DCC First Anniversary

Cosplayer Group Photo (Focal Length 24mm, Aperture F11, Shutter 1/60s) 

I started the Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati Cosplay Photo Shoot Group (DCC) on Facebook in April 2018 and held the first group shoot in June 2018. Over the past 12 months it has been a significant amount of work, but the group has grown from 10 people (5 cosplayers, 4 photographers and 1 assistant) attending the very first shoot in Dayton to  34 people attending the first anniversary shoot held on June 23, 2019.  

The anniversary shoot was held at Eastwood Metro Park in Dayton and was an open themed event. The location had several places to shoot at to include stone bridges, iron bridges, nice grass areas, and several water features.  We had 22 cosplayers come out to the event so there was going to be no way I could work with all of them. I ended up working with about half of them, because 4 of them were a group cosplay.   I shot 274 frames, edited 168, and posted 100 final photos.  I forgot my light stand for this meet up so shot the whole event with one flash on its little foot stand angled up from the ground.  In some cases, it worked very well.  I shot using ISO 100.  My aperture varied from f4.5 to f11 with the most common aperture being f8 followed by f4.5.  My shutter speed varied from 1/60s to 1/640s with the most common speed being 1/160s.  Finally, my focal length varied from 18mm to 80mm, with the most common focal length being 18mm. 

My favorite two shots from the meet up are of Kamikaze Kendra as punk Thor.  Most cosplay images are in bright vivid color to show off the costume and detail. However, I took a different approach and made the image black and white to capture the punk nature of the cosplay.  Turning the image to black and white gives it a gritty edge that is found in several punk photos.  I believe the edit also brings out the persona that the cosplayer was trying to portray.

Focal Length 32mm, Aperture F8, Shutter 1/200s 

Focal Length 50mm, Aperture F8, Shutter 1/200s

All the cosplayers were great that day.  You can see all my final images from the event here.

If you want to participate in these great events please join our Facebook Group: Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati (DCC) Cosplay Photo Shoots.  You can also see some behind the scenes images on our Instagram page: DCC Cosplay Photoshoots