Here’s a very useful table of contents on the various topics covered with the key time:

• 0:50 Our Goal For Today
• 1:11 Key Concept: Apparent Light Source Size
• 1:37 Equipment
• 3:40 Equipment: Modifiers
• 8:34 Lite panels
• 9:22 Reflectors
• 11:10 Why Shoot Ambient Light?
• 12:27 Common Settings / Modes
• 13:50 Example Shots
• 15:19 Lighting vs Time of Day
• 21:12 Night / Indoor Shooting
• 25:19 Weather Affecting Shots
• 27:25 Shooting in the Shade
• 31:02 Indoor Light Sources
• 35:37 Conclusions
• 37:03 Light panel demo
• 38:20 Questions & Answers

A special thanks to Jim3535yt for filming and editing the video! Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube page for other informational and useful videos.

Davis Anime Convention (DAiCon) is a small convention located on the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) campus. Founded just last year in 2012, DAiCon is a small one-day convention that shows great promise. This year, DAiCon boasted many new attractions including voice actors Wendee Lee and J. S. Gilbert, cosplay extraordinaire Vampy-Bit-Me (Linda Le), and artist Yuumei. There’s also the addition of an AMV contest, a bigger Dealer’s Hall and Artist’s Alley, and a League of Legends (LoL) room where attendees can try playing LoL for the first time and obtain cool prizes!

In the course of 17 weeks, I and 30 other UC Davis students from the Davis Anime Club (DAC) created DAiCon while studying for classes, midterms, and finals. Not only did we have to plan out the convention, but also had to fundraise enough money to pay for the convention. DAiCon essentially came out of our pockets and let me tell you, these expenses were not small! School policies also did not make things easier for us. There were many hurdles to overcome in order to make DAiCon possible, but we confronted each and every one of those obstacles in order to make DAiCon a complete success.

I am surprised at how well we organized DAiCon. Most of us staff were new to the convention creating process. Not to mention, we hardly got any input from last year’s DAiCon staff so we really did build DAiCon from the ground up. Everyone worked really hard, especially Miles Thomas, the founder, chair, and hero of DAiCon.

Since our convention was located on the university’s campus, there were a lot of policies we had to follow and a lot of negotiations that took place. Regarding the venue of DAiCon, we knew we wanted the Memorial Union (MU), the main building that DAiCon was in last year. However, prices for renting the MU increased by about $1000. Miles, though, managed to get the same prices as last year.

We also really wanted to rent out Freeborn Hall, the building next to the MU, so we could keep the convention in the same area. Last year, DAiCon was more spread out, causing attendees to get easily lost. Freeborn Hall would not only make the convention more spacious, but also establish a sense of professionalism for our convention. Unfortunately, there was difficulty in renting out Freeborn. We almost didn’t get it and it was actually about 3 weeks before DAiCon that we got our reservation finalized. This meant a rush changing of the layout, schedule, and map of DAiCon, an increase in the campus security we had to hire, and other additional expenses. We decided to take Freeborn despite the extra cost. It was time and money well spent.

DAiCon cost us approximately $7,500. To pay for it, we fundraised throughout the year. One of our biggest fundraisers was at Picnic Day, a festival at UC Davis showcasing what our campus had to offer. Through a lottery, DAC got the opportunity to set up a food booth and sold yakisoba (fried noodles) and milk tea. This was our first time getting a food booth. We attended a lot of food safety meetings and learned that we had to prepare all the food under supervision. We were given a 4 hour time slot, from 8:00 pm to midnight, to prepare over 300 servings of food at school the day before Picnic Day.

Preparing the food was a nightmare. We chopped up 15 heads of cabbage, grated 20 lbs of carrots, cooked 100 lbs of noodles, and prepared 4 jugs of tea within 4 hours. For the first 2 hours, we were chopping and grating by hand and cooking noodles in small pots. It was tiring and we knew that we were not going to finish preparing in time. As we entered our third hour of cooking, we were about to give up, but then the school’s kitchen staff saved us! They let us use their giant cooking devices to cook all of the noodles in one batch and grate all the carrots in minutes!

