Cosplay at Saint Yves

On January 28th, I attended the D.C. Cosplay Photo Shoots’ meetup at Saint Yves in North West D.C.  Saint Yves is a D.C. nightclub and lounge with art deco decor with a bit of a modern twist.  We were able to use the space in the early afternoon before it opened for business for the night. 

For this event I used:

• Canon 80D

• 1 Speed light

• Trigger

• Light stand

• 18-200mm lens

• Extra small square softbox

• Black mist filter

The Venue:

The venue had several options for shooting locations, but could be cramped due to a combination of size, people, and equipment.  The overall styling of the space was art deco, with lots of gold, brass, and marble. It had several open booth areas harkening back to high end  clubs of the 1920’s in New York and Chicago.  This space was best for luxurious cosplays, those styled for the 1920s, or the high end nightclub looks. Would I shoot here again, yes and possibly bring an assistant to reduce issues with placing lighting.  Though one of the most interesting features of the venue was the cloud ceiling. If you wanted the ceiling in a background you better be lying on the floor and shooting up; not necessarily a flattering position for both the model or photographer.

Camera Settings:

This was an indoor event, which was light enough to move around in, but not conducive to natural light photography.  I normally eliminate ambient light so the dimness was a bonus for me.  I was shooting at ISO 100 and my aperture ranged from F8 to F10 with the most common being F9.  My shutter speed ranged from 1/20s to 1/250s with the most common speed being 1/250s.  My focal length ranged from 18mm to 40mm with 18mm being the most common focal length. I’m not surprised that 18mm was the most common focal length due to the tight quarters I was working in during  the course of the meet up, which was dictated by the venue  layout. 

The Photos:

Let’s start with this lovely photo of Isantheon as Essekthelyss from Critcal Role.  This photo has the cloud ceiling in the background, which means I was laying on the floor to take this. Thankfully I can flip my LCD screen out on my camera to make it a little easier to frame.  For this image I had the flash to my left pointed at the cosplayer, and slightly tilted up. This flash position did not light up the cloud ceiling a lot, so it looks more like moody storm clouds than happy fluffy clouds.  In post production I did all the basic edits, white balance, exposure, contrast, tone curve, ect.  Then I used a combination of the patch tool, and content aware fill to fill in some of the areas that were missing ceiling clouds.  I also blended  the lines where the prosthetic ears met the cosplayer’s real ears, and touched up the body paint in a few spots.  I then cropped the image and added a medium vignette. 

ISO 100, Aperture F9, Shutter Speed 1/250, Focal Length 32mm

This next image is of Tanooki Cosplay as a 1920’s version of Poison Ivy.  I don’t have her little plant in this image. For this image I went low key.  The flash is to my left, raised up then angled down to give direction to the light.  In post production I did all the basic edits, white balance, exposure, contrast, tone curve, ect.  I then cleaned up a few little specks of dust, used a neural filter, and a radial gradient selection to further deepen the effect from the flash. I then converted the image to black and white to give it a more authentic 1920’s vibe. I also added some smoke to the end of the fake cigarette in the holder.  I did this by layering a picture of smoke over the original image and using a layer style to blend it into the image.  Finally, I cropped the image and added a medium vignette. 

ISO 100, Aperture F9, Shutter Speed 1/250, Focal Length 18mm

If you know me I love working with mirrors and reflections, and Lady Cels’s Witch version of Alice from Alice in Wonderland was perfect candidate for mirror work. The secret to mirror work is angles, to  ensure both you and your light don’t show up in the mirror.  In this case the flash was to my left angled just enough towards the mirror to reflect light towards the cosplayers face but not show up as a blown out spot in the mirror while lighting the rest of the image. In post production I did all the basic edits, white balance, exposure, contrast, tone curve, ect. I also added a small radial filter to the cosplayer’s face in the mirror just to brighten it up slightly.  I also used a radial filter to reduce a hot spot on the cosplayer’s torso. I also went in and hid the top of an undergarment, because the skirt slipped down just a tiny bit resulting in the top edge to show. I then cropped the image and added a medium vignette. 

ISO 100, Aperture F9, Shutter Speed 1/250, Focal Length 18mm

This final image is of Naychan as catwoman.  I took this image with a ⅛ cut black mist filter on my camera which makes the sequins on her dress sparkle/bloom when the flash hits them.  You can see the effect  in the  starburst pattern around some of the sequins. The other thing the filter does is soften the image, and reduce the clarity slightly, which is great for skin.  In this particular image I had the flash, without the soft box attached, to my left raised up and pointed slightly down.  To really get sparkle off the dress I needed to use a hard light.  In post production I did all the basic edits, white balance, exposure, contrast, tone curve, ect. I also boosted the clarity slightly to bring some detail back. I then did minor touch ups, and got rid of the hot spot in the image using a radial filter. I then cropped the image and added a vignette. 

ISO 100, Aperture F10, Shutter Speed 1/125, Focal Length 18mm

This was a very good meet up and I got to work with great cosplayers, as usual.  It also gave me a chance to try out my black mist filters, I got for Christmas, on some of the images.  I like the effect but really wanted it to be a bit more bloom in the light, so I should have used the ¼ cut. However, this would have caused me to increase my flash power, since these filters do reduce the amount of light hitting the sensor.  Overall, I got some nice images from the meet up and tried out a few new things, while refining some old things. I also like when the location and the cosplay lends itself to black and white images, I do like a good black and white every now and again.  You can see the whole gallery here: StYves.