Elden Ring - Mountaintops & Snowfields – Rob Haines Creative Space

in game photography

All photos were taken on PS5 in Quality mode with ray-tracing, and post-processed in Affinity Photo. Cinematic angles are the result of looking through the telescope, or crouching in front of a large rock to clip the camera through my character.

A view from a wide paved porch down a snowy path through a forest of bare, spindly trees. The air is dense and misty, and dark silhouettes emerge in the distance. To the left, a spark of grace illuminates a patch of grass, drawing lazy arcs of golden light.

A triumphal triple archway atop a building-sized circular lift. Statues cross ceremonial axes and branches in the central archway. There's snow on the cracked paving, and the trees reaching into the sky beyond are white and crystalline.

A wide, snowy balcony of grey stone looking out towards the upper reaches of the Erdtree. The wide trunk gleams gold, and the branches spider out across the blue sky, above white-peaked clouds.

A warrior in a conical metal helmet and ragged brown robes stands - with his arms crossed - on a snowy slope. Beyond, a dense cluster of grey stone ruins confuses the path forward; the trees around them are ice-white and spectral, their trunks fading to nothingness just before reachign the ground.

A cluster of grey stone ruins along a snowy path. Spectral-white trees rise into a clear sky, and the golden branches of the Erdtree loom over all.

A snowy road between ruins and grey cliffs, where an ancient warrior - carrying a pair of mismatched long-handled scythes - stands waiting.

The interior of a cluster of ruined grey buildings, at sunset. Ghostly eagles perch atop the crumbling walls, and the sky is purple beyond the radiance of the Erdtree's branches.

A snowy ruin at sunset, the sunlight painting a large surviving chunk of masonry a warm orange against the golden yellow of the Erdtree and the white of the spectral trees.

A winding path leading up towards a mountain path between grey cliffs painted with sunset's glow. The ground is covered in snow, and spectral white trees rise like a forest of icicles wherever you look.

A view back down the snowy path, at night, past spectral-white trees towards the radiant gold of the Erdtree.

A treacherous path of weathered ancient stone pillars leading across a deep ravine. At the far side, a succession of pointed archways leads further up the mountain, and a giant archer stands guard, their feet like glowing coals against the grey-blue snowfield.

Looking back over a narrow causeway of jagged stone across a snowy ravine. A narrow pass between towering cliffs can be seen at the far end, and to the right, the towering golden trunk of the Erdtree emerges from behind the mountain.

A narrow causeway between two craggy mountaintops, viewed from a vantage point to the side, at daytime. The drop to either side is precipitous, and the whole scene drifts with white fog.

A view up the mountain slope, scattered with boulders and spectral trees, towards a three-arched viaduct built from mountaintop to mountaintop.

A sallow-faced woman with red hair and a prosthetic brass arm stands amongst the snow, against a weathered stone carving. Clusters of white-blue berries glow against her blood-stained clothes.

A frozen river, scattered with arches and constructed columns. The sun is low, and a giant armored figure stalks the ice, casting a long shadow between the icy trees.

Gille the Confessor, plunging her sword into the fiery furnace in a giant's abdomen, sending gouts of flame across the snow.

Gille the Confessor, mostly obscured by the fires of the fallen giant as she pulls her sword free. A tangle of massive armored limbs stretches across the snow, blurred by motion.

A view from a mountaintop, across snowy peaks and old towers. In the foreground is the pointed steeple of a sorceror's sanctum, while further back can be seen bare trees, squat garrisons, a giant stone skeleton set into the landscape, and an iron chain leading up to a vast stone crucible. Over all, the Erdtree shines down.

A sorcerer's tower on the edge of a grey cliff, beneath the spreading golden foliage of the Erdtree. To the right, spindly grey trees reach from the snowy ground.

A view across a snowdrift, scattered with spindly grass and berry bushes heavy with snow, towards a sorceror's tower and a vast stone crucible in the deep blue sky beyond.

An octagonal building attached to a sorceror's tower, caught in the orange glow of sunset. Beyond, bare trees lead across shattered ground towards a distant stone crucible, attached to the mountain with a heavy chain.

An octagonal mausoleum atop a scraggly atoll of grassy stone, in the middle of a snowy field. Pale white trees rise from the snow, framing a huge crescent moon shining down over the battlements of a stone castle.

The interior of a snow-draped castle. Rows of wooden stakes cut across the courtyard, beneath wooden walkways rimed with frost. To the right, a tall tower of grey stone reaches into the sky.

A view across the castle rooftops, multiple overlapping rectangles of grey-stone battlements reaching towards a tall bastion at the far end. In the foreground, a church steeple rises from the castle grounds, surrounded by four smaller spires.

A view from the castle battlements - decorated with wooden tables and iced-over hatches - across to the church spire and a pair of fortified towers, and a high grey cliff beyond. The Erdtree shines from the top-right, casting golden light over the clifftop.

