[Ardelia cosplay] Arknights: Endfield's Little Sheep Sea of Flowers Feature Photos

For this Arknights: Endfield Ardelia cosplay set, we put a lot of thought into restoring the costume details. A light pink sleeveless top paired with black techwear straps and zippers, along with white wide sleeves and an asymmetrical multi-layered skirt hem, makes the overall styling carry a bit of combat attribute amidst the girlish feel. The interwoven white-and-pink beast ear hair accessory on top of the head is the main focal point of the whole look; wearing it requires careful adjustment of the angle to ensure it looks both three-dimensional and natural in front of the lens. To fit the character's two-dimensional feel, red contact lenses were specially used in the makeup, and the eye makeup also incorporated some red tones to echo them, while the base makeup kept a clean and translucent look.

The shooting location was chosen in a vast outdoor sea of flowers. The natural light that day was extremely ideal, with sunlight filtering through the branches to cast a translucent rim light on the clothes and hair. The large areas of golden-yellow and pink-purple in the flower sea formed a great color layering with the pink-and-white color scheme of the costume. To make the character pop out from the complicated background, photographer @渡井LastRemote used a wide-aperture lens for shooting, blurring the flower bushes and trees in the background to create a translucent sense of atmosphere.

In terms of composition and action design, we tried multiple different perspectives. Among them, the two photos sitting on the wooden boardwalk adopted a high-angle overhead perspective. Sitting half-kneeling on the wooden board and reaching out towards the lens, this action not only increased the interactive feel and visual tension of the photos, but the overhead angle also nicely displayed the layering on the back of the costume and the black stockings on the legs. This posture actually tests the core and abdominal strength, but to make the limbs look relaxed and natural, I still tried hard to maintain the state. As for the standing photos in the sea of flowers, they mainly relied on the breeze moving the skirt hem and sheer sleeve cuffs to capture that light, dynamic feel.

Outdoor shooting is actually a huge test of lighting control. When the sunlight is direct, the shadows on the face are relatively heavy, so we adjusted our footing to find areas of slightly softer diffused light for shooting. Although there were quite a few mosquitoes in the flower sea, maintaining the integrity of the styling required some effort for touch-ups and garment adjustments mid-way. However, seeing the light-and-shadow texture and color presentation in the final photos made all the preparation feel worth it. The material of this outfit presented great details under the sunlight—the matte finish of the leather and the see-through feel of the sheer gauze blended seamlessly with the scene.

Throughout the shooting process, I was constantly adjusting my gaze and facial expressions, striving to get close to that feeling of being both playful and slightly cool. Ardelia's character traits are vividly displayed through this costume that combines mechanical and girlish elements. While sitting on the wooden platform, with arms naturally hanging down and the gaze looking through the lens, that feeling was exceptionally on point. Being able to ultimately present such a vibrant and colorful work is inseparable from the photographer's guidance and capture.