IMO - Paid Photoshoot

Fellow photographer Beethy recently started a discussion on photoshoot-and-charging on his journal. "Should photographers charge for their service" is like one of the most frequently discussed/argued topics in the cosplay community. If you are a professional photographer unfamiliar with the cosplay scene you will be amazed by how unlikely cosplayers are willing to pay for your service.


The original discussion posted on Beethy's blog: link

People have all sort of reasons why photoshoots should be free. We have photographers aiming only to build their portfolio and/or practice their skill and thus feel bad charging; we have cosplayers even suggesting that photographers should be the ones paying because cosplayers are spending lots of time on their costumes and they are also the one modeling for the photographers; we also have people who think charging for cosplay shoots will eventually turn the cosplay circle into a commercial hellhole where everything is about $$$.

Personally I am not against photographers charging for their service. It make perfect sense to me for an artist to get paid for the time, professionalism and expertise they put in on a project. Just like cosplayers getting paid on commissioned costumes/accessories. Photographers are free to simply put up a price and start charging for their service, be it $10/hr, $100/hr, $1000/hr, etc etc...

However, the thing is most cosplayers don't have a budge for photoshoots and thus won't be willing to spend money on photography service. Not so much because they don't have the money but because most of them treat cosplaying as a hobby and fancy photographs is not really necessary for them to enjoy a good time.

I think photographers shouldn't expect *every* cosplayers to pay for your service. Just like you don't bust into a wedding, take pictures and demand the couples to pay you. There are people who are willing to pay for excellent photographs. However I do think a different marketing strategy/business model should be used due to the lower demand for photography service in the cosplay community...

Saboten-Con 2010

Toiea as Lavi from D.Grey-Man

Just come back from Saboten-con in Arizona this past weekend. It was my first time traveling to an AZ con and it was a really wonderful experience. Apparently it's one of the larger local conventions so there were a lot of AZ cosplayers attending. The hotel was a super nice resort and it was all sunny and warm so it totally put me in vacation mood all weekend. xD


GreyFinch as Casimiro from HiNaBn

Walked around the convention a couple times and attended the Hanna's not a Boy's Name gathering on Saturday meeting a group of fellow Hanna fans. Fun time!! Surprisingly there is quite some Hanna cosplayers at Saboten this year. This web comic is seriously getting popular fast :D

So much fun hanging out w. some of my favorite AZ friends and meeting some new ones~~ Can't wait to check out some more AZ cons in the future~~ :-)

Oh yea and now my 2010 convention count is 6!

Top 10 series in the 2010 cosplay scene - 2

At least the Europe's Debt Crisis doesn't have much to do with this one (Google Image)

Warning: nerdy entry... continue from previous post

Reborn! (aka. Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Reborn! all-stars (image source: Google Image)

Info: wiki
Reborn has been a very popular shonen series in the cosplay scene for quite a while. The chracter design are simple and clean making them relatively easier to cosplay. The list of character growth as the series proceed and both the anime, manga and light novel are still ongoing meaning we'll be sure to see more and more cosplays from this series in 2010.

Zone-00

Zone-00 main cast (image source: Gaia Online)

Info: wiki
If you frequent Japanese cosplay sites such as Cure I'm sure you already heard of this series before. This manga has been quite popular in the Japanese cosplay scene since 2 years ago and we started seeing more and more people cosplaying from this series in Taiwanese conventions last year.This year in Anime LA and AOD we started seeing our very own Zone-00 cosplay group. There is still no news about an animation series yet but it's already so popular among the ACG circle. I'm sure we'll see a lot of people cosplaying from this series this year.

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII in game scene (Image source: PSPSPS)

Info: wiki
We started seeing cosplays from FF-XIII in the US cosplay scene since... 2007. As the release date drew near we kept seeing more and more people cosplaying characters from the series. As we (fans) all know, the English version of the game is scheduled to be released on March 9th this year and it's only logical to expect even more fans cosplaying from this series. As always the designers in Square Enix did an awesome job in the costume designs. I can hardly wait to see more Final Fantasy cosplayers walking around convention centers everywhere.