A wide castle courtyard, paved in concentric circles around a shard of grace. The wall is crenellated, and an archway to the left leads back into the castle. The top-right half of the scene is dominated by the golden Erdtree, so far away but still bright and vibrant.

A view from the highest point of the castle, down upon a courtyard with a spark of grace at its centre. The castle walls are decayed and broken, with fallen beams protruding from tumbledown masonry.

A snow-clad graveyard atop a mountain, framed by spectral trees, beneath an icy crescent moon in a navy-blue sky speckled with falling snowflakes.

A wide frozen lake, the featureless ice broken only by the slate-coloured bark of long-bare trees. The sky is grey with unshed snow, and inhabited by pale blue spectral jellyfish.

The edge of an iced-over lake, beneath towering grey cliffs. Grey tree-trunks burst forth from the lakeside in spindly arrays of branches, and the rocky shore is speckled with semi-translucent trees and jellyfish of the same ice-blue.

An underground stream in a narrow cavern beneath the snowfield. The water glows in shades of turquoise, lighting up the lush green foliage of the trees and bushes clustered along its banks.

The shattered ruins of a small church in a snowfield, its shattered arches and bedraggled steeple clustered around a shining shard of grace.

Gille the Confessor sits graceside upon the snow, herred hair and battered armour dark against the bright ground. Melina sits in her grey cloak, eyes lifted skywards, lost in scripture.

A view from beside the ruined church, back across the frozen lake where grey trees splinter towards a sky full of spectral foliage. An arc of gold weaves its way from the church, but is lost behind a foreground tree.

A view past wooden stakes and strangely-carved trident-like posts towards a high series of snow-tinged cliffs, and a vast iron chain leading to a massive stone crucible atop a many-pillared foundation.

An arched chamber in an underground catacomb. A light shines from blood-spattered cobbles, amidst scattered masonry and shattered boxes, and writhing shapes can be seen in the shadows beyond.

An underground tunnel, melted through the ice, firmly propped up with thick wooden support beams. In the foreground are boxes, barrels and a wheelbarrow full of tools. Deeper within, the blue light shifts to yellow and green beneath a black-iron lantern.

A ruined cathedral, thick with snow. Beneath the arched windows lies the body of a giant woman in robes of grey and royal blue. The nave is overgrown with ice-grey grass, and the steps leading towards where the altar should be are weathered and white.

An abandoned town of stone arches and ornately-carved porticoes in the snow, suffused with pale green despite the warm orange sunset glow. Icy trees rise into the sky beyond the edge of the town.

A view of the snowy town from a high place, looking down over rooftops of red slate, and across to a tower with ladders set into one side. To the right, an archway across the main road in to the town is blocked with a pale green barrier.

An enormous stone skeleton, set into the cliffside, looms over a snowy path. To its right, a large dead tree splinters upwards, and beyond, the golden foliage of the Erdtree sets the sky aflame.

A dead giant, upon its knees and pierced through with thick tree branches. Thorns grow around its head and trail down like tears towards a glowing erdtree sapling below. The sky beyond is clouded and full of embers, fading to angry pink at the horizon.

A cluster of dead giants in the snow, in the same penitent's pose, struck through with trident-like tree growth. The sky roils with clouds, the gradient passing from beige to pink to deep grey.

A view between grey cliffs, past the fallen forms of long-deads giants in the snow, towards the vast stone crucible, limned with chains, against a pink sky.

A portrait of a dead giant up close, its body and the choking vegetation that killed it preserved by the ice. Behind, the Erdtree stands in judgement.

A panorama across a many-layered mountaintop, against dark pink clouds. Dead giants and spindly trees line every path, each grey cliff leading upwards and onwards towards the distant crucible.

The last living fire giant, standing in the snow, carrying a large stone platter. His skin is reddish-brown and mottled; his beard and lower-back hair is red and braided into long, heavy strangds, and there is a manacle around his ankle.

The last of the fire giants, facing forward, resting his platter vertically against the snow. His head and shoulders are covered in bright red hair, his chest is craggy and misshapen in a way that resembles a second face, and the hair at his waist is braided into a rough loincloth.

A gently-curving snowfield, speckled with grass and broken tree-trunks, leading up towards the mighty chain and the crucible beyond.

The view across the crucible from one side. The far edge is chipped and gouged, the rest weathered and full of embers beneath a sky full of dark grey clouds, lit brightly from below.

The ashes and embers upon the crucible's floor. Most of the stone glows red, still hot despite the ages that have passed, clustered around a vast mound of ash. Embers gleam red in the air above.

Gille the Confessor sits at a shard of grace on the rim of the crucible. Her armour is black and gold, and the Erdtree glows golden overhead, as if waiting for her decision.

Melina and Gille sit together beside the grace, beneath the Erdtree's glow and the angry pink clouds. The curving horizon of the crucible's edge leads to their location.

Under the Erdtree's watch, atop the crucible, Gille offers her gloved hand to Melina one last time.

Melina stands tall before the Erdtree, washed in flame, kindling for the forge. In the foreground, out of focus, Gille bows her head.