Sitting on the edge of a classroom desk with black tabletops, white metal frames, and wooden chair seats, the shooting environment for this photo set was exceptionally minimalist and pure. I wore a blue-and-white Maid outfit accented with a red bow on the chest and pleated white lace along the hem of the skirt. On my legs were pure White stockings. The gray lop-eared bunny plush in my hands was an interactive prop specially prepared for this shoot.
The gear used this time was the Sony a7M5 paired with a Sigma 85mm F1.4 lens. An 85mm focal length offers wonderful spatial compression in Portrait photography, making it ideal for shooting full-body or half-body compositions in confined studio spaces. During the shoot, I deliberately chose not to wear shoes; having pure White stockings resting on the desk edge or crossed over the chair back highlighted the leg lines nicely while lending a more intimate, languid mood to the frame. The sharpness of the Sigma 85mm F1.4 is truly remarkable, and combined with Sony's straight-out-of-camera color profile, the skin looked incredibly translucent.
In terms of posing, I tried my best to look like an exquisite collectible figurine. In the shot lifting the bunny's ear with one hand, leaning slightly sideways with my gaze averting the lens captured an aloof, delicate demeanor. In another shot, curling up with knees tucked on the desk made me look tiny and petite. The photographer suggested I lie prone across the desk, pressing the plush rabbit beneath my arms with a vacant gaze. That sense of helplessness and youthful melancholy perfectly aligned with the vibe of 2D Portrait photography. To achieve the look of this photo set, I explored diverse body language—such as sitting cross-legged on the desk and extending the gray lop-eared bunny outward to visually elongate proportions. While seated in the chair, I angled my body slightly and crossed my legs, letting the contrast between the pure White stockings and the deep blue skirt hem enhance depth. The wooden desks and metal frames set against the minimalist light-gray background created a subtle juxtaposition of hard and soft textures.
Shooting this series was actually quite exhausting. Sitting on the edge of the desk for hours while pointing my toes to maintain leg lines, plus constantly fixing the wig to keep the twin tails looking fluffy and natural on camera, took real effort. Yet seeing the straight-out-of-camera shots made it all worthwhile. In the photos sitting upright on the chair, I deliberately showcased the White stockings, which formed a quiet yet eerily harmonious connection with the gray plush bunny. Before this shoot, I browsed many 2D Portrait photography references to figure out how to bring something fresh to a classroom setting. Ultimately, using this classroom desk-and-chair set along with the gray bunny blended a school atmosphere with a surreal touch of fantasy loneliness. With the aperture wide open, the Sigma 85mm F1.4 created a gorgeous, buttery background blur that made the subject pop, effortlessly eliminating distracting background clutter in such a tight indoor space.
The overall style of this series leans toward a cool, quiet indoor campus mood. For lighting, softboxes were paired with standard reflectors to craft a diffuse light effect free of harsh shadows, making skin texture look much softer. The SOOC colors of the a7M5 saved plenty of post-processing hassle, rendering the blues and whites with pinpoint accuracy. I genuinely enjoy enriching the emotional depth of a frame through nuanced shifts in posture and gaze within simple settings. The crisp blue-and-white colorway looked exceptionally clean against the gray backdrop, achieving an immaculate, translucent mood without requiring complicated color grading. This shoot was also an exploration of my own physical expressiveness, and I look forward to experimenting with more diverse Maid outfit styles and distinct scenes in the future.