After preparing, everyone got 6 hours of sleep before we had to get up again to set up the food booth. Then, we worked from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, cooking and serving yakisoba and milk tea with help from our club’s members. Thanks to everyone’s hard work and the school’s kitchen staff, Picnic Day was a success and we fundraised approximately $2000 for DAiCon.

The rest of the cost was actually covered by our attendees. In order to break even, we had to have 450 people register at DAiCon. In order to achieve that number, we advertised online, to our friends, and at other conventions. During DAiCon, I actually worked at Registration and when we reached our 450th registration, it was like, “Hallelujah! Nothing could go wrong now!” Famous last words, I know, but nothing did go bad afterwards.

DAiCon was definitely a great achievement. We had approximately 800 people attend. (To those that attended, thank you for coming!) The staff was great. Weekly meetings were fun as well as productive. Though it was difficult to manage DAiCon, I am proud to have been part of the staff. The experience is definitely one I’ll never forget!

A.R.C. Photography: Hello! I’m Alex Chrysler. Most people known me as ARC. I’m from Malaysia. Nice meeting you! First time being featured, hahaha. Thank you so much!

Cosplay Photographers: Thank YOU! How long have you been doing photography?

A.R.C. Photography: I’ve a big interest of photography and love taking photos around when I was 14 years old due to the inspirations from those beautiful pictures I’ve seen from internet and magazines. It’s been eight years of taking photos since 2005,  including two years of taking Cosplay photography since 2011.

Cosplay Photographers: How did you get into cosplay?

A.R.C. Photography: Well, I’ve been interested in cosplay since I was 15 because I’ve found it interesting when seeing people dressing up a character. I’d seen their photos on the internet. Their photos are taken so beautifully and captivating and made me fall in love with photography even more! But I had no idea of how to take photos like that till I got introduced to what a DSLR camera actually was and knew that those photos are taken with DSLR too. During that time, I had zero knowledge about photography basics. All I did know is composition.

Cosplay Photographers: Speaking of cosplay, the photo to the left is of you cosplaying. I didn’t know you cosplayed too!

A.R.C. Photography: Hehe~ I never cosplayed before so I gave myself a try and it’s really fun!

Cosplay Photographers: Can you tell us a little bit about how you began photography those eight years ago?

A.R.C. Photography: Let’s put cosplay photography aside. My first start of photography was using my phone camera, a Sony Ericsson K750i. I started with taking still life and landscape photos for practicing my compositions. There were many Sony Ericsson phones I’ve had over the years.

Cosplay Photographers: Do you own a smartphone now, and what do you think of all the phone apps for photography now (like Instagram?)

A.R.C. Photography: Yeah, currently I own an iPhone 4, the 4th gen. The apps for taking photos are amazing, especially Instagram. There are many nice preset color gradings and effects. And most of the presets satisfy me. But back then I wasn’t just practicing taking photos with my phone cameras, I was also taking photos with digital cameras too, and a HandyCamcorder. I took 5 years of practicing my photography, still life and landscapes, until I’ve got my first DSLR when I entered my college.

Cosplay Photographers: And what about your entry into cosplay photography?

A.R.C. Photography: When stepping into the cosplay World and start taking cosplay photography, I started taking photos with my DSLR around conventions with my fellow college-mates who were cosplayers too. I started to know a few cosplayers around and took photos for them. Months later, I got requests from cosplayers who wanted me to help them to take photos. Months by months, requests were getting more and more, and I learn even more while doing photoshoots for cosplayers.

Cosplay Photographers: What gear do you usually shoot with now? (besides the iPhone haha)

A.R.C. Photography: Well, for photoshoots, with my DSLR of course hahaha! For outings, sometimes using my DSLR to take photos or my iPad.

Cosplay Photographers: What DSLR system do you use?

A.R.C. Photography: Previously I owned a Canon 7D. And now I’m using Canon 5D Mark III. I am still keeping my 7D just for filming use but for photoshooting, I’ll use my Mark III. During shoots, sometimes I use my friend’s DSLR to take pictures just for trying other DSLRs’ functionalities so I can learn even more. So far I’ve used Nikon and Sony Alpha DSLRs. I love trying new things. XD

Cosplay Photographers: What are your favorite lenses for shooting cosplay?

