[Hamasaki Mahoro cosplay] ournotes childhood friends Duo cosplay photoshoot record

This time I cosplayed Hamasaki Mahoro from ournotes, teaming up with my partner to complete the childhood friends duo. We had planned to shoot this set for a while, and seizing the opportunity when a suitable scene became available, we scheduled it right away.

I have to say, the texture of Hamasaki Mahoro's green hair under lighting is tricky to capture. To approach the mint green of the original design, I tested several wigs, ultimately choosing one with relatively matte fibers. I trimmed the bangs myself, used a curling iron to give the hair ends a slight inward curve, and finished with setting spray. Although the hair color is very distinctive, styling it certainly took time. My partner cosplayed Kanata Sawaumi; her deep blue hair color was even tougher to handle, as that highly saturated blue easily looks overly bright in natural light, so we deliberately adjusted the camera's white balance during shooting. In terms of makeup, both of us practiced subtraction: keeping eye makeup subtle, focusing on bringing out the transparency of the blue colored contact lenses, maintaining a lightweight base to prevent a cakey look, using only light shades for eye primer, and gently drawing the eyeliner straight outward following the natural eye contour.

Regarding the outfits, I wore a light blue and white striped shirt layered over a black camisole, paired with khaki shorts and accented with a bright-colored belt. My partner wore a white hooded jacket with a black turtleneck, paired with a light green skirt on the bottom. Because the concept was set around a Piano scene, we located a white piano as our main backdrop. Space in front of the piano was fairly restricted, so we used the keys as foreground, with one playing the piano while the other leaned in toward the lens. When shooting duo interactions, she sat on the piano bench pressing chords while I stood beside her slightly turned, resting one hand on the edge of the keys—creating interaction without obstructing each other.

Midway through the shoot, the lighting was somewhat inconsistent, so we experimented with rim backlighting, allowing light to shine through the wig fibers to make them appear airier. To enrich the frame's layers, some white faux flowers were arranged in the background to unify the overall color palette. While posing, we adjusted each other's angles, such as the side-profile angle while playing piano and flashing peace signs at the lens; after taking dozens of shots, we found that spontaneous natural interactions yielded the best results.

Overall, styling and prep time for a Duo cosplay takes much longer than a solo shoot, especially since both people have to manage wig and makeup details, leaving us running around frantically before heading out. However, seeing the final photos made everything feel completely worthwhile. With a childhood friends dynamic, shooting together makes it much easier to channel emotions, and eye contact and body language flow far more naturally. Before our next duo shoot, trying on both wigs and outfits in advance is definitely necessary to avoid minor hiccups on set.