[Hey Elwood]

Hi everyone,

I have a crazy question I would like to ask. I was approached by a model a while back to take photos of her cosplay outfits. We did 2 seperate sessions, 1 on location at a japenese garden and 1 in studio. She give me a very vague idea of how she wanted the photos. She basically told me she wanted the photos to look like "cosplay photos" and even give me some examples. I did my best editing the photos to see if I was getting her request right but every time I sent her something she would tell me she hated the photos and that they weren't "cosplay photos".

Needless to say we are no longer working together since she was very unreasonable with her requests and timeframes but I'm still curious as to how to edit the photos.

Does anyone have any tips, tricks or suggestions on where to look to achieve this effect?

Thanks for your help.

[eddie1960]

an example of the effect would help.

[Hey Elwood]

The best way to describe the effect would be to go to google, look up "cosplay photo", and click on images.

[eddie1960]

Ive seen lots of Cosplay photos but i don't think i could define one look for them. That's why i wanted an example of what she was asking for. Certainly most of them are posed and lit well (not all though) I haven't seen anything that would be different from a well lit studio shot aside from the poses/locations. But if there were specific examples that came from Flickr for instance you could look at exif and decipher some of the technique
Maybe she was just a crappy model too and expected a miracle, Models certainly impact the output

Edit: On a quick look at google most seem to be snapshots almost at unconventional angles and shot in the better cases with a lense that allows for decent bokeh. most of the first page that came up were less than stellar actually

the better ones like this the background mirrors the model. defintely this had fill flash and a good fast lens (maybe combined with aN ND to allow the exposure and the wide open lens)

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Last edited by eddie1960; 04-11-2012 at 10:15 AM.

[Hey Elwood]

You can also google "bride of the water god cosplay". That's the character she wanted to imitate.

[eddie1960]

most of the garden scenes looked shot with a fast 85 or so with fill flash and vignetting added on quick look. Saturation bumped a little maybe and a colour balance closer to canon than Pentax
just a quick glance though i'm at work so no time to really look in depth

[JinDesu]

Sorry, but none of those pictures from "Bridge of the Water God" cosplay set tell me anything about "cosplay photos"... besides maybe the surroundings.

When I think of Cosplay shoots, I tend to think of wide angle, half-full body shots that show either action of the cosplay subject or just a standard pose.

[einstrigger]

When I think cosplay, I think about geeks dressed up as characters that they like from either an anime, comic, video game, or other pop culture media. For those of you who do this, don't take offense, as I consider myself to be a geek too. Just not enough to dress up

Anyhow, it helps as a photographer to know a little about the series in which the cosplayer is attempting to portray. For example, I wouldn't shoot someone dressed up from a medieval series in front of a car or something modern. Get what I mean? You should try to be true as you can to the source material. If you don't know anything about a particular series, the cosplayer should be able to fill you in.

As for "the look" of cosplay, I don't there's a certain framing, pose, or lens that's exactly required. If anything, you just want to make sure the photograph is a good representation of the series and character being depicted. Part of the responsibility is on you as the photographer, in coming up with composition and backdrops, but most of the burden is on the cosplayer. A good cosplayer should be meticulous about their costume's accuracy and their ability to keep in character. If your model/subject was neither, you'll have a difficult time coming up with a good cosplay photo shoot.

[Schraubstock]

Hi

I would have thought Cosplay first and foremost is the way you dress and is not an effect you create in PP. Once a person is "Cosplay" dressed then you can be photographically creative in all sorts of ways, but without the garb there are not Cosplay shots to be had.

Greetings

[Hey Elwood]

Here's a photo that she wanted me to duplicate.

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/143/d/4/bride_of_the_water_god_01_by_...by-d3h0m3r.jpg

Here's what I was able to do.

[eddie1960]

I think Lauren nailed the explanation on the other thread. Don't waste any more time on it