Hey MCME,

I'm pasting the three pinned guides from #screenshot-feedback here. If a link from the recommended shader list is broken, tell me.
Thanks to Raffy, Xmine, Lindolas, Toti and Bart for helping me write this or sharing their top shader packs. Quickly read, then get to clicking that F2 button.

Guide to improve your screenshots

Do’s

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⁃ Lower your FOV: go to Options>drag the FOV bar to 55 or lower
⁃ Get yourself nice shaders:
⁃ Move the background object to the center and foreground objects towards the side
⁃ Change the time of day in order to get pretty clouds - especially when it shows a lot of sky
⁃ Press F2 to take the screenshot and click on the filename that appears in chat

Don't's

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⁃ Don’t include a bright sun in the screen - sunsets are fine though
⁃ Don’t show too much or too little sky: try to have the horizon in the middle - except if you’re taking for a bird’s eye view screenshot
⁃ Don’t focus the camera on a fat object in the center - instead, use the rule of thirds

Shader guide

With shader packs, the quality of your screenshots will skyrocket! Here you will read how to install shaders, tips for (shader) settings, tips for people with potato PC’s and a list of shader packs which we recommend. :sunrise_over_mountain:

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How to install and run shaders

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1 Download and install Optifine from OptiFine Downloads. Make sure to get the version MCME is running on. The installation is extremely easy. Launch it. 2 Open the shaderpacks folder under the .minecraft folder. Windows people: go to C:\Users\Your username\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\shaderpacks. People with a Mac: open Terminal and enter the input open ~/Library/Application\ Support/ 3 Download the shaderpack that you want - I listed the top shaders below - and paste them in the shaderpacks folder. 4 If you haven’t already, launch the Optifine minecraft version and go to Options > Video settings > Shaders…

Shader settings

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⁃ Play with depth of field, sun rays and fog ⁃ Turn off Chromatic aberration - not pretty ⁃ If you want to take screenshots of large areas, increase the Shadow distance (a.k.a. Shadow render distance) as much as possible ⁃ See if night vision looks better or worse with the shaders - type /fbt to toggle it. ⁃ Experiment which of these two ways to use the shaders works best for your PC. First try jumping from shaders Off to a shaders and see how smoothly it runs. Then try jumping from Off to Internal Shaders, and then to the shaders. Depending on your graphics card this may run smoother.

Tips in case your PC is too slow for your liking

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⁃ Without shaders, choose a nice camera position and angle and type /sethome. When you load the shaders and painfully render all the chunks, you can type /home to teleport to the angle you chose ⁃ Lower system-demanding shader settings such as Shadow resolution ⁃ Don’t touch the floor if you’re flying - you’ll have a hard time getting up in the sky with 1 FPS

About underground screenshots

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⁃ Use the Vertigo shader pack from the list below ⁃ Turn night vision off - type /fbt ⁃ Turn the time to day, for example /ptime 1500

List of recommended shader packs with links to direct downloads

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⁃ Ymir - amazing shader pack co-created by the community member Rre36: https://github.com/ymir-graphics/ymir-releases/releases/download/beta1.0/Ymir_beta1.0.zip
⁃ Molly - emphasizes the fantasy aspect: MediaFire
⁃ BSL - respects the original build, but also makes it epic: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/customization/bsl-shaders/download
⁃ Wisdom - to make you wonder if this is real life, or just fantasy: https://github.com/bobcao3/Wisdom-Shaders/releases/download/Build3232/Wisdom-Shaders-3232.zip
⁃ projectLUMA - very realistic sky: projectLUMA – v1.32
⁃ Chocapic13 Toaster Edition: MediaFire
⁃ Vertigo - works underground and runs smoothly: https://vertigoshader.netlify.app/res/Vertigo_V1.2.zip

Guide for editing your screenshots

Open your screenshot in a photo-editing program. I recommend Paint.NET of Gimp - both are free. Here are several ways to intensify, moodify or beautify your screenshots!

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⁃ Play with basic adjustments: increase the contrast and brightness, or turn down the saturation
⁃ Sharpen your screenshot by adjusting the Levels. For Gimp: Colors>Levels, for Paint.NET: Adjustments>Levels. Narrow down the input as much as you like.
⁃ Duplicate the main background layer > Edit properties of the duplicate layer > change blending mode from Normal, to Overlap or whatever you desire > change opacity of the duplicate layer if it changed too much > Merge layer down before saving the screenshot
⁃ Advanced: before changing the blending mode of the duplicate layer (read above point), play with one of the layers. Example: apply a glowing effect to the background layer while leaving the duplicate layer unchanged.
⁃ Add fog with a gradient. Paint.NET: change the secondary color to 100% transparent, change the primary color to light grey with a transparency that you like > use the Gradient tool (left bar) for a fog bank in the distance. Gimp: change the foreground color to light grey > click on the Gradient fill icon>choose FG to transparent.
⁃ Add sun rays: copy the transparent image below and paste it in your image editor>enlarge it so you don’t see hard borders > rotate so that it matches the location of the sun. This works best for screenshots from a bird’s eye perspective. ‌