Sharing the photos directly from this shoot of Guizhong's new look from Genshin Impact.
A lot of thought was put into expressing texture for this outfit, especially that deep blue starry gradient long skirt hem. Under the glow of red lanterns in the ancient alley at night, it presents a very unique color contrast. Combining the cool starry tone with warm red walls makes the entire image immediately dimensional.
The location for this shoot was selected in an old flagstone deep alley flanked by towering blue-brick walls. Since there are many tourists during the day making it hard to clear the area, the team stayed up until late at night to shoot. To match the character's setting of being ethereal and refined, I stayed with Barefoot cosplay directly on the blue flagstones throughout the shoot. The stone surface at night was freezing cold, requiring quite a bit of courage to step on, but it was precisely this real physical feedback that allowed us to capture a settled tranquility and narrative feeling before the camera.
Regarding outfit and prop details, the white body features many asymmetrical tailoring cuts, maintaining a subtle cutout at the chest, complemented by teal diamond-shaped ornaments and pendants at the waist—making the white, blue, and green color mix feel crisp and refreshing. The long staff in hand has a silver-grey slender shaft, topped with a spherical cap giving a golden bell texture. When posing, lifting the wide, flowing white water sleeve fabric created dynamic tension to showcase costume layering. The wig was chosen as long straight silver-grey hair, paired with soft blue eye makeup to recreate the character's cool yet lively persona.
Touching on the post-processing color grading direction: since the red lantern light source was quite strong, faces easily picked up color spill during shooting, so we used reflectors to balance facial lighting and make facial features pop in 3D. In post-production, we preserved the warm red tone of the lanterns while slightly boosting the saturation of the starry blue skirt hem, allowing the subject to stand out beautifully against the dark-toned backdrop in this Ancient style night scene.
As for a small episode during shooting, just as I mentioned in my intro, the prop anklets were a size too small. After trying several times without success, I had to temporarily forego wearing them for shooting efficiency. I'm actually a bit sensitive at heart, worrying that detail-obsessed fans might point this out and criticize me, so I simply explained the reason upfront in the intro as a frank confession. After all, when doing cosplay, fidelity is important, but sometimes we're bound by real-world constraints.
During the shoot, I waved the white fabric with one hand while holding the long staff with the other. The alley was extremely narrow, so the photographer had to press right against the opposite brick wall to capture full-body shots. This sense of tightness made the image feel extraordinarily focused. I experimented with several different poses, such as lifting one leg, which beautifully demonstrated the skirt's drape and leg lines, combined with the flowing white cloth to give the entire persona a weightless lightness.
The costume fabric carries a subtle pearlescent sheen, which is actually tricky to capture in dim environments, requiring the photographer's patient adjustments of shutter and aperture. I'm deeply grateful to the photography and support team who stayed up late into the night with me, carrying heavy props and hunting for lighting angles in the narrow alleyway—without them, this set of Cosplay photography would not exist.
That's about it for sharing this Guizhong cosplay shoot! Although there were minor flaws along the way, I'm very satisfied with the final image atmosphere and character alignment.