A Photographers guide to World of Warships & It’s hidden Free Camera

Overview

A Photographers guidebook for helpful Commands, Settings and Key Combinations to make beautiful Hudless Screenshots.

Introduction

Hello and Welcome! I’ve been an avid Photographer of WoWs for quite some time now, And have played the game since it’s Closed Beta Test; There are some hidden tools that are not explained anywhere in the game that allows you to remove the HUD, Lock your guns in a certain position and even activate a hidden Free Camera, All of which will be explained in detail in this guide, It’s still WIP, And as new updates roll by there are certain to be new fun tools to use in our quest to make good looking Screenshots and Artworks using In-Game resources.

Locking Guns in place.

There are 2 of these Features in the game.
The first will allow you to force your guns on a specific Sector of the map, Rotating your Main Battery as your ship moves, This is helpful in 2 Ways, For Combat purposes, You can focus your guns on a specific Sector you think an opposing Ship may be sitting, So in the event they become Detected you do not need to wait for your guns to Rotate, And in terms of Screenshots, It allows you to elevate your guns without the worry that they will start rotating should you move your Camera.
The second will lock your Main Battery in any direction you choose, They will focus on that specific Direction and not move until you enter the Button Combo again.

Sector Lock can be initiated with the Button Combo, Left Shift + X.

Bearing Lock can be initiated with the Button Combo, Left Control + X.

Removing the Heads up Display (HUD)

The Heads up Display has alot of useful info for the Battle, But does not look good in a Screenshot. To remove the HUD use the Button Combination Left Control + G.

Free Camera

The Free Camera is never explained In-Game or in any official resource for WoWs; Many have speculated that it is a feature that was never meant for public use due to it’s rather strange Button Combination to activate. Nevertheless it is an invaluable tool in creating good looking Screenshots.
The Button Combination to activate Free Camera is Left Control + Right Shift + Backspace.
The Free Camera has it’s own set of Controls.
Arrow Keys = Primary Movement
Numpad 1 / 2 = Move the Camera Forward/Backwards at a high rate of speed, Use your Mouse to control the direction.
Numpad 7 / 9 = Move the Camera Up/Down
Mouse Scroll Wheel = Zoom in and out
B = Track movement of Ship (This feature is a little messy, It’s primary purpose is to follow your ship when it is moving at any Speed, However activating it while Raising or Lowering the camera with the NP 7/9 Buttons will occasionally result in the camera being vaulted below the Waterline. Before the Submarine Scenario was added, Vaulting below the Waterline would reveal a Black Void, Now if it lowers below the Waterline, There is Depth to it)

The Free Camera has a Noclip of Sorts, Allowing you to view the inside of your Ship and move through Mountains.

Tips and suggested Graphical Settings

As WoWs has to render many things at once during a batle, The Graphical Fidelity of most Ships in the game is rather lackluster, And as such close ups of items such as Ship Components (Main Battery, Secondaries etc…) isn’t advised due to their rather low Quality, Even on the maximum possible Settings.
If you are interested in making Screenshots for WoWs, I highly recommend using the below settings (Minus Resolution)