A.R.C. Photography: Well I’m limited of lenses currently. But my favorite lens, all of them. Because while taking photos for the cosplayers, I have to judge myself of which lens to use for taking pictures on them by depending on the position and location where they’re at. Different lenses brings different depths of field and feel.

Cosplay Photographers: That’s a good point….but I’ll give you a challenge! XD Say you could only bring one lens with you on a photoshoot. Which one would it be?

A.R.C. Photography: 50mm f/1.4. This lens is enough for me.

Cosplay Photographers: Do you do a lot of shoots with people you already know or do you have cosplayers contacting you?

A.R.C. Photography: Well, mostly I do get photoshoot requests from cosplayers. Some I know them, some I don’t. For those cosplayer I’ve never met before, we will get to meet and befriend each other once we’ve done the shoot. I seldom ask cosplayers for shoots unless I’ve plans for shooting a character I like or if my cosplay friends have similar looking face and appearances. For example, Princess Merida, from Pixar’s BRAVE. She’s my friend and I realized that she has similar figures as Princess Merida, especially her face. I suggested her this character for her to cosplay, at first she said she has to watch the movie first before deciding to cosplay the character. At the end, she has watched it and she decided to cosplay!

Cosplay Photographers: How do you usually go about setting up a photoshoot?

A.R.C. Photography: At first, the cosplayers know my works and they wanted me to do shoots for them. They will start to prepare and work on their costumes, props and getting their wigs ordered from TaoBao, its a Chinese website which works like Amazon.com where they buy their wigs from. Then, they’ll discuss with me of where and when to shoot. At first, we have to settle everyone’s free time for planning a date to shoot. Day shoot or night shoot, they’ll decide. Sometimes they’ll decide the photoshooting venues themselves because they’ve been there before or they’ve found those suitable places for a shoot.

Cosplay Photographers: What is the climate and landscape like in Malaysia?

A.R.C. Photography: In Malaysia, it’s summer all year long. The sunlight is harsh and weather is warm and sometimes cool during rainy days. We wished to have soft sunlight and beautiful weather like those four-season countries there. The lighting has got to be awesome. The landscape in Malaysia, there are many nice places to take photos around. But it’s limited due to some places don’t allow us to do shoots unless we propose for permission or pay.

Cosplay Photographers: Sometimes I wish I lived in a place that was summer all year round! It’s been cold here for 6 months.

A.R.C. Photography:  There are many other beautiful places but located very far away from where I live. For example, again my Princess Merida from BRAVE shoot, the shooting location is at Penang Island which is 370 kilometers away from my place, Kuala Lumpur. My helper and I have to travel to there except for the cosplayer, because she lives in the island. XD How I’ve get to know that location is, I’ve seen my cosplay friends do some shoots there before and that place is really beautiful. I found it suitable for Princess Merida when she’s in the woods with her mother whom turned into a bear.

Cosplay Photographers: That Brave cosplayer is amazing. Do you have a link to her fanpage?

A.R.C. Photography: Yeah she is. But she doesn’t have any fanpage. Sorry ! (^-^)

Cosplay Photographers: That’s okay! Does a lot of the Malaysia landscape fit the games or shows that you’re shooting for?

A.R.C. Photography: Some cosplayers have no idea of where to shoot because they are from other states and they’re not familiar with the places around Selangor, the state where I’m staying at right now. Or some of them have no idea about the locations but they do know the environment based on their themes. They’ll tell me of what kind of places they wished to do shoots at because they know I am familiar with many shooting locations. Although some places have been over-used for photoshooting, but there’s still many ways to manipulate the scenes by capturing different compositions.

Cosplay Photographers: You mentioned earlier that cosplayers set up shoots with you first, then make the costume. Is that order more common in Malaysia? Usually here in the US people make costumes, then book shoots.

A.R.C. Photography: Yup, that is really common in Malaysia. Some cosplayers have done their costumes and props and then only book me for shoots. But most cosplayers book me for shootings while they’re making their costumes.