Avatar the last Airbender | Alice | Avatar

Tim Burton's Alice in wonderland (Image source: Manny the Movie Guy)

Info: wiki | wiki | wiki
Cosplay from movies is more popular in some conventions than the others. WonderCon and San Diego Comic Con are two of the bigger conventions where movie-cosplay is more popular. Avatar made a great impact early this year and we can definitely expect seeing cosplays from this movie. Avatar the last Airbender and Alice are another two highly anticipated series to be released some time this year. Anyway C'mon guys these are movies, 3 hours at most... check them out before going to these cons would you? XD

Katanagatari | Baka to Test to Shōkanjū

 
Katanagatari (Image source: Brianandrew)

Info: wiki | wiki
New series are like penny stocks (lol). It's hard to tell how big are they gonna get but for sure some fans will be attracted to these two very colorful series and decide to cosplay from them this year. They are both still airing in Japan this season and they are really fun to check out. Definitely look forward to seeing them at cons.


We will get more pointers from CWT24 in 2 weeks. By then we'll have a much better idea on which series to "invest" in for the convention season this year! Good luck people. Have fun shooting in various 2010 conventions!  XD

...darn I'm nerdy... lol

Top 10 series in the 2010 cosplay scene - 1

Cosplay photography is a serious business (image source: Getty images)

So all of us photographers who like to shoot at anime conventions know that the cosplay scene is fast and constantly changing like Wall Street. If we invest our time researching the wrong series we'll ended up losing EVERYTHING in the upcoming convention season. Because of that, insider information and a little prediction is very important for what we do.

Since I'm feeling nerdy bored let me list my personal guess on 2010 most popular stocks series in the cosplay circle. I spited up the entry into 2 to hopefully make it easier to read :D

Vocaloid

Members of the Vocaloid family (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
The Vocaloid family were already HUGE in many Asian and US conventions last year. We can expect to see them being even more active this year with the addition of new characters, songs and the much anticipated Black Rock Shooter anime project which is scheduled to air this Spring. Magnet, Akuno Musume, Hagane and Black Rock Shooter are some of the most popular series among the cosplay circle. Definitely check them out!

Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)

Sebastian and Ciel from Black Butler (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
Black Butler was already a "major player" in 2009. It was not unusual to run into 10 Ciel and 8 Sebastian in a convention. The series have extremely remarkable costume designs and it definitely got the attention of many cosplayers worldwide. The more recent addition of the Noah's Ark Circus pushed the design to the next level and now everyone in the series seems to wear Haute couture wherever they go. I think we can definitely expect to see more Black Butler cosplay this year.

Macross Frontier

Movie poster of the Macross Frontier movie "The False Diva" (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
Macross Frontier was a big hit back in 08 and 2009. The amazing storyline and characters development of this series made it a very popular choice among cosplayers. Although the TV series ended in 2008 the manga is still going on and from what we saw in ALA and AOD it is clear that cosplayers are still very excited about cosplaying characters from the series. I'd expect the upcoming movie scheduled to release in Japan this Fall would keep the momentum going for 2010.

K-On

The 4 main girls in their concert outfits (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
K-On was another commercial success of Kyoto Animation, the production company of Full Metal Panic, Lucky Star and Haruhi. The story was about these 4 girls of a really laid back after-school music club. Some of the outfits in the show are gorgeous, unfortunately they were only being showcased in 1 or 2 episodes when the main characters performed in "concerts". Despite the lack of costumes we still saw plenty of people cosplaying from the series in 2009 and with the airing of a 2nd season in April I'd look forward to seeing more and more cosplay from this series.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Mari Illustrious Makinami, new character of the Evangelion series (image source: komica)

Info: wiki
It might sound weird to expect a series from 1995 to come back 15 years later. Believe it or not, Evangelion is getting BIG once again thanks to the newly released animation movies. Two of the 4 episodes of the new movie series has already been released and the new characters and storyline once again attracted lots of fans and cosplayers. The last two movies is supposed to introduce us a brand new ending of Evangelion and they will come out in Summer and Winter this year. Prepare to see more Rei and Asuka running around the convention centers this year.

