[Cartethyia Cosplay] An Otherworld Elf in Wuthering Waves, a Peaceful Moment Under the Night Sky

Deciding to do this Cartethyia look, I was mainly drawn to the outfit's natural sharp black and white and its blue gradient water wave texture. After getting the wig, I first handled the braiding details of the twin tails and twists. To fit the character, fixing the blue accents and hair accessories onto the skeleton required a bit of ingenuity. For the makeup, I tried two versions and finally settled on the one shown in these pictures: pink blended eyeshadow paired with blue contact lenses, with a black cross mark dotted on the forehead—the details have to be in place to capture that vibe.

The shooting location was specially selected to be a European-style corridor at night; the linear sense of the stone pillars and the depth of the space are perfect for a character with a slightly mysterious aura. This time, we used two lights for the setup: one hard light to illuminate the subject, and one warm LED to fill light from the side, making the texture of the hair look as if it were gilded. The first set of movements tried standing poses, with the sword tip pointing to the ground or the side of the sword blade. Later, I felt that standing on the stone balustrade or the edge of the steps could better highlight the lightness. The high-heeled lace-up shoes were indeed a bit inconvenient to walk in, so I had to be extra careful on the steps.

Speaking of my favorite moments in the photos, the sitting one is especially suitable for the cover. At that time, I was resting my chin on one hand, with the other hand hanging down naturally, leaning my body center slightly backward. This not only allowed the skirt hem to fall naturally but also elongated the lines of the shoes and legs to the maximum, presenting a serenity distinct from the combat state when combined with the warm background light. When shooting this kind of high-heeled sandals, the ankle lace-up details are often magnified in the lens, so to display the aesthetic beauty of the prop shoes, I deliberately paid attention to the degree of toe extension.

The maintenance of the prop sword is also a science. The gold coating on the hilt surface and the blue blade body are very exquisite. During shooting, try to avoid extreme angles to prevent overexposure from reflections. For the entire set of photos, I leaned toward a slightly soft-focus and hazy post-processing effect, while keeping the sharpness of the edges, especially the texture of the weapons and clothes. Some people might think that the skin tone for this character needs to be extremely white, but I retained the skin tone seen by the naked eye; paired with the hair and scene, the harmony of the image is the most important.

Choosing this outfit was not only because I liked its cut, but also because I valued the fierceness of the large area of black pieced with white, which has a sense of breathability in both bright and dark places when working with the blue halo. The European-style stone carved guardrail under my feet during the night outdoor photography was actually a bit cold, but for character immersion, this kind of real environment is actually better. We used a few smoke cakes locally, but to not interfere with the subject, we only did a tiny bit of blurring treatment in the background at the end. In post-processing, the emphasis was on adjusting the white balance, hoping to form a sharp contrast between the warm yellow streetlights and the cool blue ribbons, highlighting the tension of the complementary colors blue and yellow in the frame. To increase the depth of the image, I also retained some highlight details of the background architecture during retouching, making it more than just bokeh, but an existence with a sense of narrative.

The shoot lasted for over three hours. Although the night temperature was slightly cool, I finally reaped this satisfying set of hard work, which can also bring a bit of visual coordination reference to those who like this character. The entire shooting process was very pleasant. I hope the presentation of this photo allows everyone to feel the unique charm of Cartethyia.