Cosplay Photographers: Are there any favorite costumes or series that you prefer to shoot over others?

A.R.C. Photography: Quite a number of them haha! Mostly those characters from video games and movies. Most cosplayers will show me their references of their characters, scenes from the anime/games, and fanarts, because some of the series they’re cosplaying, I have never watched or played before. All I can do is to research their series and understand of what is it all about before I can do photoshoots for them for matching the series and the themes.

Cosplay Photographers: Can you name one or two specific series that are your absolute favorites to shoot?

A.R.C. Photography: I am aiming at game titles more, like BioShock, TEKKEN series, Soul Calibur series, King of Fighters, Street Fighters, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XIII, Fatal Frame series and lots of them to be listed here hahaha!

Cosplay Photographers: Fantastic! Tell us about your general post-processing workflow after a shoot.

A.R.C. Photography: About my post processing works, it is all depending on the themes of the cosplayers are doing. The way I post-process photos, I always follow the color moods and gradings based from the anime/games/movie. All my photos are edited in Adobe Lightroom 4. Sometimes using Photoshop for HDR retouching and adding some special effects.

Cosplay Photographers: Do you use HDR a lot? I find that it’s sometimes difficult when using HDR to get skin to look right.

A.R.C. Photography: Not really. I only take HDR shots if the location is beautiful, so as the sky. Mostly shot in wide angle in composition. Taking HDR shots may sometimes difficult, but if you know how to handle the lightings in the surrounding, isn’t a problem. But when retouching, need to carefully retouch the entire shot by layers. But seems my 5D Mark III has HDR feature, sometimes I do take HDR shot manually or automatically.

Cosplay Photographers: Ah that’s right! It’s true the newer cameras have HDR built in.

A.R.C. Photography: 5D Mark III, 6D and 1DX have HDR feature.

Cosplay Photographers: Do you prefer to keep the photo as natural as possible then, or do you do a lot of retouching and special effects?

A.R.C. Photography: Well all of my photos are natural background. I hardly add any additional backgrounds on it. I do on color gradings more than manipulate the background. Some series, don’t need much of color gradings. A simple and minor touch is enough.

Cosplay Photographers: Are there any photographers that you look up to personally, in Malaysia or otherwise?

A.R.C. Photography: Hmm~ most of the photographers I always look up are from overseas. Taiwan, Singapore, and Indonesia.

Cosplay Photographers: Name your top 3 favorite photographers. They can be cosplay photographers or not.

A.R.C. Photography: Revamp, Shiro Ang and Alf Alive. I only met Shiro Ang personally, but for Revamp and Alf Alive still in pending for opportunity to meet each other one day XD

Cosplay Photographers: What do you hope to accomplish with your photography in the next year?

A.R.C. Photography: Well, photography is my passion and hobby and I hope not to give up on it. I am hoping myself to achieve of what I wished for based on my improvements of my photography.

Cosplay Photographers: Any plans to travel outside of Malaysia for photos or anime conventions?

A.R.C. Photography: I’m planning to travel to Taiwan and Singapore’s Anime Conventions on the coming months. I wished to travel and visit Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Thailand, Australia and US for the anime conventions and also doing some photoshoots for some of my friends I’ve met online.

Cosplay Photographers: We at Cosplay Photographers would love to meet you as well!

A.R.C. Photography: Oh! I am honored hahahaha! I would love to meet you guys too.

For more of ARC Photography’s fantastic work, you can visit him on Facebook at facebook.com/the.arc.photography

Here’s a very useful table of contents on the various topics covered with the key time:

• 2:04 Approaching cosplayers
• 3:44 Interacting with cosplayers
• 10:54 Trying not to be creepy
• 13:41 Locations
• 16:49 Live demo
• 22:35 Attached bars and restaurants
• 23:19 Stairs
• 24:43 Parking garages
• 25:42 Greenspaces
• 26:07 Loading docks & storage rooms
• 26:44 Conference rooms
• 27:14 Hotel / convention lobbies
• 28:24 Just outside hotels / convention centers
• 30:02 Parks
• 30:11 Hotel rooms
• 30:51 Demo in this room (pre-photographed)
• 31:54 Dare to be different!
• 32:28 Playing with light and shadows
• 33:17 Push your ISO
• 33:48 Details
• 34:36 Seeing the unseen / unusual
• 35:35 Keep it simple
• 36:06 Playing with strobes
• 37:34 Groups
• 40:48 Q&A

A special thanks to Jim3535yt for filming and editing the video! Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube page for other informational and useful videos.

