Many things happened the last few months and theres no real excuse that the blog has been on hiatus this long except for my own lazyness.I hope to keep up with the blogosphere and my own blog from now on though and hope to make this somewhat of a routine of mine for the last few readers of my blog that are still left

As you may remember Ive taken a liking to Cosplay Photography and had the Chance to delve a bit deeper into it last December.Hit the Jump to read about my experiences and for the first set of pictures.

One of the very first things I realized after getting an interest in People/Cosplay Photography ( whatever you wanna call it ) is that its very hard to get Models to practice on.Your very first move would be to look around if someone  in your family or friends want to be your very personal guinea pigs but atleast in my case everyone acted like I had the Cholera, Smallpox and the Black Death all at once.

Cosplayers on the other hand are the exact opposite,since they normally are happy when someone asks for pictures of them.The fact that they share the same general hobby as you is a definite plus aswell and should break the ice in the at first awkward situation.

My first experiences with “Cosplay Photography” were the usual Events where Cosplayers popped up and you could snatch a few pictures of them.I started off as nearly anyone with a Point and Shoot ( the Nikon Coolpix P50 in my Case) and took pictures where the opportunity arose and I had the guts to ask for a picture.

Ive bought my first DSLR,the D3000, last year and this is where my interest in Cosplay Photography turned into a serious interest after realizing all the possibilities in regards to techniques and posing of the character.My pictures were still pretty much on the same level as my point and shoot camera but I hoped to work on that.

Ive spent some time on the Internet and reading Photography books and a short time later I decided to switch from my Kit Lenses (with limited abilities) to a high grade 50mm Prime Lens by Sigma.The Crop Factor of my DX Camera  turned the 50mm glass effectively into a 75mm Lens which makes it a nearly perfect lens for portraits.I was hestitating a long time about this decision since it involved a good chunk of cash but the 50mm Prime has basically become my exclusive glass nowadays. There are a few occasions where I switch to my 15 – 55mm because of space restraints but otherwise I stay faithful to my prime.

Fast Forward a few months and another Convention and I realized the next big step I had to take.Taking pictures every few months at a Convention might be fun but pictures will stay mere snapshots because of the surroundings and you get only very limited experience out of this.This is where I realized that I actually have to do some social networking even though I am no big fan of it.I gave out my namecards a few months later at the Animagic but the resonance was rather small you could even say nonexistant.This is where I knew that I had to rely on the one thing I actually hoped Ill never have to do: register at the biggest german Anime/Manga/Cosplay FanSite.

As probably most of you I try to avoid local Anime Communities like a hikkikomori avoids the outside.Most people registered at these sites are a whole different breed than those wed usually like to socialise with but most suprisingly I didnt encounter any of those yet.Instead of glomping Yaoi fangirls Ive gotten Access to a pool of  Cosplayers aswell as Cosplay Photographers and most importantly some exposure to the potential peer group.

I joined a few Circles there and luckily soon after that an Event  popped up that I swore to attend: The First Cosplay Foto Shooting NRW. It was organized by one of the Sites`s members called Kyouya who took part in similar Events in Munich. Its basically about people meeting up and having a good time while posing and taking pictures.The First Meet Up was rather small with only one Photographer and three  Cosplayers but I actually liked the laid back atmosphere of this. You dont have the pressure of  having to take great pictures like with a private Shoot ( I am still learning after all) but it isnt overcrowded like a Convention either.

Throw in some people that are fun to work with like Hotaru, Kyouya and Garuru ( hes gonna be featured in a  different post) and you can produce some pretty decent results.These pictures were taken in cologne during the snow-ridden december days and proved to be quite challenging in terms of lighting.On the one hand the Snow masses made a reflector nearly obsolete because it was reflecting so much light but on the other hand it was hard to find a balance between blowing out the snow covered parts of the picture and correctly lighting the subject.I still have huge problems to pick only the cream of the crop and usually keep more pictures than  true photog would ever do.Guess I just cant part with my babies ^^;

The Girls were Cosplaying two characters from the Show Hitman Reborn! of which I havent got a clue of because I dropped it after 2 epsiodes of enduring the annoying name giving protagonist ^^;;

Hotaru cosplays as a guy known as Dino Cavallone  and Kyouya is doing a apparently humorless fella called Hibari Kyouya.If youre more interested in the characters id recommend that you check out Wikipedia or if youre more the M type of personality feel free to endure watch the series.

Before the whole post looks like a giant wall of text ill stop now and save up some for the second post thats coming hopefully sooner than later ;-P

These two pictures represent a dilemma I often have.Nearly Identical pictures yet I like something about both of them and in the end I keep them both anyways…On a second Look these two arent looking too great though ^^;

Here we have a special case where I didnt want to get rid of the picture above because it is essential to the Titanic Feeling we wanted to catch with these pics for fun.The picture above has a very busy background with objects that disturb the “composition”.The picture that follows is alot better in that department but isnt really showing the rail which takes away alot of the desired  atmosphere.Only Hint to Titanic here is the pose of Hotaru and Kyouya

I like how these turned out

SNOWBALLED!

Okay were now sort of entering very mild Yaoi territory but remember this are two chicks just dressed up as guys basically making it very mild implied Yuri ~~ XD

I like this closeup the most out of the three pictures even though it isnt showing too much of the winter scenery.Yup another case where I can definately decide on only one picture and  keep them all ^^;

Same goes for the lying in the snow acting all gay pictures ^^;

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures out of the whole set.Hasnt got anything to do with serious cosplaying because the girls were goofing off while I was trying out my settings.Sometimes natural pictures beat the best planned ones

Here we have once again the case where I have nearly identical pictures with lightly varied poses where I couldnt decide on only one.

Kyouya doesnt seem to be too happy about the Bird

Thats it for today girls and boys! I know that I still have a long way to go before my pictures are “truly there” but so far Ive been quite happy how these shots turned out. That doesnt mean I am open to any sort of critique though.If you got any hints or advice feel free to share be it composition,lighting or postprocessing of the RAW Files.

Check out my Flickr Set if you cant get enough of Hotaru and Kyouya and want to see some unused pictures!