools for any virtual photographer. Don’t just accept the conditions you find; actively seek out specific atmospheric effects to elevate your work. You can easily change the time of day by using the “Skip Time” feature in the main game menu.

• Embrace the Rain: Rain is arguably the most transformative weather effect in the game. It slicks the streets and alleyways with a reflective sheen, doubling the impact of every neon sign and headlight. A rainy night in Jig-Jig Street or Corpo Plaza is the quintessential cyberpunk setting. Use the reflections as leading lines or to create stunning, almost abstract compositions. This is a great time to practice long exposure photography.
• Utilize Fog and Smog: Fog creates an incredible sense of depth and mystery. It can soften harsh backgrounds, isolate your subject, and add a moody, noir-like atmosphere to your photos. A foggy morning in the Badlands or a smog-filled evening in Santo Domingo can produce hauntingly beautiful and atmospheric shots. The fog helps to diffuse light, creating soft, ethereal glows around light sources, similar to the effects seen during the golden hour and blue hour.

For PC Players: A Glimpse into Photo Mode Mods

While the vanilla Photo Mode is incredibly robust, the modding community on PC has expanded its capabilities even further. If you’re playing on PC and comfortable with modding, you can unlock a new level of creative control. These community-made tools can introduce hundreds of new static and dynamic poses for V and other NPCs, provide more granular camera controls, and even allow for character model swaps and environmental tweaks.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that using third-party mods comes with inherent risks. Mods are not officially supported by CD PROJEKT RED and can potentially cause game instability, crashes, or conflicts with future game updates. Always back up your save files before installing mods and only download them from reputable sources to minimize risks.

Creative Use of Stickers and Frames

Often overlooked, the “Stickers” and “Frames” tabs are more than just a novelty; they are storytelling tools. Instead of using them as simple decorations, think about how they can add context and narrative depth to your image.

• Diegetic Stickers: Use stickers to add world-building details. Place a Maelstrom graffiti sticker on a wall in Watson to imply gang territory, or add an Arasaka logo to a scene to hint at corporate surveillance. These small additions can make a static scene feel more dynamic and lived-in.
• Narrative Frames: The frames can be used to mimic in-universe technology. A frame that looks like a security camera overlay can instantly re-contextualize a shot, making it feel like found footage. Others might look like a car’s HUD or a braindance interface, adding a layer of immersion that pulls the viewer directly into the world of Night City. This can be a great way to enhance your Night City photography.