How to Use the Camera in Red Dead Redemption 2 to Take Photos

Photo modes are a dime a dozen in games these days, and Rockstar hasn’t missed the boat to give players an easy way to take photos in Red Dead Redemption 2. Unlike a built-in photo mode, learning how to use the camera in Red Dead Redemption 2 incorporates a special camera item—similar to the phone camera app that Grand Theft Auto V uses. With this item the player can take photographs of the world around them, as well as take a selfie in Red Dead Redemption 2 with the camera.

How to Use the Camera to Take Photos

Like Grand Theft Auto V, players will need to make use of the camera in order to take photos in Red Dead Redemption 2. The good news is, you can easily access this item from the weapon wheel at just about anytime throughout the game. When using the camera, there are a few controls to keep in mind.

On Xbox One, you can press and hold LB to display the weapon wheel. From here, press RB to swap between items and weapons. Once you are viewing your items, look for the camera. Find it, select it, and then release LB to equip it into your hands.

On PlayStation 4, open up the weapon wheel by pressing L1. With the weapon wheel open, press R1 to swap to the items in your inventory. From here, select the camera in the wheel and release L1 to equip it into your hands.

When you have the camera equipped you will have three options to choose from including Self Portrait, Handheld and Put Away. Handheld mode will allow you to take photos of the world around you. This is useful for grabbing nice landscapes. However, if you want to take a photo of Arthur himself you can easily press the button for Self Portrait to allow you to take a photo of the character itself.

If you choose to use the Self Portrait mode, then several additional factors will become available to you including Take Photo, Enable Focus Lock, Expression, Zoom, Pose, View Photos and Back. These will allow you to change up the way that your photos look when you take them, and you can even change Arthur’s expression slightly using that particular option. Keep in mind that Pose will also allow you to change his pose slightly for the photo, allowing you to really set things up the way you want.

If you choose to use Handheld mode then you’ll find yourself with several options including Take Photo, Zoom, View Photos, Enable Focus Lock and Back. Like the Self Portrait mode, you can easily mess around with each of these to change up how your photographs look, giving you the control you want or need to take the photo that you’re looking for.

Now that you know how to use the camera in Red Dead Redemption 2, make sure you also check out our guide on how the Wanted and Bounty systems work for help with those parts of the game. You can also head back over to our Red Dead Redemption 2 guide for all the tools you need to survive the chaos of the wild west.