[Watanabe You cosplay] Energetic sailor by the sunny poolside

The shooting theme this time is Watanabe You's swimsuit cosplay styling, appearing by the outdoor poolside directly wearing a sporty one-piece swimsuit in a color-blocked dark blue and magenta design. To fit the character's super energetic attribute, a light blue ocean-themed swim ring was specially prepared as an interactive prop. The sunlight on that day was extremely strong; although there was plenty of light for photography, the direct hard light brought huge challenges to the shoot. The blue-and-white mosaic tiles of the pool had an extremely high reflectivity, causing the raw photos not only to have harsh facial shadows, but also overexposed highlights on the body with severe loss of detail. Coupled with the swimsuit material appearing particularly form-fitting under the strong light, the raw photos indeed had quite a few flaws, making them truly deserving of being called failed swimsuit raw photos. Moreover, the outdoor temperature was very high, and both the wig and makeup faced the risk of melting, requiring constant touch-ups and state adjustments. However, as a coser, besides appearing in front of the camera, post-processing image editing is also an essential skill. This set of photos indeed spent a lot of time in post-processing. Addressing the skin issues caused by the strong light, I retained the skin texture through neutral gray and curves while reshaping the light and shadow structure, trying to make the skin tone look healthy and natural. Addressing the environmental colors, I adjusted the overall tone towards a refreshing blue-green direction, enhancing the clarity of the frame, allowing the character and pool environment to blend more naturally, and also highlighting the visual impact of the magenta on the swimsuit. The white marine creature patterns on the swim ring just happened to echo the blue background. Watanabe You is an extremely energetic character in Aqours. To showcase her personality, in terms of action design, I tried confident poses such as sitting while hugging the swim ring and looking straight into the lens, relaxing the body as much as possible to display summer coolness and vitality. Although the raw photos were filled with regrets, through post-processing adjustments and angle selections, the final presented effect still redeemed that unique charm belonging to You-chan. During the shoot, I was also communicating with the photographer, trying to use the steps by the pool and the lines of the tiles to guide the visual center of gravity, avoiding the frame appearing too cluttered. Although the flaws in the raw photos made me feel frustrated at one point, this is also a process of continuous learning and accumulating experience. Many attempts were made in color balance and curve adjustments during post-processing to barely achieve the current sunny and bright effect. Cosplay is not just about putting on the character's clothes, but even more so about conveying the character's soul and everyday feel through lens language and post-processing expression. This session by the pool gave me a deeper understanding of controlling outdoor light and colors, and I also look forward to bringing more perfect works to everyone in the future.