Skip to main content

Fall Cosplay Meet Up


ISO 400, Aperture F9, Shutter 1/250s,  Focal Length 18mm
On November 10  I hosted a meet up of the Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati Cosplay Photoshoot group at the Maple-Beech Lodge in Blacklick Woods Park which is part of the Columbus Metro Park system.  This event was the last event of the year and included a small basic posing workshop.   We had 6 cosplayers, 6 photographers, and 2 assistants attend, so the cosplayer to photographer ratio was relatively good.  I gave the short posing brief.  After the brief I had each coplayer come up pose for two photos, the first with no guidance on posing then the second with guidance after seeing how the first shot looked.  I used a tethered shooting method so  each cosplayer could immediately  see how they looked in the photos so they could adjust based on what they learned and group suggestions.  After the meet up, I provided each cosplayer with “contact sheet”  of each of their images from the workshop portion of the shoot so they would have it for future reference. Involving all members of the group in the discussion and having live feedback, I think helped the group in general, allowed the people to become comfortable with one another, and made for a better overall shoot.

I worked with 6 cosplayers.  I shot a total of  271 frames which includes the posing workshop frames. Of the 271 frames, 244 where from the actual shoot,  of which I edited 130 images and delivered 67 final images not including the posing workshop images.  Since I shot during both the posing workshop and the actual shoot, I had two different set ups.  During the posing workshop,  I set up a plain white backdrop, used a single bare off camera speed light on a light stand,  and had my camera tethered to a lap top which was hooked to a projector to show the image on projection screen.  All images shot during the workshop were at ISO 400, an aperture of f/8, a shutter speed of 1/160s, a focal length of 18mm.  For my second set up, during the actual shoot portion,  I used single bare off camera speed light on a light stand.   I used an ISO of 400 due to the daylight conditions and the consistently changing cloud cover.  My aperture and shutter speed varied throughout the shoot, due to the changing lighting conditions due to the moving clouds and transitioning from indoor to outdoors.  My aperture ranged between F3.5 and F14 with the most common being F9.  My shutter speed varied from 1/125s to 1/800s with the most common speed being /250s.  It should be noted the standard flash sync speed is 1/250s but I can push the sync speed if I switch to high-speed sync. Finally, my focal length varied from 18mm to 90mm, with the most common focal length being 18mm.   As unusual I like to shoot wide.

The park is nice with lots of trees and a pond, I was kind of sad that we missed a lot of the fall leaves, due to a windstorm coming through an knocking a bunch of them off the trees.  Also, right outside the lodge that was rented for the event were two large green stone turtles.  I used these stone turtles as inspiration for several of my shots.  It worked perfectly for two cosplays.  The first was IzzyQuinnzilla as Bow-Peep from Toy Story 4.   It was perfect cosplay representing a toy on a whimsical turtle for kids.  My personal favorite shot is her going lifeless, like the toys in the movie do when a kid is around, on top of the turtle. The second image is of Fishmeal (formally Gleume) cosplay as Royal Guard Zelda riding the turtle into battle. What makes this photo is that she has a very serious look on her face, while riding a turtle.  Usually one would ride a noble steed, but since none were available at the time, the turtle had to work.

ISO 400, Aperture F11, Shutter 1/250s,  Focal Length 18mm
ISO 400, Aperture F9, Shutter 1/160s,  Focal Length 18mm

Overall this was a good meet up, you can see all my final images from the meet up here: Maple-Beech Lodge.  The group will start meet ups again in January, since we take a break in December due to holidays. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cobwebs Everywhere

On October 7 th , I did a studio spooky session with Coralinx Cosplay .   The central theme of this shoot was a pretty goth girl who had a fondness for spiders and decorating with cobwebs, making it a perfect Halloween session.   Note: Cobwebs are defined as abandoned or old spiderwebs that have collected dust.   Many cobwebs are the result of comb-footed spider (i.e., black widows) that make irregularly shaped webs.   Spiderwebs are active structures built to catch prey.   (Source: Western Exterminator Company) For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 2 Phottix Strobes 2 strip boxes 2 rectangular soft boxes 2 c-stands 3 light stands Backdrop stand Black seamless 2 Westcott silicon gels Tether cable Laptop Laptop holder Sandbags A-clamps Spyder Color checker Fake cobwebs Table ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Katsucon 2025 Wrap - Up

Katsucon 2025 didn’t seem as crowded as 2024, but I still wasn’t feeling it.  Katsucon will always have a special place in my heart, but I think I’m just bored with it, from a creative perspective.   While I still love working with cosplayers the location itself no longer excites me and I’m tired of fighting the crowds.  If I return to Katsucon 2026 I think I’ll just set up a studio in my room and do studio sessions.  I can be a lot more creative with a studio session, and I get to use all my lights.  So now let's talk about photography.   For Katsucon I was shooting with my Canon R6 with an 24-105 Canon RF lens, and I had a fisheye lens on me as well, but we will discuss that later.  I had two speedlights, one on camera which acted as a trigger 90-percent of the time and one on a light stand which my husband would hold during shoots. This year I booked 11 cosplay sessions and shot 869 frames.  I shot a range of ISOs from ISO 100 to ISO 800...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spooky in the Morning

On October 5 th , I did an on-location spooky session with Rebecca at Claude Moore Park.   The theme was Victorian ghost; however, it is hard to be a ghost at 9:30 in the morning on a bright sunny day.   I did my best to get a spooky look. For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Cannon Speed lights 1 30-inch umbrella Light stand Assistant Smoke Genie The setup The set up was relatively easy.  I mounted a Canon speed light on a light stand with an umbrella.  My assistant then held the light in the appropriate spots as we made our way around the park to different locations. Camera Settings This session was held outdoors in bright morning sun and was intended to look spooky, so I tried to keep the images dark.  Thus, I used ISO 100, which is great for sunny conditions.  I wanted to maintain a soft background as much a...
Post a Comment
Read more