(... continue in Part II)

Mega64 Video

(img source: komica)

The above image is pretty much my impression on one of the funny videos from Mega64. The team from this well-known gaming blog/forum occasionally film themselves dressing up (and acting as) video game character in public places. Usually making people annoyed and sometimes getting themselves arrested. Other than just this group of (silly) gaming fans sometimes you might even see famous guests such as Hideo Kojima in their videos. From the couple of videos I saw it seems like San Diego is one of their favorite cities to film their video. ^^;;

While dressing up in costume and disturbing people in public is not what "cosplay" is about (no, not at all), you might still find some of their video funny if you are a gaming/costuming fan. I personally found these video a little disturbing because this is exactly the type of things that give ACG* fans a bad reputation. Oh well, maybe it's just me XDD
*Anime, Comic, Game


RE4 merchant is not quite a good career in San Diego (especially near Costco XD)


If you just want a laugh and/or just wanna see how crazy gaming fans can get I'd recommend checking out some of their videos. You can find some of their videos on their YouTube channel: here.

18+ Anime Convention?

This poster pretty much summed up yoai-con... not really XD (image source: komica)

If you are not too familiar with the cosplay circle you might be surprised to learn that there are actually 18+ anime conventions out there. Yaoi-Con which takes place in San Mateo, CA on the October 30 - November 1, 2009 is one of these conventions. The theme of this unique convention is "yaoi"*. It is an anime convention for "fans with an interest in yaoi-related anime, manga, and other aspects of Asian culture." (wikipedia)

*Yaoi(やおい) is a popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by female authors (wikipedia)

Due to the adult nature of this convention, the registration process of Yaoi-Con is a little different from your usual anime conventions. Other than the regular online form and payment, pre-registration requires an extra mailing of a photocopy of your proof of age. At-con registration/badge pickup also requires a mandatory picture ID check. You will be given a bracelet upon getting your badge and you are supposed to wear this bracelet throughout the entire 3-days convention. In case you lost your bracelet you'll have to pay a rate of $60 to have it replaced.


A Ulquiorra cosplayer from Yaoi-Con 2007. Highlighted is the bracelet.

Although the theme of this con might not be something you are interested in, however, IMO this is one of the best conventions in CA for photographing cosplayers. The location is extremely photography-friendly. With some pretty nice indoor and outdoor locations to work with (if you are not planning to get away from the con-center). It is also a great chance to see costumes from series that are totally unheard of (assuming you are not a Yaoi-fan). Overall it is a totally different experience from attending bigger cons such as Anime Expo and SDCC.

For more information about this convention check out the official website: here
Location of the con: Marriott San Mateo-San Francisco Airport

Say you hate Photoshop

A cosplay image before-and-after retouching. (image source: komica)

I was looking at some amazing before-and-after shots of celebrities on this funzblog article and it reminded me we have the thing in the cosplay circle too.

Digital photography makes PP (post-processing) of photos so much easier. Photographers no longer need a fancy darkroom to edit their image. Most photographers these days PP their own images after shooting. The degree of processing ranges from minor exposure/color adjustment to major retouching of the model's skin/bodyshape/face etc.

Although most of the time the photographer did the processing. However, if a job wasn't well done most often the cosplayers get the blames. Cosplayers certainly don't want a reputation of "over-shopping" their faces. That's why so often you will see people arguing violently on cosplay.com and other forums about PP and cosplay photo.



Photo retouched by master photo retoucher Amy Dresser (image source: photoshopblog.net)

Do realized that post-processing is a necessary part of the creative process. Telling your photographer to not process your images will greatly limit the creative potential of the shoot. However, if you do have concerns on the degree of processing the photographer might apply to your photo by all mean you should
discuss with your photographer about it.

Another thing you can do is to talk to your photog to see is it possible to get a copy of the unedited images along with the edited photographs. Be sure to talk to your photographer before editing any of the unedited images as there might be a particular look/style they want in all of their photo and you might ruin their reputation if you didn't do a great job on the editing.

That's about it, happy photoshopping (or not) XD!

IMO - Criticism

Say you just finished watching an anime and you really like a character in the show. You think it'll be cool to cosplay the character in an upcoming convention and thus you wake up your inner nerdy cosplay spirit and start constructing a costume. In the end you spend some money and time putting it all together and in return you get to have fun at the con and get some pictures taken. Obviously it has nothing to do with your profession life and you are definitely not doing it for a living.

