[Han Xiang Xun cosplay] Aunt Han in Where Winds Meet: Reading Leisure Books in the Garden

This red crossed-collar ruqun for Han Xiang Xun from Where Winds Meet has truly exquisite fabric patterns and prints. Light-colored blossoms and butterflies are spread across the red background, and the texture gives off a delicate sheen under the sunlight. The neckline features a deep crossed-collar design, layered with a light-colored inner lining and a dark tube top inside, while the waist girdle is tied tightly with dark red ribbons, which both elongates the silhouette and gives the whole outfit more depth and layering. To match Aunt Han's temperament, the hairstyle was done in a high updo, with two strands of wispy hair left on both sides to frame the face. The golden leaf hair ornaments and red hair ribbon are the finishing touches, and the eye makeup was specially swept with red tones to echo the outfit.

For the shoot day, a traditional Chinese garden was chosen; the red-lacquered wooden railings and thick pillars with bamboo-joint textures felt incredibly atmospheric. I brought a thread-bound book and a wooden abacus as props, originally intending to sit quietly and take a few reading shots, but several pigeons flew over nearby. They were not afraid of humans at all, with some landing directly on the railings and even perching on the edge of the abacus. As I sat there reading, the pigeons walked around beside me, resulting in particularly lively candid captures. Later, I also picked up that yellow oil-paper umbrella and took a few shots standing next to the rockery stones. The arc of the open umbrella looked lovely in the sunlight, though holding it up for long indeed made my arm a bit sore.

As a cosplayer, whenever portraying this kind of fully-wrapped Ancient style photography and Traditional Chinese style cosplay character, what I care most about is posture and fabric drape. To prevent the outfit from looking bulky, I paid close attention to tightness when tying the waist girdle—cinching the waistline without restricting breathing or causing rigid poses. Turning book pages, flicking the abacus, holding the umbrella, and glancing back over the shoulder—all these actions required subtle angle adjustments with the camera to let the garment's pleats and prints appear in their most natural state in the frame. No stockings were worn with this outfit, and while the skirt hem is long, I kept an eye on step width while walking to keep the frames clean.

Outdoor shoots rely most heavily on natural light, and the dappled light and shadows beneath the afternoon tree shade added a lot of atmosphere to the photos. Without using overly complex fill-light equipment, we preserved the authentic colors as much as possible. Although doing this Game cosplay shoot was quite tiring, seeing the moments where the pigeons and the character shared the frame, as well as that quiet serenity when holding the umbrella in the final finished photos, made every single detail adjustment feel completely worthwhile.