[Komeiji Satori cosplay] Touhou Project's vibrant floral courtyard tour of Subterranean Animism

This photoshoot for Touhou Subterranean Animism specially selected a real-scene garden and a vintage wooden house, and the light and shadow texture of the finished photos is truly a pleasant surprise. To better present the character Komeiji Satori, we put a lot of thought into the costumes and props. The wide-brimmed lace edge of the hat was chosen with a relatively rigid texture so that it maintains a great shape under natural light and won't collapse easily. That blue diamond-shaped gemstone on the chest was made by resin casting and acrylic coloring, which can refract different layers in the sunlight. To restore the image in the setting, I also specially used simulation vines and some small flowers to make a decoration wrapped around the body, making it look as if it were truly growing out of the clothes. The matched yellowish-green dress has a color scheme that is both retro and a bit mysterious. As for the wig, I picked a grayish-toned mint green, so it looks more natural and translucent under outdoor strong light without appearing too abrupt.

Our cooperation with Koishi was quite tacit and harmonious. The color collision of pink-blue and black-gold in the flower-filled background is extremely eye-catching. We deliberately picked some corners with hydrangeas and roses, which could better set off the different personalities of the two. In the garden shots, the sunlight passed through the leaves onto us, and the resulting light spots gave the frame an extra layer of dreamy filter. The interactions of pulling vines and passing flowers to each other were actually many times improvised on the spot. Because Koishi's setting is relatively lively and unrestrained, while Satori is slightly more calm, we intentionally reflected this contrast in our poses.

My personal favorite is the photo sitting on the wooden windowsill. Black stockings paired with platform leather shoes are a very eye-catching part of this outfit. Sitting on the dark wooden window frame, with bright green plants and flowers outside, it just creates a mysterious indoor-outdoor transitional feel. During the shoot, to showcase the texture of the stockings, I slightly adjusted my sitting posture, curling one leg slightly and using natural light to cast highlights on the legs, while keeping the back line as straight as possible to make the overall posture appear more elegant. The light inside the wooden house was darker than outside; to prevent the face from looking dark, we used the natural light filtering through the window as the main light source, which happened to outline the facial contours nicely. To match this outfit, platform black leather boots were also searched for a long time before finding the right pair, which could both increase the height proportion and remain relatively stable when walking on the grass. Because of those vine decorations, moving through the garden required extra care for fear of them being snagged or ruined by branches. The photographer was also exceptionally good at finding angles, utilizing a large amount of surrounding flower bushes as the foreground to make the whole frame look less monotonous.

The challenge of location shooting lies in the complex environment where wind direction and lighting change constantly, but that is also the charm of outdoor photography. Switching between the wooden house and the garden, we tried different shot sizes, from wide environmental establishing shots to close-ups of the two looking at each other, hoping to bring a richer visual experience to everyone.