[Sumi Serina cosplay] Limited Christmas Blessings: A Warm Snowscape from Blue Archive

Catching the tail end of the year, I retouched this set of Christmas-themed photos ahead of time to share this festive joy while the holiday spirit is at its peak.

The location for this Guangzhou photography booking was chosen at 'comer tea café' near Haizhu Wetland Park in Guangzhou. During earlier scouting, I already loved their outdoor wooden cabin and snowscape setup. The daylight was fantastic on the day of the shoot, casting angled sunlight across the snow and wooden fences with rich light-shadow transitions. Although it was artificial snow, paired with the warm sunlight overhead and the red-and-white outfit, the captured ambiance perfectly matched this Christmas cosplay theme.

Let's talk about the character styling design. To fit the Christmas theme, we made slight adjustments while retaining the character's signature traits. The short pink hair is tied into a classic bun, paired with a red beret and a black bow for high recognition. For the costume, I specifically chose this red-and-white cape-style coat with thick, soft plush trimming along the collar and cuffs, providing warmth while adding cute, fluffy charm. For the lower half, a Black tights outfit paired with white platform lace-up ankle boots made walking in the snow convenient, while utilizing the classic black, white, and red color blocking to visually elongate proportions for a sharp, clean look.

Regarding props, we prepared several red-and-green Christmas gift boxes in advance, along with decorative jingle bells. During shooting, I needed to maintain a focused and warm smile—especially in shots tossing and catching gift boxes (like the scene in Photo 1). Capturing the mid-air gift box and natural hand movements rigorously tested the photographer's reflexes and my physical coordination, requiring multiple attempts on the snow to nail the ideal frame. The seemingly effortless fixed poses and one-legged lifts in Photos 2 and 4 also required testing several angles to achieve relaxed balance and elongation.

The entire shoot was divided across two main sets. The outdoor setting highlighted bright sunlight and a cheerful mood. Photographer A-Shuai (@阿帅阿帅Araw_) was adept at capturing light, alternating between direct light and side-backlighting so the red Christmas outfit looked exceptionally vibrant against the white snow. The other set was inside the wooden cabin, which felt deeply soothing. Sitting by a small round table draped in lace floral tablecloth accented with white roses, with warm starry fairy lights glowing on the Christmas tree branches behind me and soft diffused lighting, the entire ambiance turned quiet and cozy, creating an intriguing contrast with the crisp outdoor light.

In addition to this bright daytime style, we also shot a night version that day. The night scene relied mainly on the warm yellow fairy light strings of the cabin and neon reflections, crafting a winter night atmosphere completely different from daytime. The night shots are currently being retouched, and I will share them as soon as they are ready. Preparing this Sumi Serina cosplay—from makeup and wig styling to outfit coordination—took about three hours. Although outdoor winter shooting was inevitably cold, seeing the rich colors and warm texture in the viewfinder made all the hard work completely worthwhile for this Blue Archive project.