For episode 4, we’re trying something a bit different by doing a critique of five photos versus the normal one. Joining us for this episode are Beethy, Darrell Ardita of BGZ Studios, Tim Vo of FiveRings Photography, Vince Milum of Darkain Multimedia, Fotika Manga of Twisted Manga, and The Bui as moderator.

That’s all for this round, we hope you’ve enjoyed it. Be sure to like, share, and comment– we love to hear from you! If you’re interested in submitting one of your photos to be critiqued, please fill out the following submission form.

1. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom adjustment and initial color toning
2. Import to Adobe Photoshop and do blemish removal
3. Polishing dodge & burn
4. Highlighting / Shadowing dodge & burn
5. Skin smoothing using Imagenomic Portraiture (2 times)
6. Color toning using Nik Software Color Efex
7. Final adjustment and polishing

For the video, I used cosplayer Laughing Demon’s photo that I took during Emerald City Comicon 2013 (you can read our review). For those wondering about the photo-booth setup, it was a simple denim backdrop, paired with one speedlight (Canon 600EX-RT) shooting through a DIY softlighter (reflective umbrella with a diffuser panel at the front). The light is feathered by pointing the umbrella toward the cosplayer’s torso / feet.

There you have it. Enjoy the video, and share your thoughts!

So what exactly make these 50s so attractive as a beginner’s lens? There are many reasons, but here are just a couple main reasons:

• Price: With most of the 50mm f/1.8 prime lenses priced around $100 USD, these 50s are probably one of the most universally cheap lenses across all camera companies. For those tight on budget but still want to jump on the dSLR ship, 50s’ price points make them a very attractive option.
• Performance: One of the greatest things about prime lenses is their wide aperture. At f/1.8, one can easily ‘melt’ the background into beautiful bokeh, and at the same time brings the focus to the subject. Cheap zoom lenses seldom come with aperture larger than f/3.5, and that difference between f/1.8 and f/3.5 is almost night and day for portrait photography, which just so happens to be what cosplay photography falls under.

With 50s obvious limitations in mind, such as the fixed focal length and their cheap build, they do offer an option for one to begin cosplay photography on the cheap side and at the same time offer a decent range of flexibility. For those who photograph cosplays at conventions, that wide aperture will easily become your new best friend, not just to melt away the busy background, but to also allow you to experiment with low light photography.

Examples

All that said, what exactly are the kind of cosplay photos 50s can get you? DeviantArt, flickr, and many other online repositories are full of wonderful examples that you can find. For those interested, read on for my personal description about the shots I have made with my 50mm prime. Note – these shots are captured using the Canon 50mm f/1.4 prime lens, but for all intents and purposes, 50mm f/1.8 can produce the same results.

Final Fantasy Lightning by Nyurt Cosplay. Shot with Canon 5D Mark II @ f/2.5, 1/125, ISO-400. Backlit by the sun and front fill by a speedlight through a shoot-through umbrella.

Tangled Rapunzel by Katie. Shot with Canon 5D Mark II @ f/2.8, 1/500, ISO-200. Backlit by the sun and front fill by a speedlight through a shoot-through umbrella.

Vampire Hunter D by Sydney. Shot with Canon 5D Mark II @ f/2.8, 1/200, ISO-800. Natural light through the window.

Black Vow Hatsune Miku by Anastacia. Shot with Canon 5D Mark II @ f/2.8, 1/80, ISO-1000. Natural light. Panoramically stitched.

Guild Wars Shining Blade by Enayla Cosplay. Shot with Canon 5D Mark II @ f/2.8, 1/200, ISO-200. Backlit by the sun and front fill by monolight through a diffused PLM.

