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Costume & Camera Subscriber Event

On November 22, I attended a Costume & Camera (Previously the DC Cosplay Photoshoot) group event at Kap2ure Studios in Baltimore.  This was a special subscribers only event, so the event was rather small with only 4 cosplayers and 6 photographers.   This was a suitable number of people for the studio we were using.

For this event I used:

  • Canon R6
  • 1 Speed light
  • Trigger
  • 24 - 105mm lens
  • 1 light stand
  • Umbrella

Camera Settings:

Even though this shot was in a studio, I still varied my camera settings based on the set design, set lighting, and minimizing interference with other photographers.  Also, this was a partial natural light studio, which had a strong yellow undertone to it, I also worked to balance between flash and the natural light.    My ISO varied from ISO 100 to ISO 2000, with ISO 400 being the most common, followed by ISO 200 and ISO 1600 when relying on mostly natural light. My aperture ranged from f/4.5 to f/8, with f/4.5 being the most common.  My shutter speed varied from 1/25s to 1/250s, with 1/40s and 1/125s being the most common settings.  Finally, my focal length ranged from 24mm to 65mm, with 24mm being the most common.

The Photos:

This first photo is of the lovely Saragobragh,  in her Snow White as interpreted by pem_designs.  I have photographed this look before, at Katsucon 2024, I loved the dress then and I still love it now and would photograph it again.  I think Sara looks simply divine in the dress.  For this look I had her lean against the piano in the room, then put my flash about 45 degrees to my left.  I also moved the hot light that was doubling as a studio prop behind her to add some rim lighting to her hair.   Now since my desktop crashed right before the this shoot I didn’t have my full suite of editing tools and presets available.  I just did basic edits in Lightroom and did some clean up in Photoshop.   But I still think the final photo is lovely.

ISO 400, Aperture F/5, Shutter 1/40s, Focal Length 43mm

This next image of Gloria of Inthelongrundesigns, in her Regency Period dress.  Truly, I’m a sucker for period dress, especially of the Regency, Victorian, Rococo, and Gilded Age styles. Gloria looks absolutely lovely in this and embodies the culture of the ladies of the Ton.  This image is all natural light coming from the window to my right.  I adjusted the white balance to considerably cool down the image, it was very yellow/orange out of camera.  I also added a blue (shadow) / orange (highlight) color grade to the image to give it a little more depth and add warmth to proper portions of the image.

ISO 1600, Aperture F/4.5, Shutter 1/40s, Focal Length 50mm

This next image is of twink_god_cosplay in the tux that he wore for his wedding, this is called getting milage out of your cloths.  He wanted a look showcasing the suspenders and something using the desk in the corner.  I obliged by going with a film noire look. There is a regular table lamp behind him lighting the back wall and my flash is to my right without the umbrella zoomed in to around 80mm.   I did adjustments in color first then converted the image to black and white, using lightrooms black and white profile #3 which keeps the shadows fairly dark. I also added a heavy vignette to the image to add to the noire look.  Overall, I think the shot is very noire and gives that night club owner who dabbles just a little bit on the wrong side of the law vibe.

ISO 400, Aperture F/6.3, Shutter 1/40s, Focal Length 24mm

This last image is of Technicolormikeb as a member of the band KISS.  Now I didn’t feel the studio really worked for this outfit, now if I could shoot just outside the door then yes it would have worked.  So, I improvised and thought of what would it be like backstage, before the show, and used the little changing room to get some images.  So, I told him to take the drapes and toss them open like he was making a grand entrance.  For this the light was basically directly in front of me to light the whole scene.  For this image I did basic adjustments as well as add a circular gradient on his face to brighten up the white make up.  I then finalized the image using a medium vignette.

ISO 400, Aperture F/5, Shutter 1/125s, Focal Length 24mm

Wrap Up:

Kap2ure Studios, was nice and was about the right size for the event, though if you were doing any mirror shots you sometimes had to ask people to move out of the line or change your angle.  I also thought it had very yellow light, I’m not really a warm light person, I tend towards cooler images, but it was nothing I couldn’t adjust for.   Overall, I think the space worked well.   

On the other hand, my desktop tower died the week before the shoot, and I had to edit everything on my laptop.  While my laptop can run Lightroom and Photoshop just fine, I don’t have all my presets, and plug -ins loaded on my laptop, as it is mostly used for tethering and quick edits when on location or traveling.  It also made me realize how important my large calibrated monitors are to me.  I like having two screens.   I don’t feel I went as far with my editing as I normally would due to laptop limitations.  Once the new tower arrives it will probably take me a week or so to fully configure it.   I’m not sure if I’ll redo any of the edits or just keep them as is, because I’m mostly happy with them.

You can see all the images from the meet-up here: Subscriber Event_2025. 

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