Lucky - Yukari Yakumo Portrait of a Cosplayer

It’s been nearly a month since starting up the ‘I Cosplay…’ project. Things are progressing well. It’s time to take a look at what worked and what didn’t, and where to go from here.

I mentioned that I’d come across a new lighting style using a ‘beauty dish’ as a key light.  I like the effect but there was a bit more of a learning curve to using it than I expected.  When mounted on a Speedlite, the fall-off point isn’t very far and depending on the flash head’s orientation, the unit returns various light patterns.

I found when positioned above and just to the side of the camera during the studio shots that if the person moved just a bit outside of the ‘sweet spot’ the result was terrible- such as a face in shadow or a blown out torso or arm. In the ‘sweet spot’ the lighting is great. The dish creates beautiful light and shadow Continue reading »