This set of Yae Miko photos is finally finished! From preparing the costume to the actual shoot, I put a lot of thought into it. Today, I'll briefly chat about some behind-the-scenes details and insights from this shoot, hoping to provide some reference for friends who love Japanese-style photography.
For the costume this time, I chose a modified Japanese-style design with a white base and red trim, leaning close to the original game artwork. Fabric is extremely crucial. To avoid that cheap plastic look, I specifically picked a fabric with exquisite jacquard patterns where you can faintly see the designs on the white base, which gives it a highly delicate texture in person. The red piping and belt are made of slightly glossy satin, and the contrast between the two creates a beautiful sense of layering under the lens. The metal ornament on the chest is a key point; it took a long time of polishing to achieve this slightly vintage matte finish, rather than a cheap, highly reflective alloy. The earrings were specially selected with a large metal frame and sapphire design to create a warm-and-cool contrast with the massive pink hair, which also flatters the face shape. The wooden hair accessory on top of the head seems simple, but you must be careful with the angle when inserting it, otherwise, it easily flattens the wig's styling.
For the wig, I chose a bright shade leaning towards pink this time, and deliberately styled it to emphasize the hair flow, especially the stray hairs on both sides. This orderly chaos in the strands is highly effective in increasing the character's agility. For the makeup, I mainly highlighted the soft-focus feel of the eye makeup. I layered earth tones and dusty pinks for the eyeshadow and toned down the eyelashes to create a somewhat refined, otherworldly, and innocent vibe, which also complemented the overall soft lighting.
The venue on the day of the shoot was a typical Japanese tatami room, with classic wooden shoji sliding doors behind me, surrounded by a large number of lifelike artificial cherry blossom branches. The set designer was truly dedicated; the density of the cherry blossoms was arranged perfectly, without filling the frame so much that it felt suffocating. This shoot used a Yongnuo Easy Shoot prime lens with the camera body. The soft background bokeh brought by the large aperture blended the foreground cherry blossoms and the background door frame in a highly dreamy way, instantly maxing out the frame's atmosphere. We used a soft diffuser cloth for reflected light as the main light source, resulting in no harsh light-shadow boundaries and an extremely even, translucent light on the face, which really tests the photographer's lighting control.
In terms of composition, I specifically selected these few as sample images. I personally love the one facing the camera with arms spread out; the hand movements beautifully display the drape of the sleeves and the layered structure of the entire outfit. The side view with my head tilted down focuses more on capturing the emotion, making it perfect for a profile picture. Overall, we tried our best to avoid harsh highlight blowouts during the shoot to ensure the presentation of skin texture and the costume's jacquard patterns. This low-contrast portrait style is not only timeless but also easily resonates on social media.
Modern post-processing actually tries to return to nature as much as possible, avoiding over-cranking the saturation and contrast. We just wanted to restore that natural color of an overcast day or soft weather when the cherry blossoms just bloom after rain, which better preserves the fresh feel of the photos. That's all for my thoughts on styling and shooting. I'm quite satisfied with the final cuts, and many thanks to the Wulingding Image Studio and the Yongnuo Easy Shoot team for their assistance. Without their professional coordination in lighting and equipment, it would have been hard to capture such a soft and delicate texture. Although this styling has high demands on props and details, the sense of achievement after completion is truly amazing. I hope to have more opportunities to try similar Japanese-style photography projects in the future.