Do realize something as simple as that might still attract harsh criticism from people. It's because in the ACG world many fans are hardcore. They might notice an ultra tiny piece of detail missing on your costume; or they might think your body type doesn't fit the character; or they might notice this extremely minor color different of your wig from the original... etc. Sometimes these criticism can get quite personal and none of them make much sense.

Don't take this type of harsh criticisms seriously.

Remember that you are doing it for fun and you are doing it as a hobby. There is no reasons for you to have to handle any harsh personal attacks just for cosplaying. And C'mon let's face it, no matter what you do you simply can't please everyone. You might wanna treat a comment/criticism seriously if it is constructive and helpful but otherwise maybe you should just ignore it.

During an interview in the May 09 issue of Vogue supermodels Hilary Rhoda, Lauren Hutton, Karlie Kloss, Paulina Porizkova and Caroline Trentini touched briefly on this topic. Attached is that part of the interview:


(Vogue USA, May 2009 cover from http://mynexthandbag.net)

On Rotten Remarks, Or What Not to say to models... (Vogue USA, May 2009)

Lauren: As I was coming out of doing a Vogue cover with a well-known photographer, I passed him and said something like "Good nite. Have a good time." And he said something like "You're a whore, aren't you?" It was almost 40 years ago, but I remember thinking, What was he really trying to say?
Hilary: That happened to me about two weeks ago. We were shooting in Los Angeles on location. Somebody said to the production guys, "Are you shooting porn?" I was so shocked, not offended; but it was really strange.
Karlie: This sounds petty next to those stories, but I think the worst thing for me was being told I was too skinny. That hurt because I know myself enough, and it's such a stereotype in our industry,k especially with my generation.
Hilary: If one person doesn't like your looks, somebody else will. That's what I have learned. I was too American-looking or whatever... you have to laugh.
Karlie: I'm obviously still growing my thick skin.
Paulina: I have been criticized from the roots of my hair to the very tips of my toes. I was thiking about that the other day and wondering if there's one part of me that got away unscathed.
Lauren: It was covered.
Caroline: In the beginning you think, OK, this is a real job and I'm searous about it, so I should listen to them. But then you're like, Oh, God, how am I going to change?
Paulina: How am I going to change my right eyeball?
Caroline: Exactly.

(full interview can be found at http://www.modelinia.com)

First Cosplay Photoshoot

Got an email from a cosplayer asking me for tips on her 1st cosplay shoot.

Since I have never cosplayed (drunk "cosplay" doesn't count XD) + I was still at work when I saw her email (!) + I'm not even the photographer of her shoot (!?) I was only able to reply her with what I could think of at the moment. I modified it a bit and here it is:

1. Be punctual
It's like the #1 rule in the photoshoot world.

2. Know the character you are cosplaying
Usually a cosplay shoot is a shoot about your character... not so much about yourself. Knowing your character makes coming up with poses easier. You might also wanna prepare a couple poses for your character to bring to the shoot.

3. Communicate with your photog before the shoot
IM, Tel, Facebook, Myspace... etc. Get a sense of what your photog is looking to achieve in this shoot. You should also inform your photog if you are planning to bring bodyguards/escorts/friends to the shoot. It's also a great time for you to exchange idea with your photog.

4. Don't be a last minute flaker
You will make a name on 4chan screw up an entire team of creative/hard-working/expensive people if you do so... Try to inform your photog at least 24hrs beforehand if you are thinking of canceling a shoot.

5. Relax, don't worry about wasting "films"
If it's your 1st time working with a photog chances are you won't be getting any award-winning pictures from the first hour of the shoot. Maybe you will, but don't expect it to happen XD Most photogs are shooting digital these days so don't worry about wasting their films. Relax and work with your photog and everything will be fine.

6. What to bring?
It really depends on the shoot. If the location is cold make sure to bring a warm jacket; If the shoot is gonna be long make sure to bring snacks and water; If you might fix/modify your makeup during the shoot bring your makeup with you... etc. Make sure to bring your cellphone though!

Good luck and have fun!! ^__^)