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Rust Manor House - Cosplay Meet Up

This the first image is of On April 19th, I attended the Costume & Camera event at Rust Manor House, in Leesburg, VA.  Rust Manor House is part of the NOVA Parks system and hosts weddings and events.  I thought the manor was lovely and the number and variety of rooms available to us was good.  Also, the manor had lovely grounds, so we were not limited to shooting indoors.  I particularly liked the location because it was local to me, and very easy to get to.

For this event I used:

  • Canon R6
  • 24 - 105mm lens
  • Cannon speed light
  • Mini-square soft box
  • Light stand

Camera Settings:

This shoot had a variety of mixed lighting conditions, depending on what room I was in, inside the manor or if I was shooting outside.  While the sky was beautiful clouds and the sun were not behaving that day thus, I was really adjusting settings on the fly while outside. My ISO ranged from 100 ISO to 500 ISO with the most common ISO being ISO 200.  My aperture ranged from F4 to F11 with the most common aperture being F8. My shutter speed ranged from 1/60s to 1/250s with the most common shutter speed being 1/125s and 1/160s.  My focal length ranged from 24mm to 70mm, with 24mm being the most common.  I used my flash inside to brighten rooms and add mood while outside I used it to fill shadows and compensate for the cloud cover.    

The Photos:

This the first image is of TheThirdJack, as a Commissar from Warhammer 40K. The room this image was taken in was deep blue, and very warm temperature wise. Mostly I shot with the door open but for this shot to work I had to close the door, and I’m grateful ThethirdJack, handled the warmth like a champ. After this shot, we went outside. To get the shot I placed my speedlight off to the left side of the image, basically on the other side of the table, in an effort to mimic the light coming from the windows.  Then in post processing I started by removing the hooks from the wall. I then adjusted the white balance and exposure, while using a medium tone curve.  I applied a strong vignette as well as a teal (shadow) / orange (highlight) color grade. I feel the vignette and the color grade is what gives this image that cinematic look.

ISO 400, Aperture F5, Shutter Speed 1/125s, Focal Length 24mm

This second image is of the lovely Saragobragh in her 1780’s Beauty and the Beast, Belle library dress. I had a vision for this image, based on how the sun was hitting the pillars, but had to help that vision along with a speed light. To get this image there is a speed light to the right, so it would provide a beam of light between the two pillars. This setup is a form of Rembrandt lighting, but using a short light set up as most of the light is coming from behind the model. This set up gave me the contrast between the light and the shadows, then I emphasized it in post processing.  In post I brought the exposure up slightly, so you could see a bit more detail to the dress. I adjusted the white balance to counter the yellow in the pillars. I also upped the clarity slightly to help emphasize textures and lines. I also used the transform tool to straighten the image and get rid of lens aberrations. I then added a strong vignette to draw the viewers attention to the model’s face. I finished by adding a blue (shadow) / orange (highlight) color grade to warm the image.

ISO 100, Aperture F8, Shutter Speed 1/250s, Focal Length 24mm

This final image is of Sword Lily Cosplay, as Princess Serenity from Sailor Moon. This room was perfect for this cosplay, because it looked regal in white with two large mirrors, the marble fireplace, and iron chandeliers. I purposely centered the model so that the mirror and fire place would frame her. I put my flash to the left, to mimic the light coming in from the windows on that side of the room and went for a light airy feel.  In post processing I removed the leaves and associated shadows from plants peeking into the edge of the image. I also removed the cord/plug for the chandelier. I adjusted the white balance and up the exposure slightly. To give the image a dreamier, faded look I added some haze using the dehaze slider and reduced the clarity slightly. I added a medium vignette to pull the eye towards the center of the image. Finally, I added an orange (shadow) / teal (highlight) to soften the image and give it a faded look.

ISO 400, Aperture F8, Shutter Speed 1/160s, Focal Length 24mm

Wrap Up:

This was a great shoot, which allowed people to freely move between indoor and outdoor spaces to get a variety of images. I’m slightly sad I didn’t get to shoot in the library room, it was a popular room, but all my mirror experience really paid off for this venue. The venue had a lot of mirrors. I would have done some more outdoor images, but it was getting very breezy and my allergies were starting to act up. Taking photos with watery eyes doesn’t work very well. Overall, I thought the location was great and good for a variety of cosplays and historical outfits.  

You can see all the images from the meet-up here: Rust Manor.

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