League of Legends Ashe by Missyeru. Shot with Canon 5D Mark II @ f/2.8, 1/125, ISO-125. Speedlight through umbrella on the right.

Final Fantasy Sice by Nyurt Cosplay. Shot with Canon 5D Mark II @ f/2.2, 1/250, ISO-100. Speedlight through shoot-through umbrella on the right.

Conclusion

50s definitely provide a cheap alternative to zoom lenses, and while you may need to manually zoom with your feet, the added bonus of a wider aperture can sometimes be worth more than the workout. I sort of “cheated” by using fill flash in some of the examples shown above, but with them at a fairly low output power, one can easily achieve similar results even without a flash.

We are all about teaching, learning, and inviting more to the cosplay photography community, and by shedding light on economical ways to do things, we hope to make cosplay photography more accessible, attainable, and easier to jump on board. So are you intrigued? Do you shoot with a 50mm? We would love to hear about your experience.

The convention itself was held in the Hyatt Regency Houston, which had been recently renovated and featured a brand new modern sunken lobby bar and a spacious feel due to the 28 floors of rooms built around the central lobby. Across the street from the hotel were stationed food trucks cooking up various Asian cuisine, Houston’s Kaminari taiko drummers, and even an import car show.

Speaking to the convention chairman, I learned that Anime Matsuri this year had expected around 10,000 attendees but broke the record big time with 15,000 weekend attendees. Unfortunately, the Hyatt’s lobby, being taken up mostly with the center bar, felt the crunch later on Friday and all of Saturday with very little space for traffic and no room for cosplayers to pose and have photos taken. Because of the central open floorplan design, the upper floors were even more crowded, with traffic in the Artist Alley coming to a complete standstill for most of Saturday. Wherever I went, I ran into frazzled security guards who were trying their best to keep walkways clear with no success.

Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and photographers and cosplayers were able to shoot outside to avoid the crowds. The Hyatt is surrounded by city blocks of steel-and-glass financial complexes. A few parks and fountains are scattered between the buildings, and underneath it all are tunnels crisscrossing all of downtown Houston. The costumes also did not disappoint; the southern cosplayers I met had brought their best work to date and most were planning on competing in the cosplay contest on Saturday night. The contest was so packed that the audience completely filled the Main Events room and people had to be turned away at the door.

The highlight of Anime Matsuri was the World Cosplay Summit finals on Sunday afternoon. The Gulf Preliminaries, held first at 1 PM, showcased seven talented teams from as far away as Washington, D.C. The winners of that round, Bejitaballz Cosplay and Cupcake Cosplay, then went on to compete in the national finals, held that same day at 3 PM.

The WCS finals is always one of the most exciting, elaborate cosplay events of the year. This year’s finalists dazzled the crowd with pyrotechnics, confetti, stage-fighting, and top-notch acting and dance. Many teams had pre-recorded video broadcasted across the Jumbotron backdrop as an addition to their skits.

Runners-up Wild Garden Cosplay, from Denver, Colorado, were incredible as Kefka Palazzo and his Magitek plaything-turned-rebel Terra Branford from Final Fantasy. But in the end it was Cupcake Cosplay, who had just competed in the 1 PM preliminaries, who stole the show with their Heart no Kuni no Alice performance and painstakingly designed dresses. As well as being chosen as the United States representatives to Japan for 2013, they took home both of the People’s Choice awards from the audience.

Despite the space restrictions, the great weather, wonderful costumes, and thrill of the World Cosplay Summit made Anime Matsuri a convention to remember and catapulted it into the running for one of the south’s best anime conventions. It remains to be seen if Anime Matsuri will continue to experience such rapid growth in future years. If it does, they’ll soon have to look for a new, bigger space!

For updates on the World Cosplay Summit 2013, you can follow Cupcake Cosplay’s WCS Facebook page, as well as the official WCS Twitter feed. The World Cosplay Summit finals will be held in Nagoya City, Japan, the first week of August 2013.

Cosplay Photographers: Thanks so much for taking the time to be interviewed! So tell us a little bit about your background and where you are from.

Vaxzone: I am currently staying in this beautiful island called Singapore.

Cosplay Photographers: And how did you get into photography in general?

