This shoot took over half a month of preparation, with the primary focus on the costume materials and the real-shoot effects of the holographic props. The white cape utilized three layers of composite fabric with stiffened edges to ensure it could maintain its unfurling shape in the wind without collapsing. What took the most effort was that glossy, starry-patterned pair of pants; to recreate that semi-translucent, flowing sensation from the game setting, I tested three different refractive index silicone films and finally used a hot-pressing technique to embed micro-star particles into the surface. Coordinated with fill lights, this allowed me to shoot a self-luminous effect on camera. The halo above my head was 3D printed and hand-polished; to make it float more naturally, I hid a transparent fishing line at the hair roots, which I directly edited out in post-processing while relying on my assistant to adjust the angle on-site. The drone and holographic panels were made as a matching set, fitted with built-in LED beads tuned to cool and warm dual color temperatures.
For the shoot, we chose a high aircraft fuselage; the real metal surface reflected light intensely, and to prevent the reflections from overpowering my face, I had the photographer use a high-power softbox for side rim-lighting, while using a reflector for soft fill light from the front. The cloud sea and cityscape background was composited with real shots; we took three raw frames with different focal lengths beforehand and merged the clouds and buildings with masks in post-production, striving to unify the direction of light and shadow. This outfit is incredibly tedious to put on and take off, with over a dozen zippers and magnetic buckles, requiring a ten-minute adjustment for every scene change. However, seeing the calm and slightly aloof sci-fi vibe in the final cuts made everything worthwhile.
In the post-processing color grading, I didn't excessively bump up the contrast, but preserved the main gray-blue tone, only adding a touch of cool purple to the highlights to keep the coldness of the character and background in harmony. The circular patterns in the holographic screen props were also drawn by me to fit the visual language of optical instruments in the game. It was highly windy on the day of the shoot, blowing my hair into a mess, but we ended up capturing a wonderfully elegant sense of motion; I only smoothed out the hair strands in post-production without over-liquifying, preserving the authentic fluttering path of the live shoot.
The entire process from prop fabrication to final shooting took a week. We even had to reshoot once because the cloud layer was too thick, but this cloud city scene finally restored the exact setting in my heart. The luster of the white hair was also highly important, so I used hair oil mixed with silver powder spray to make every strand generate subtle sparkles under backlighting. For makeup, we avoided large areas of glitter, opting instead for a matte base paired with cool-toned eyeshadow to highlight the character's cold, aloof temperament. Among the shared photos in this White hair cosplay set, the sitting composition is my personal favorite, as it beautifully showcases the interaction among the cape, translucent pants, and holographic screen, coming closest to the texture of the game's original concept art. Of course, there are still areas to optimize, like the seams on the shoes, which I will definitely improve next time in my future Anime cosplay journey.