Photoshoots With A Twist
You might have heard or participated in a walking photography tour or perhaps hired a photographer to take photographs of you while visiting a different city or doing an incredible activity but have you ever done a cosplay photoshoot?
Photoshoots With A Twist
What is a Cosplay Photoshoot? I hear you ask..
Cosplay can be traced back to sci-fi fans donning costumes in New York for the First World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, although the term cosplay wasn’t coined until the mid-eighties.
Grownups playing dress-up isn’t anything new: Masquerade Balls have been around since the 15th century, Mardi Gras is thought to have its roots in pre-Christian Roman celebrations such as Saturnalia, and then there’s Halloween.
Whether you cosplay for fun or for gig work, a photoshoot can be the perfect way to capture the moment and share it with friends and fans. After all, you’ve put time, money and effort into making your costume look amazing, so why not show it off?
Taking photos for fun is very different to taking them for a work portfolio. Maybe you just want to get together with some friends and capture a few fun memories. This can be pretty relaxed, silly and involve getting people into humorous poses.
Characters from anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, movies and video games all serve as inspiration in one of the world’s most lucrative portmanteaus: the global costume play or cosplay market has grown to be worth over $4.6Bn as of 2020 (1).
The great thing about cosplay is the feeling of being someone else. Exhibitions like Comic Con provide a playground where these costumes can be admired by other fans. Comic Con and other exhibitions can also provide an income for those who get really into cosplay, with many serious cosplayers charging fees for photos or appearances.
Putting together a portfolio for your website or other gig work requires a bit more thought and preparation. You need to show your costume from all angles and in the best lighting to demonstrate its quality and accuracy.
Cosplay Photoshoot Top Tips
By Emeka Ikechi at Vanity Studios
Remember your bits and bobs
What is Captain America with his shield, Thor without Mjölnir, Wonder Woman without the Lasso of Truth or Cloud Strife without his Buster Sword?
Getting everything right for a photoshoot means having both the costume and accessories look perfect. While small issues can always be covered up with some editing, it’s hard to add authentic-looking accessories.
If you are looking for paid work from your cosplay, it’s even more important that you have all the accessories and that your costume looks as authentic as possible. It’s the authenticity and quality of the costumes and accessories that will either make or break your cosplay career.
Makeup is important
As well as authentic costumes and accessories, make-up is often essential to look the part. Dr Strange just wouldn’t look the same without his iconic beard, Thanos needs that chin, and you’ll need a lot of blue face paint to look like Halo’s Cortana.
A good studio will be able to help touch up your make-up, so it looks just right, capturing the essence of the character without becoming too much. Of course, you might need to think about lighting as well: blue face paint would look wrong under a red light, for example.