[Herta Cosplay] Honkai: Star Rail—The Dark Night Chess Game of Big and Little Hertas

We really put a fortune into this studio set. From the design to the execution, I am in awe of Teacher @汐葉's imagination and execution. The purple-toned ambient light, combined with Roman columns, vintage photo frames, giant chess pieces, scattered playing cards, and dark red velvet cloth, instantly maxed out the Gothic atmosphere and dramatic tension of the entire scene.

Playing around with these props was indeed exhausting yet thrilling. Moving that giant black King piece and adjusting its angle alone took a lot of effort. And those floating carved photo frames—to maintain a tilted, offset look, we repeatedly secured them with fishing lines and brackets several times. The black and white tulle intertwined on the floor; my partner and I spent over half an hour just smoothing out the wrinkles to create the layered effect of draping veils. However, when all the lights turned on and we saw the final frame, the exhaustion was instantly replaced by a sense of achievement.

This photoshoot features Herta from Honkai: Star Rail, and it's a duo cosplay combination of Big Herta and Little Herta in the same frame. The details of Big Herta's costume are very meticulous—the metallic corset buckles, the wide ruffled cuffs, and those high-top platform boots with straps feel particularly substantial when worn. Paired with the exaggerated pointed wide-brimmed hat, her氣場 (aura) comes out instantly. Little Herta's blue-and-white geometric patchwork dress paired with a dark coat adds a sense of laziness and casualness. The image of the two cuddling together perfectly echoes the bond of "sisters" or "different manifestations of the same entity."

During the shooting process, we intentionally utilized the chess pieces and photo frames in the scene to construct a narrative. Big Herta sits, her hand resting on Little Herta's head, like a queen controlling the chess game, while Little Herta closes her eyes and leans to the side like a sleeping chess piece. The floating photo frames break the physical laws of reality, making it feel as if we are in the mirrored world of some alien space. The purple lighting gives the texture of all objects a cold and premium feel, especially when the highlights hit the wig and skin, presenting an extremely translucent, dreamlike look.

I particularly like the long-scroll composition of image four. Although the proportion of the characters in the frame is not the largest, the dark red fabric in the foreground and the towering black chess piece on the right, combined with the stacked white flowerpots and photo frames on the left, form a very full frame-within-a-frame composition, wrapping the characters into the central visual focus. In contrast, the half-body close-up in image one more intuitively showcases the tailoring of the costumes and the intimacy of the interaction between the two, with the boot straps and waist curves looking highly eye-catching under the lights.

This studio set also taught me a lot of studio arrangement techniques. For example, how to use large areas of black tulle to block out cluttered backgrounds while letting the veils emit a purple glow through lighting to create an atmosphere; how to use small props (like goblets and mantel clocks) to fill the corners of the frame to avoid emptiness. Every single detail underwent repeated debugging—we even tried three different hanging methods just for the tilt angle of the photo frames.

Lastly, special thanks to Big Herta @汐葉 and Little Herta @金发美人重度依赖 for stepping out. The chemistry between the two was excellent, and their movement adjustments were very quick, which greatly improved the shooting efficiency. Although my neck and arms ached for two days from moving props, the moment I saw the final photos, I truly felt it was all worth it. This set has high playability; switching to a different color tone or another outfit next time should bring out new tricks. I'm already starting to look forward to the next studio shoot.