Beyond Screenshots: Understanding Virtual Photographers

Overview

Virtual photography is an art form where individuals capture images within video game environments and share them in online communities, often enhancing a game's visibility. While this practice serves as organic promotion for publishers and studios, it remains largely unpaid. This project explored the motivations behind creating this art and the communities that support it.

A selection of photos posted on Instagram tagged with #virtualphotography.

Problem Statement

Game publishers benefit from virtual photography as players create and share visually compelling content, yet little research has explored the social dynamics behind this practice. This study examines how members of one of the largest virtual photography communities, the Society of Virtual Photographers, describe their motivations and engagement. Understanding these user-driven behaviors provides insight into how gaming communities organically promote games and shape their digital experiences.

Users & Audience

The primary audience for this study was hobbyist virtual photographers—individuals who capture and share in-game images without financial dependence on their work. All participants were based in Europe and North America, suggesting virtual photography is shaped by financial access and cultural trends in the global North. We recruited specifically from the Society of Virtual Photographers, a community founded in 2017 with over 200 members and 13,000+ Instagram followers. Understanding this group’s motivations and creative engagement offers insight into how gaming communities organically generate content that enhances game visibility and player retention.

To better understand virtual photographers' motivations, we sampled community members from the Society of Virtual Photographers.

Roles & Responsibilities

This project was a collaboration between two researchers. My partner led the literature review, while I focused on research design and analysis. He invited me to join the project based on my prior work combining semi-structured interviews with picture-sorting techniques to explore video game experiences. I developed the participant screening tool, while he conducted and recorded the interviews. I then analyzed the videos and transcripts, integrating image artifacts into the findings. We worked together on the discussion section to ensure a well-rounded interpretation of the results.

Scope & Constraints

This project was conducted with no budget and a limited participant pool due to the cultural context of virtual photography. We interviewed five participants, which proved sufficient as key themes emerged quickly. Most participants spoke English as a second language, which posed some challenges—particularly when discussing artistic concepts and deeper reflections. Despite these constraints, the study successfully captured meaningful insights into the motivations and experiences of virtual photographers.

Process

I created the screening tool using Qualtrics and coordinated the institutional review board (IRB) approval for the study. Once approval was secured, my partner led the participant recruitment from the Society of Virtual Photography, an online community for video game photography enthusiasts, using a snowball sampling method. This helped us expand the sample as initial participants suggested other influential photographers in the community.

In terms of study design, I developed a card sorting task, creating participant boards in Mural for them to categorize their images with the interviewer. I also generated the transcripts from Zoom recordings, coded the data using Dedoose, and organized the codes into themes using Mural.

Participants conducted picture sorting activities in Mural. While my primary focus was on analyzing interview transcripts, I also examined their sorting behaviors through screen recordings.

The study employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to explore participants’ personal experiences with virtual photography. I integrated semi-structured interviews and a picture sorting technique to help participants define virtual photography and categorize their images.

My analysis of 209 minutes of interviews produced 10 linguistic codes that reflected the language and discourse patterns present, 42 conceptual codes on the underlying concepts and ideas associated with virtual photography, and 144 descriptive codes that represented the participants’ experiences.

After conducting coding in Dedoose, I exported all codes to Mural for thematic analysis. This screenshot shows an example of one interview's codes.

I used an inductive process to reorganize codes and accompanying excerpts for each participant and using these codes to uncover initial themes.

I then began the iterative process again by moving to the next interview transcript. This led to 43 overarching statements from all five interviews. These statements ranged in topic from the technical intricacies of photography to the emotional resonance of capturing digital moments. Through analysis of these statements, I identified seven recurring themes.

Seven recurring themes emerged from 43 statements generated across five interviews.

Outcomes & Lessons Learned

Themes Identified

Our study of virtual photography revealed seven key themes that offer deep insights into its practice and significance. These findings include:

1. Virtual photography distinguishes itself from screenshots through effort and skill.

2. Virtual photography merges the principles of photography with other traditional art forms.

3. Virtual photographers are motivated by the desire to capture otherwise impossible experiences.

4. Virtual photography provides depth to gameplay experiences.

5. Virtual photography captures the essence of a video game.

6. Virtual photography is an inherently referential form of self-expression.

7. Virtual photographers find motivation and influence from online communities.

A New Definition That Centers the User and Artist

Based on these themes and our analysis, we provide the following definition of virtual photography:

Virtual photography is the act of capturing a unique moment within a game environment that is inherently unreproducible through individual authorship. Through mastering skills and tools, it aims to capture both the game’s essence and the player's experience, fostering exchanges with other virtual photographers and gamers and creating a sense of community.

One participant's card sorting exercise, showcasing their thoughtful composition.

Skilled Artists Emerge from Video Game Appreciation

Virtual photography distinguishes itself from traditional photography through individualized authorship. The interviewees emphasized their transformation into ‘gamer-artists’ as they honed their skills, capturing moments that added depth to the game world itself. This process of transformative play reflects a deep appreciation for the game’s design and artistic elements. Virtual photographers are thus both creators and fans, capturing the essence of their gaming experience while showcasing their admiration for the medium.

Online Communities as (Advertisement) Opportunities

Virtual photography thrives within online communities, where sharing images and forming global connections motivate and inspire practitioners. The practice provides an avenue for personal expression while also serving as a form of free advertisement for game studios. As these communities grow, the images created by virtual photographers often serve as organic marketing for games. Though many participants described positive community experiences, some noted the pressures of social media, such as the desire for validation or the obligation to share images for engagement. Despite these challenges, virtual photography has become an essential tool for both self-expression and brand promotion.