[Ganyu Cosplay] Elegance Under Liyue's Moon and a Graceful Silhouette in the Woods

For this Ganyu cosplay, the main focus was on unifying the texture of the costume with the atmosphere of the scene. Ganyu's setting in Genshin Impact inherently carries an ethereal yet gentle vibe of being half-adeptus and half-human, so when finalizing the makeup and look, I especially wanted to recreate that magical, extraordinary feeling.

Let's talk about the costume first. The deep wine red on the top, spliced with blue and white at the neckline, plus golden accents, initially made me worry it would look heavy in person. But after trying it on, the tailoring fitted my body figure perfectly. In particular, the off-the-shoulder design retains the character's lightness while revealing the collarbone and necklines nicely. This cut demands a lot from shooting angles—even a slight tilt of the head allows the lighting to form beautiful highlights at the collarbone, which is why the photographer kept tweaking the lights throughout the shoot.

The wine-red pantyhose on the lower half were a fascinating part of the ensemble. The special geometric hollow-out patterns aren't just simple prints, but a 3D woven texture. The material of these pantyhose offers great stretch and compression, contouring tightly to the lines of my thighs and calves, making the legs look exceptionally long and slender. To complement this, I chose thick-heeled shoes with a white base and gold trim. The red lace-up ribbon around the shoe collar and the gold buckle at the ankle nicely echoed the color tone of the upper body. Putting on laced shoes like this always takes quite some time—I constantly had to adjust the tightness in front of the mirror to ensure both buckles aligned horizontally; otherwise, they would easily look crooked when walking around during the shoot.

As for props, I prepared accessories and that sharp-looking bow. This longbow is quite large, especially with its blue-and-white bow arms and golden paint, giving it a commanding presence in hand. Holding the pose of drawing the bow proved to be a real core workout due to its weight and the need to keep my arm steady. To capture that moment of full draw, we tried repeatedly, balancing the drape of the outfit with a natural dynamic flow for my hair and the bowstring, which was physically demanding.

Next, let's talk about the studio setup, which was truly one of the souls of this set. We used low wooden benches and small bamboo shelves as the base structure, paired with a vibrant red maple tree. The contrast of red and blue was striking in this environment. To enhance the ethereal atmosphere, we hung translucent golden tasseled strings and purple sheer gauze. Under the studio lighting, light filtered through the drapes, casting soft dappled shadows on the ground and myself. In the pose where I hold the blue water-patterned orb, the red maple and cascading gauze behind me matched seamlessly, evoking a serene mood of resting in the woods or under Liyue's moonlight. The beige paper lanterns, ink-wash landscape carpet, and calligraphy scrolls on the side added rich details and a touch of traditional charm, even if they didn't take center stage.

The shooting process usually takes several hours. For this kind of traditional style cosplay studio shoot, besides avoiding stiff poses, I had to constantly monitor my hair. The long blue wig has quite a length at the ends, which easily gets tangled with props or threads when moving around. Every time I changed positions, I had to ask the makeup artist to groom it to ensure the strands flowed smoothly in the camera. During the sitting poses, I tried extending my legs to use perspective trickery to lengthen my lower body proportions, coordinating with hand movements to create a balanced, dynamic composition.

Staying relaxed was crucial during the shoot. Since Ganyu embodies an elegant and calm temperament, rushing movements or overly tense facial expressions can easily break character. Many seemingly effortless side profiles or downward glances required capturing that split second of natural ease. Through this experience, I gained a fresh understanding of traditional style studio photography—details dictate success, not just in costume details, but especially in blending the environment with light and shadow.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the completion of this set. Everyone poured a lot of heart and effort into the costume, makeup, props, and scene building.