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Double Studio Session

On May 24th, I did two cosplay sessions using the same basic set, the first with Ainsley as Marin Kitagawa from My Dress Up Darling and the second with Rizu as Dottore from Genshin Impact.  I did these simple sessions to get me back into a creative mindset since the main part of school was ending at the time.  Note: I officially graduated from The Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy on June 13th and took a week's vacation afterward.  Since these two sessions were to get me back into a creative mindset, I kept things simple and clean focusing on lighting rather than set design.

For this session, I used:

Photography Equipment

Props/Miscellaneous

Cannon R6

24-105 mm Lens

Transmitter/Trigger

2 Phottix strobes

2 600EX-RT Speedlights

2 c-stands

1 Backdrop stand

1 Grey seamless

Sandbags

1 5’ Umbrella with sock

2 rectangular soft-boxes

Grid

Teal gels

2 posing cubes

3 wood trellises

stool

 

The set up

Set Up # 1

For the shoot with Ainsley, I focused more on a school picture day look, as the characters is a schoolgirl.  Knowing I wanted a clean look I started with the grey seamless, then placed the two posing cubes in the middle of the seamless.  To add some extra interest, I added two wood trellises behind the largest posing cube.  For the starting lighting positions, placed the rectangular soft-box about 45 degrees to my right, which would act as the main light.  I then placed the umbrella so it would be straight on to the subject and act as a fill light.  It was a very clean and simple lighting set up.  The second set up was a bit more complicated.

Set Up #2

For the shoot with Rizu, I wanted to add color to give the images more interest as I couldn’t make a dungeon set that would match characters reference images.  Thus, I worked with the character’s color pallet which was blues and teals.  I started with the same clean seamless as the earlier session, then added 3 wood trellises to give the impression of a cell or cage.  I then attached a speedlight with a teal gel, to each corner of the backdrop stand, angling them so the light would create a rim light on the model.  The other thing the lights did was create interesting shadow patterns when the trellises were in use.  I then placed a rectangular soft-box at a 45-degree angle on each side of me, with the light on my right being the main light.  This was my starting point and the lights moved around from there.

Camera Settings

For both sessions, I used ISO 200, with an aperture of F8 and shutter speed of 1/200s.  My focal length varied from 24mm to 105mm with the most common being 39mm.  

The Photos

For the first session with Ainsley, I had three favorites that I think just embody the schoolgirl aesthetic.  I’m not sure if it met the characters personality as idol characters and slice of life characters can be really hard to capture without a full set. But I do feel the images capture the essence of school portraits.  I particularly like the bit of movement we got in the hair and skirt in the second image.  I feel these are all cute images.  

 

 
 

For the second session with Rizu, I had two different looks wot work with one look without a coat and a second with the coat.  I tried to focus on more power type poses with both while showing off the details.  Genshin Impact cosplays have a lot of little accessories and details.  I also tried to mimic some of the same poses between the no coat and coat looks.  I also tried to capture some movement with the coat as flared beautifully when the model spun around.  My favorite three images are below.



Summary

Overall, this was a good way to get me back into a creative mindset and start thinking about light and photography again.  Simple sessions let me focus more on the process and technique rather than set design.  I’m pleased with the images from both sessions, and happy to be able to be shooting again.

Credits:

Model: Ainsley (IG: @umiterra.cos)
Cosplay: Marin Kitagawa from My Dress Up Darling

Model: Rizu (@rizuchu.cos)
Cosplay: Dottore from Genshin Impact

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