[Amiya Cosplay] The Arknights CEO's Afternoon Garden

Shooting this pastoral style cosplay photoshoot of Amiya actually involved some early research; instead of adopting the traditional grand apocalyptic style, we cut directly into an entirely different dimension of life. Just like the name of this theme, "Amiya's Little Garden," I wanted to express a state that is as relaxed and close to nature as possible.

For the equipment setup of this set of photos, I used a Canon R6 Mark II as the body, paired with a Tamron 35mm F1.4 SP large-aperture prime lens, as well as Canon native mount 50mm and 85mm F1.2 lenses. Here's a quick share of my experience with the gear during the shoot. The 35mm f/1.4 is perfect for setting the overall environment, especially the vintage yellow bicycle and the full view of the porch in Figure 1; while the 50mm and 85mm possess incredible bokeh capabilities, beautifully melting the background greenery and petals into a creamy blur when shooting half-body close-ups and small local objects.

In terms of costume and prop preparation, the small rattan basket carried in my hand can be said to be the crowning touch of the entire set. Inside are a few bags of Oishi snacks, which actually stems from a highly down-to-earth nickname meme given to Amiya by players. This makes the resulting photos not only beautiful but adds an extra layer of agility and playfulness.

Regarding the location selection, this real-scene garden base fits this dress perfectly. The park is planted with quite a few citrus trees bearing lemon fruits; the green leaves paired with yellow fruits provide warm-toned embellishments that beautifully neutralize the cool white tones of the dress. Hanging ferns everywhere in the yard, bursting blue hydrangeas, and sun-facing sunflowers serve as excellent foreground frames and background fillers. It is hard to manifest that kind of summer vitality in a studio setup; this realism of the wind blowing through the hair strands is what makes me most satisfied with this set of photos.

For the headwear, since massive soft props like rabbit ears are easily affected by the wind outdoors, losing their shape, I specially used some stiff wires for support. This ensures that even when walking around outdoors, they maintain an upright ear silhouette and won't go limp.

In terms of post-processing color grading, I used Lightroom (LR). The overall strategy this time was to go for a high-key, light film aesthetic. I lowered the overall contrast, added a slight cyan-green tint, and toned down the ambient environmental light under the sun to keep the facial skin tone translucent, making the overall color scheme look cleaner and softer. Especially in Figures 5 and 6, this low-saturation green contrasting with the red and blue of the dress looks exceptionally pleasing to the eye under LR's local color adjustments.

As for the hair, styling the wig actually took quite a lot of time because Amiya's hairstyle has a few strands of hair flipping forward. When shooting with the rabbit ear headwear, due to the wide variety of shooting angles, I had to constantly pay attention to the flow of the bangs and sideburns to avoid them looking misshapen in the photos. Fortunately, the R6 Mark II's real-time autofocus system was incredibly reliable; whether looking through the window in Figure 3 or when I sat down in Figure 4, the focus point locked precisely on the eyes.

Overall, this shooting activity was not just about producing a Cosplay photography set, but a physically and mentally delightful journey. Blending a character from the two-dimensional world into real-world natural scenes, using the large apertures of 50mm and 85mm to depict the lace details of the skirt hem, and pairing it with LR's post-production to smooth out light flaws—the final set of images presented not only aligns with the gentleness of this character but also shatters the stereotypes of conventional settings, beautifully capturing an Anime-style portrait.