Oriental Garden Set

On April 27^th, I did a long-delayed session with my friend Eowinth Cosplay in her Jinshi from Apothecary Diaries. 

For this session, I used:

Photography Equipment	Props/Miscellaneous
Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 Phottix Strobe 2 FJ400 Westcott Strobes 90mm round soft box 2 strip boxes 3 C-stands Sandbags Backdrop stand Grey backdrop Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps Light blue Gel	Flowers Mylar sheets 1.5-foot wooden cube Styrofoam Paper lanterns Wooden trellis

The set up

The guiding theme for this shoot was a moonlit Asian garden.  I also chose flowers in the purple range to complement the colors in the cosplay.   I then chose to use light blue gels to give the impression of moonlight.

To design the set, I hung a 10x20-foot grey cloth backdrop up, but did not stretch it out all the way, as the lower part would be used to cover the Styrofoam risers, on which the flowers would be placed.  I then positioned the wooden trellis on the left-hand side of the frame and placed the wooden cube there for the model to sit on.  This makes it look like they are sitting in an enclosure.  I then placed the flowers, which in some cases I placed right at the transition points of the cloth backdrop and mylar to help with the illusion of a pond.  I then placed a wooden dowel across the top of the trellis and hung two paper lanterns off the dowel, and randomly placed a few others in the flowers to make it look as though they were lighting a path in a garden.  I was hoping to be able to put LED light bars inside the lanterns, but the light bars were too heavy and stretched the lanterns out too much.

For the lighting, I used three lights.   The first light was placed in the right-hand corner next to the backdrop.  This light was covered with a light blue gel and had a strip box placed on it, set in a horizontal position.  This provided light to the backdrop and acted a bit like a hair light.  The second light was placed opposite the first light, in the upper left-hand corner.  This light also had a light blue gel and soft box on it, rotated in a vertical position.  This light acted as the fill light.  The final, and main light, was placed about 45 degrees off center with a 90mm round soft box attached to it.  This ensured it would be pointed at the left-hand corner of the frame where the model would be seated.  

Camera Settings

For the camera setting, I used ISO 100, with an aperture of F9 and a shutter speed of 1/200s and 1/250s.  My focal length varied from 24mm to 43mm, with the most common focal length being 24mm.  I was going a bit wide on these shots, so I could capture a lot of the set and have some room to crop the image.

The Photos

The base edits to the photos were exactly the same.  I started with adjusting white balance and contrast, then ran the Spyder Color Checker program to adjust colors.  I then increased the exposure slightly and adjusted the sharpness and luminance.  I then brought the clarity up just slightly and used a medium tone curve.   I also applied a blue (shadow) / Orange (highlight) color grade to the images.  I went with the blue/orange grade instead of the blue/blue because the blue/blue washed out the skin tones and affected the color of the lanterns too much.  I also adjusted the brightness of the lanterns to fake a glow emanating from them, as their little internal lights were not going to show up against a strobe.   For the lanterns, I brightened them first in Lightroom using a circular gradient, then in Photoshop, I added a subtle orange glow to each of them.   

This first photo is one of my favorites.  The image shows a moment of quiet contemplation while gazing into the “water”.

I like this next image due to the look on the model’s face.  I feel like she is giving a questioning look to a young student or charge.

This final image is giving the smolder but in a refined ancient Chinese fashion.  It shows a person relaxed yet confident in their station.

Wrap Up

Overall, I’m very pleased with how these images turned out and are very close to emulating the original inspiration images that I saw on Pinterest.  The set design and the lighting choices worked well with the cosplay.  Plus, the overall cosplay is beautiful, especially the print.  You can see the whole set here: Jinshi.

I’ll now be adding “dry water” (i.e. mylar) sessions to my standard lineup of available set designs.  I think this concept will work well for several different looks and can be easily updated and changed to align with a client’s vision.  I look forward to doing several more in the future.

Credits:

Models: Eowinth Cosplay (IG: @eowinthcosplay)