Let's talk directly about the core concept of this shoot. To pursue that game concept art-level dark CGI texture, it wasn't just about simply putting on the clothes and pressing the shutter; the atmospheric feel of the scene had to be fully propped up. So, I spent a whole afternoon on the hand-built scene arrangement, mainly handling these floating crushed stones and the massive sea of white flowers beneath my feet. To give the stones an anti-gravity effect, we experimented several times with securing and hanging lines, cooperating with post-processing adjustments to finally present the shattered and floating feel seen in the frame.
For lighting, we chose an extreme high-contrast side backlighting, darkening the surrounding environment. This kind of lighting demands a lot from post-processing, but it can produce a very beautiful rim light along the edges of the character's white hair right at the raw photo stage, while letting the texture of the dark costume and the layers of the skirt hem loom in the shadows. The vast expanse of white flowers under this cold light and shadow forms a strong visual contrast, preventing the frame from looking rigid due to large areas of black. The prop blade was also given a high-reflection treatment, staying as close as possible to the sharp texture seen in CGI.
During the actual shoot, the focus was actually on controlling the character's posture and gaze. In this almost decolorized black-and-white toned scene, the character's body language serves as the sole visual guide. This style of photography isn't as easy to produce good shots as daily outdoor shoots; it has strict requirements for environmental cleanliness and the layers of black, white, and gray in the frame. The slightest bit of ambient stray light or a prop error will make the overall feel completely wrong.
Producing this set of photos really tested our patience. From piling up stones to adjusting lights and then to post-editing fine-tuning, every step was recreating that shattered yet beautiful world. Although the process of scene arrangement was exhausting, seeing the sense of color-stripped purity and a hint of cool detachment in the final frame made me feel that all this tossing around was entirely worth it.