It's sad. I've had the FA* 85/1.4 in my possession for over 2 years now, but I can't recall the last time that I used it. I think my main reason for not using it was because I wanted to make sure it would be in working condition by the time Pentax finally released their full frame camera. Well, back in December, my friend invited me to tag along on a photoshoot with a cosplayer who is a mutual acquaintance. I figured that I'd finally take it out for a spin, and yeah... I'm questioning why I haven't used it more and now the wait for the K-1 is even more unbearable. I'd love to see this lens at its full potential!

My only gripe about it is the color fringing which was pretty tough to remove since the color pretty much matched the color of her wig.

Oh, and the cosplayer pretty much constructed much of her costume, as quite a few do nowadays. I'm quite amazed at how well the tails were constructed. FYI, she is cosplaying as Ahri, a character from the popular video game League of Legends. (Reference art)










You can find more pics in this album. Thanks for viewing!

[MadMathMind]

Very cute Academy Ahri! You made her look very dignified and...um, academic? haha Nice work!!


I do lots and lots of cosplay photos myself--friend of mine recently did Academy Ahri herself (although I have not posted yet). Glad to see another Pentax user shooting cosplay--it's such a fun thing to shoot! But the fringing...yeah, it's a real challenge. Cosplay uses colors that you rarely see in 'normal' photos so sometimes you can't just crank purple saturation down to 0 or crank up the CA correction in lightroom.

When it becomes necessary, I make a virtual copy and apply aggressive defringing to it. Then I open the two copies as layers in Photoshop and mask out the parts that weren't supposed to be defringed--like, say, the edges of her lavender dress that can't be distinguished from the (undesirable and unintended) purple streaks in her hair.

[wibbly]

try using a gaussian blur layer with a colour blend option. then create a mask and invert it, then brush over the fringing to remove it. it works well.

[mamba909]

Thanks for the tips, MadMathMind and wibbly. Those tips actually seem like pretty easy fixes.

And M^3, Zekia did that all by herself. =) I've been shooting cosplay for quite a while now. I guess I've been shooting it so much that I think I've finally getting burned out. In the past couple of years, it seems like Southern California has some sort of pop culture convention or event every month. It's a great place to be if you love to shoot cosplay!

And yeah, I only know of... one other person who shoots Pentax in the So Cal cosplay scene. We are a rare breed, indeed.

[marcodagi]

funny

[MadMathMind]

And M^3, Zekia did that all by herself. =) I've been shooting cosplay for quite a while now. I guess I've been shooting it so much that I think I've finally getting burned out. In the past couple of years, it seems like Southern California has some sort of pop culture convention or event every month. It's a great place to be if you love to shoot cosplay!

We have the same thing in the Triangle. There's infinite cons. Our photography scene isn't quite as competitive as yours, with comparatively fewer of us but a healthy strock of cosplayers, which is nice. (The largest number of us are concentrated in Houston, which has the worst cons in my opinion. San Antonio's the best for shooting---the scenery is by far the best!)

It's easy to burn out on cons. I only do scheduled shoots and at the last three cons (in 2 months...) I did 10, 13, and 11 sessions. Definitely enjoying the three month break until the next con--finally have time for location shoots and other assorted projects I've been meaning to shoot.

[DonThomaso]

Nice series!

[mamba909]

We have the same thing in the Triangle. There's infinite cons. Our photography scene isn't quite as competitive as yours, with comparatively fewer of us but a healthy strock of cosplayers, which is nice. (The largest number of us are concentrated in Houston, which has the worst cons in my opinion. San Antonio's the best for shooting---the scenery is by far the best!)

It's easy to burn out on cons. I only do scheduled shoots and at the last three cons (in 2 months...) I did 10, 13, and 11 sessions. Definitely enjoying the three month break until the next con--finally have time for location shoots and other assorted projects I've been meaning to shoot.

Ah yes, I think that's another thing I've been burnt out on. There's so many photographers in the So Cal con scene now, it's ridiculous. You manage to ask a cosplayer for a picture, and then 10 other photogs swarm in, causing the cosplayer to look in multiple directions. It can get annoying, at times. One of my friends in Texas mentioned that you guys are like gods out there. So few of you, but so many of them. That ratio seems so much better.

And thanks for the compliment, DonThomaso! Means a lot to me coming from you since you're one Pentaxian whose portraiture work I admire and respect. =)