[Cirno cosplay] Touhou Project Genius Classroom's Afternoon Time

To perfectly recreate the scene of the genius classroom, I made thorough preparations regarding the costume and props this time. The blue dress I'm wearing is the main focus; to capture the best effect, just organizing the lace layers and red polka dots of the skirt hem took quite a long time. That huge white bow with red polka dots on top of my head is actually quite heavy. To secure it onto the light blue wig, I used a lot of hairpins, threading long bobby pins through the wig net to fix it while ensuring it wouldn't flutter about under the side-backlight, which was actually a huge challenge.
Regarding the wig styling, this time I chose a slightly curled short bob cut, trimming the bangs to ensure a translucent texture could shine through under the lighting. The contact lenses were chosen in a bright blue. To fit the character's feel, I tried to maintain a small smug yet slightly silly-cute expression. The eye makeup specifically deepened the outer corners of the eyes, which, paired with the blue contact lenses, gave the gaze more penetrating power.
The shooting location was chosen in an old classroom, where Japanese chalk writing was prepared on the blackboard beforehand, and the globe next to it was also carefully arranged. To highlight the atmosphere of just-right sunlight, we specially picked the afternoon natural light, with side-backlighting hitting the desks and skirt, making the frame very warm. However, this kind of lighting easily makes the face look dark, so a very soft reflector was used for the face to ensure even facial lighting without ugly shadows.
The floating diamond-shaped geometric figures in the photos are actually props made of holographic rainbow paper, suspended by extremely fine fishing lines. During the shoot, an assistant was needed nearby to cooperate, fine-tuning their positions with the wind or slight movements of the person. Post-processing not only required removing the fishing lines, but also fine-tuning the brightness and color saturation of the props so that the rainbow-colored halos they reflected harmonized with the classroom environment without looking abrupt.
In terms of sitting posture, to showcase the layering of this outfit and the details of the white pantyhose, I chose to sit sideways on the edge of the desk. To avoid crushing the heavy skirt hem, I could only maintain one posture as much as possible. This pair of white pantyhose decorated with bows easily looked dead-white under strong light, but fortunately it had some subtle patterned texture, which added to the texture. The black Mary Jane leather shoes worn on the feet visually anchored the overall ethereal blue tone while forming a nice contrast on the slightly warm wooden floor. The piece of white paper in my hand is actually a great interactive prop; it makes the movements look much more natural, pretending to read intently or recite a book, and slightly gripping the paper tightly with fingers also makes the emotional fullness of the image richer.
Communication with the photographer during the shoot was crucial. He would tell me where the light was falling and how I should turn my head so that the backlight could outline the contours of the wig's edges while keeping a sparkle in my eyes. Every time I adjusted my posture, I had to reorganize the lace of the skirt to prevent it from tangling into a mess. The post-processing color grading turned the raw photo's leaning sunlight into a dreamy warm light with a hint of pink, making the grayness of the blackboard less rigid and the texture of the wooden furniture clearer. The entire process required extreme patience to polish every detail.