[Nico cosplay] Building a Practical Set in My Own Garage for Zenless Zone Zero: Unexpectedly Stunning Results in Garage Photography

From the moment I decided to shoot this Nico cosplay from Zenless Zone Zero, the venue became the biggest hurdle. Living in Dallas, USA, although the city isn't small, trying to find a studio space that combines wasteland biker aesthetics with sci-fi elements felt like searching for a needle in a haystack. Most conventional photography studios lean toward high-key solid colors or soft, airy styles, completely clashing with Nico's street-smart, rebellious, and subtly psychedelic vibe. After turning over every option, I decided to go all-in: forget searching for studios, and build a practical set directly inside my own garage for this Garage photography project.

Once the concept was locked in, what followed was a mad dash for props. Browsing Facebook Marketplace and local auction sites became a daily routine during that time. I finally scored two large red industrial-style steel barrels—one to serve as the primary seat and the other placed in the background to create staggered depth. I also picked up a chunky vintage CRT television bearing the distinct imprint of a bygone era; although it no longer powers on, as an installation blending retro nostalgia with digital cyberpunk grit, its visual tension in the background was phenomenal. Adding several scrap tires scored from an auto repair shop, the foundational hardware for the garage set was complete.

To prevent the walls from looking too bare, I manually crafted a cement-textured backdrop wall and rearranged our family pickup truck and regular tools toward the frame edges to serve as foreground and distant framing accents. Instantly, the spatial three-dimensionality of the entire set gained rich depth. After hauling and positioning these props into the garage one by one, that gritty, cool wasteland atmosphere finally came alive.

Lighting setup on the day of the shoot turned out to be much more complex than anticipated. Because it was a garage, controlling incoming natural light was difficult, so I set up multiple artificial light sources while mounting curved warm-yellow neon flex tubes onto the backdrop wall. These glowing neon lines paired with cool rim lighting cleanly sculpted the subject's angular silhouette and garment textures. The front end of the pickup truck alongside the red barrels formed sharp, rigid geometric framing. Meanwhile, our model not only wore intricately layered and subtly sultry attire with a Biker style outfit, but also had to pose on platform boots in the chilly environment, which was by no means an easy feat.

During the shoot, I specifically guided her into a side-angled sitting pose on the red barrel, resting her left leg along the tire rim to visually elongate her silhouette. The leather motorcycle jacket paired with a black-and-white striped inner top and the metal buckle on the black neck choker matched the character design while delivering unmistakable individuality. Green studs on the over-the-knee leg covers and metallic zippers on the boots reflected crisp cool-toned specular highlights under the studio strobes. The gesture of pointing at her chin aptly channeled the character's signature confidence and defiant edge. Lowering the camera angle allowed the red barrel to form a powerful visual anchor in the foreground, while prominently showcasing the slender leg lines wrapped in athletic tall socks within this Stocking outfit, alongside the rebellious flair of the chunky-soled biker boots.

Looking back at these final images now, I can still identify many details that could be improved—such as the lighting consistency of the background neon, specular reflection management on the truck body, and capturing even more natural fleeting micro-expressions from the model. Yet attempting a complete practical set build in a garage for the very first time—where every single prop was hauled by hand and every light was dialed in personally—brought a profound sense of accomplishment that commercial rental studios could never replicate. From set construction and lighting to the final retouched shots, though the process was chaotic and hectic, it felt immensely fulfilling. Perhaps the most addictive aspect of cosplay isn't merely the final polished frame, but rather the hands-on journey of piecing together a specific fictional atmosphere in reality to bring a 2D character to life.