Vaxzone: Since I was young, I liked to look at those awesome pictures taken by reporters and journalist. You don’t need to read the description and you understand what was going on by just looking that those pictures. That inspired me to get me into photography.

Cosplay Photographers: What about cosplay photography?

Vaxzone: Cosplay photography is a little bit different from event, wedding, portrait and landscape photography. It is the combination of all the above plus creativity. Especially in searching/planning to create fantasy feel type of artwork where it does not exist in our normal day-to-day life.

Cosplay Photographers: Have you ever cosplayed, or do you just take the photos?

Vaxzone: Nope, just cosplayed as a photographer… hahaha. I still prefer creating artwork instead.

Cosplay Photographers: What would you say are a few things that define your photography style?

Vaxzone: My goal: every piece of Artwork will tell a story with just a single glance.

Cosplay Photographers: What’s your favorite gear to use on a shoot?

Vaxzone: I got very limited gear: a camera and 3 lenses, all of them are my favorite gears.

Cosplay Photographers: Do you have any gear that is your least favorite?

Vaxzone: Every single gear or lens has its own pro and con. Know the gear you own and use it for the right place and purpose.

Cosplay Photographers: Could you talk a little about the cosplay scene in Singapore?

Vaxzone: AFA and Cosfest are some of the big event in Singapore, where you will see a lot of awesome cosplayers and a lot more photographers.

Cosplay Photographers: Which events do you usually go to?

Vaxzone: I will try to visit most of the big cosplay events in Singapore mainly to catch up with friends and meeting new friends from overseas.

Cosplay Photographers: Do you shoot a lot at events, or do you prefer to do private photoshoots at other locations?

Vaxzone: I hardly shoot in cosplay events. I do prefer to do private photoshoots at other location which is more suitable to the character.

Cosplay Photographers: Could you describe a typical shoot? How long does the session last?

Vaxzone: In most of my shoot, it took around 2-3 hours.

Cosplay Photographers: And how much planning do you do in advance?

Vaxzone: Normally I will discuss the shoot detail with cosplayers 1 – 2 weeks in advance.

Cosplay Photographers: How many final images do you usually end up with after a shoot?

Vaxzone: Most of the shoots done, I might have 1 – 2 photos which I like and will keep reviewing them, mainly to critique myself where to improve.

Cosplay Photographers: Describe your post-processing workflow…do you do a lot of retouching?

Vaxzone: It depends on the anime or game and character, mainly I will just adjust the color tone, curve etc.

Cosplay Photographers: Do you do any photography besides cosplay photography?

Vaxzone: Yeah, I do wedding, events, travel photography etc.

Cosplay Photographers: How do you think the cosplay photography community has changed since you started?

Vaxzone: In this short 3 year period, photographers are getting more experience and more awesome works; cosplayers are getting better in makeup and crazy props making skills, sewing skills etc.

Cosplay Photographers: Who are some of your favorite photographers?

Vaxzone: Anyone who produce artwork that tell a story. I like to browse through newspapers, magazine, internet for awesome work from different individual. Sometimes I will just look at one picture/drawing for a long time.

Cosplay Photographers: And what are your future plans for your own photography?

Vaxzone: I would like to do more people and scenery related photography.

Cosplay Photographers: Thank you so much! For those of you who would like to see more of Vaxzone’s work, you can visit his deviantart at vaxzone.deviantart.com.

This Spring Gathering was once again held at Kelley Park in San Jose, which is a great choice for various types of cosplays and shoots. It has an endless lush green plant environment, a wonderful forest-like setting with beautiful trees, railroad tracks, and a Japanese Friendship Garden in the center. I’ve been going to the NorCal Gatherings for a few years now and each one keeps getting bigger and bigger. This gathering had the most RSVPs, coming in at 350. How many people actually showed up? It’s hard to say definitively because attendees were scattered about, but if I had to give a number, I would say about 200-250 throughout the day, which is still quite impressive for a gathering. Special thanks to Bekalou Cosplay and OscarC Photography for organizing another amazing NorCal Gathering!

Below are some photos I got of the Gathering. You can see more in our Facebook album.