Looking back at this Komeiji sisters cosplay shoot from five years ago while scrolling through my phone album, I still feel a momentary sense of trance. To recreate the unique traits of the characters from Touhou Chireiden ~ Subterranean Animism in Touhou Project back then, we spent a massive amount of time preparing every intricate prop and accessory—especially the long flexible tube connecting Koishi's third eye in this Komeiji Koishi cosplay, and the eye prop held by her elder sister, Komeiji Satori.
Regarding makeup and styling, one outfit featured a light blue lace dress adorned with pink-and-white frills, paired with signature pale purple short hair and a white lace headdress. The other ensemble combined a black floral top hat, a white stand-collar shirt, and a vibrant green pleated skirt. This starkly contrasting color scheme placed high demands on fabric texture selection; we needed to ensure the materials wouldn't over-reflect under bright studio lights while retaining the 3D volume of the ruffles and lace.
During shooting, prop interaction required even more meticulous effort than styling. Though the long yellow, red, and blue flexible tubes provided strong visual guiding lines within the frame, they were prone to tangling and knotting. Every time we adjusted a pose, we had to crouch down, untangle the tubes one by one, and re-wrap them around our arms and waist to ensure their trajectories through the lens matched the official concept art. When coordinating between partners, we often had to suppress giggles while maintaining expressionless faces to capture the characters' ethereal, detached sense of solitude.
To heighten this atmospheric mood, the photographer intentionally utilized heavy cyan-blue cold lighting as the primary background illumination. The gold carved edges of the high-back sofa, dead branch decorations inside black wall frames, along with light green hydrangeas and pink roses arranged on the floor—these cool-toned background elements made the vibrant outfit colors of the Komeiji sisters stand out brilliantly. For instance, in the standing solo shot (the one I felt was ideal for the cover image), under the cyan-blue light and shadow, the leg lines between the green pleated skirt and black short boots were naturally elongated, blending with the chilly ambient hue to deliver a visually compelling, dynamic harmony.
The little black plush animal prop in the set was a pleasant surprise; we piled it together with the tubes and flowers to interact with, generating a subtle doll-like aesthetic. Whether taking paired sofa shots seated together, or interactive compositions with one kneeling and one standing, we strived to express soft, relaxed postures to minimize rigid, posed feel. Although during shooting we constantly had to recheck if the skirt hems were laid flat or if the boot eyelets obscured the tube connections, this tedious process itself was part of the fun in bringing these characters to life.
Looking at these high-definition images from five years ago today, the photography gear and editing styles might show subtle traces of age. Yet through the frames, one can still capture the passion we had back then in that cyan-blue studio, treating every detail with utmost care, as well as the ultimate visual presentation synthesized through costume, color, lighting, and props. These recorded slices of time preserved this iconic setting through our own interpretation, contributing a cherished visual entry to the 2D Vision Project.