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Return to the National Portrait Gallery

On February 28th, I attended the Costume & Camera (previously DC Cosplay Photoshoots) event at the National Portrait Gallery in DC. I have a love/hate relationship with shooting at the National Portrait Gallery; it is a beautiful location due to its architecture, especially on the third floor, and I’m thankful that you are allowed to do portrait photography there as long as you don’t use flash.  What I get frustrated with is the varying colors of light throughout the building and the need to use natural or continuous light.  (I’m a flash girly.) 

For this event, I used:

  • Canon R6
  • 24 - 105mm lens
  • Neewer 12-inch LED light
  • Assistant

Camera Settings:

This shoot was inside the Portrait Gallery, which has a no flash policy, thus I was using a mix of natural and continuous lighting, which affects settings. My ISO ranged from 100 ISO to 3200 ISO with the most common ISO being ISO 1000.  My aperture stayed between F4 and F5, with the most common aperture being F4. My shutter speed ranged from 1/40s to 1/200s, with the most common shutter speed being 1/100s.  My focal length was evenly distributed between 24mm and 63mm.  I kept my ISO high and my aperture wide open so that I could work at shutter speeds around 1/100s or higher to reduce camera shake and blur.  Thankfully, with modern digital cameras, I can crank up the ISO without introducing a lot of noise/grain to the image.  

The Photos:

I shot 388 images but only edited 135 images, because I did a lot of heavy culling. In this case I had Lightroom’s culling AI help me identify blurry images (lens and motion) and images where the cosplayer had their eyes closed. This eliminated about half the images right off the bat, then I refined the selection further by eliminating duplicates and unflattering images.  So now let’s talk about some of my favorite images that made the cut.

This first image is of the lovely Saragobragh in her Bridgerton inspired gown. The gallery has a beautiful big window on the landing of the second floor that looks out into courtyard.  I felt it was perfect for the dress and gave off those Bridgerton vibes. For this image I purposely overexposed the background which adds a lightness and dreamy feel to the image. In post I made all the standard adjustments and moved the color temperature to the cooler side of the spectrum, while brightening it up just a bit more. I also used the transform tool to straighten the image.  I then added white vignette to add the dreaminess of the image.

ISO 1000, Aperture F4, Shutter 1/60s, Focal Length 35mm

This next image is of Mythril_arts in a lovely Lolita outfit.  If you don’t know, I’m a sucker for cute Lolita outfits and big ball gowns. I love this image because it is cute and has just a little air of mystery. It gives off those what is she thinking vibes, and the framing of the archway just adds to the overall image.  In post, I brightened the image a little bit and also sharpened the image while reducing the noise since I was working at ISO 2000.  This helps smooth out the image while preserving the details. I also use the transform function in Lightroom to straighten the image and remove some optical distortion that sometimes occurs with long, straight columns. Finally, I added a vignette to the image to bring more focus to the subject.

 ISO 2000, Aperture F4, Shutter 1/60s, Focal Length 65mm

This final image is of Butterscotchpossum as Megoosa. I love the concept of Megoosa, and the dress screamed sex appeal. So, I went with a traditional S-shape pose to highlight curves and the downward look to add that air of mystery.  In post, I balanced the lighting color and went for a cooler tone.  I then sharpened the image slightly. Then, I straightened the image.  Finally, I added a light vignette to the image.

ISO 1000, Aperture F4.5, Shutter 1/30s, Focal Length 47mm
Wrap Up:

It was nice to return to the National Portrait Gallery for a meet-up, the last one I did at the gallery was back in 2017.  I have improved since then, but back in 2017, we could use flash in some areas, so it was a bit different.  I still love the architecture on the third floor as it lends itself to so many different moods and storytelling. You also get your steps in for the day, going up and down the stairs from the atrium to the third floor or other parts of the building. 

You can see all the images from the meet-up here: National Portrait Gallery 2026

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