Looking through these photos, they document a year and a half of me as a model witnessing the photographer transition from having zero clue to gradually getting the hang of things.
It all started back in June 2023. Needing to blow off some steam under heavy pressure, he brought two speedlights to an anime convention for the first time. To be completely honest, the shots back then turned out terrible. He hadn't even figured out wireless flash triggers yet; thinking the lights were broken, he kept firing on continuous burst mode waiting for them to flash, only to realize later it was slow recycle times and misfires. The lighting was painfully harsh with deep shadows all over the face, and the shots were salvaged purely by everyone's natural good looks.
Come July, he followed online tutorials and directly tweaked in-camera color temperatures. However, because he didn't use color correction gels on the flashes to restore natural skin tones, he ended up making me look like a Smurf. Even though that shoot flopped, he kept accumulating experience through trial and error. By late September, after finishing his postgraduate recommendation process, he began experimenting with three-light setups and gradually found the visual style he loved: a hazy, softly blown-out high-key look. He felt this kind of lighting made images look far more dreamy. Indeed, the finished shots from that phase felt distinctly special, and that was precisely when he started building confidence.
In February 2024, at a small convention in Qingdao, he captured ground reflections for the first time. Seeing it through the viewfinder got him so thrilled he could barely contain himself, and he stayed ecstatic for days after editing the photos at home. By May, he began preparing his own backdrops and props, shooting wide landscape-oriented scenes. Thanks to balanced and tidy compositions, those photos received great feedback across social platforms. After August, his signature high-key style became firmly established. He developed his own distinct lighting method—no longer blindly copying online formulas, but adapting light positions and angles to the specific convention environment, carefully considering how to make the best use of ambient light sources and reflectors.
Truth be told, many people only see the stunning final shots, without witnessing how flustered he looked running back and forth soaked in sweat to adjust light stands on-site. He always jokes about being a clumsy novice who's bad at it yet addicted to trying, but it's precisely this persistent drive to experiment that made his photos better and better. Going from not even knowing how to trigger a flash to now capturing gorgeous convention Convention photos is an immensely rewarding milestone in itself. This year and a half not only chronicled his technical growth, but also preserved the joyful memories of our group keeping each other company through anime conventions.