This indoor studio shoot was styled with an authentic classical Chinese atmosphere. I shot a Chinese-style horror theme inspired by the Hatsune Miku Rabbit Hole concept, specifically embodying a Little Zombie. The outfit features a deep-purple modified short qipao crafted from lustrous satin, adorned with gold piping and traditional frog buttons along the collar and edges. Over it, I wore a pair of oversized, detached flared sleeves lined with brilliant gold, creating rich flowing layers during movements. On my head, I wore a deep-purple flat-topped cap with a red-inscribed yellow talisman paper (fu) dangling from the left side. The wig features a smooth gradient from grey-blue to pastel pinkish-purple, accented by X-shaped hair clips across the forehead for a striking visual look. For makeup, in addition to blue contact lenses, a crimson teardrop pattern was hand-painted beneath my left eye for this Hatsune Miku Cosplay.
For the lower half, I paired sheer black Stockings with golden garter belts, finished off with glossy black high heels. The shoot primarily utilized dark wooden tables and chairs, openwork lattice screens, and calligraphy scrolls as backdrops, dotted with a few pots of pink-and-white chrysanthemums. We put a lot of thought into the poses for this look. The first set featured sitting on a wooden chair with legs crossed—a pose that beautifully flatters leg contours while highlighting the details of the heels and garter straps. Later, I also tried kneeling (seiza) and cross-legged poses on the floor. Given the unique Little Zombie setting, expressions needed to be restrained—conveying a touch of hollow, aloof coolness in the eyes while maintaining youthful, playful charm in body movements. Striking this contrast was a wonderful challenge.
The photographer utilized a Fujifilm X-S10 paired with a 27mm f/1.2 lens. The wide aperture beautifully threw the intricate background screens and scrolls out of focus in the dim indoor lighting, keeping the main subject razor-sharp. For lighting, the key light cast soft illumination from the front-side, while side rim lighting sculpted the edges of my hair and the sheen of the outfit. Because of the reflective nature of satin, lighting angles had to be meticulously managed to prevent direct glare from washing out the fabric's rich texture. Combined with reflector bounce fill, my skin appeared exceptionally translucent and natural. To capture organic dynamic tension, I continuously adjusted my seated posture; maintaining the crossed-leg pose required core balance, engaging the calves and ankles firmly to hold the graceful arch of the high heels.
The scene props were also full of character—such as the yellow round lacquer box and red ceremonial artifacts on the wooden table behind me, while the floral arrangements added visual richness. Blending elements of Chinese-style horror with a traditional qipao fostered an eerie yet delightfully intriguing photoshoot atmosphere. Because the set was richly dressed, the photographer constantly varied camera angles, occasionally shooting from low angles to avoid catching background clutter. Post-processing intentionally preserved the authentic weave of the satin and natural skin textures. The overarching vision of this set was to balance the rigid stiffness of the zombie archetype through expressive body language within a classical, shadowy atmosphere, achieving a distinctive stylized visual impact.