[Keqing Cosplay] Genshin Impact 5th Anniversary: Outdoor Location Shoot of Liyue Companions on Stone Steps

Reflecting on this group outdoor photoshoot for Genshin Impact's 5th Anniversary, I can still clearly feel the air's temperature and light dynamics when raising the camera. For this event, we gathered several companions from Liyue, conducting thorough research on the site a week prior to the shoot. Cross-referencing sample photos online with actual on-site scenery, we mapped out sunshine directions across different time slots from sunrise to afternoon. Selecting this location featuring a distinct Japanese courtyard aesthetic, its red pillars, green tiles, and moss-covered stone steps exuded a deep sense of age. Crucially, when pulling the viewfinder wide open, the background captured distant river and town outlines; coupled with excellent weather conditions, the purity of blue skies and white clouds added massive points to our natural lighting.

For cosplayers, the biggest headache in outdoor cosplay group photos is never just striking a few nice poses, but managing gear transportation and half a day of hair, makeup, and costume upkeep. The outfit I was responsible for this time featured many layered undergarments and accessories requiring secure fastening; starting styling and dressing at six in the morning, my shoulders already felt a bit sore. When the main group gathered, I saw everyone's eyes filled with sleepy yet eager excitement. Each costume presented unique challenges: some heavy robes easily induced sweating in muggy outdoor weather, while others featured highly reflective fabric requiring constant reflector board adjustments to suppress highlights. Companions holding long pole props had to carefully control their movement arc to avoid disrupting others' framing and positioning on the narrow stone steps.

During shooting, we experimented with several compositions. The staircase structure's inherent advantage lies in leveraging staggered high-and-low positions to subtly create rich visual depth, serving as a natural backdrop for group photos. To give every character visual weight, we placed characters standing below at screen focal intersections, while companions holding plushies or long rods stood naturally against inclined handrails to stabilize the overall center of gravity in the mid-section. The photographer set up a medium-telephoto lens from a distance; this focal length compressed proportional relations between distant mountains and nearby buildings while effectively avoiding awkward perspective distortion, ensuring companions near frame edges didn't worry about head-to-body proportion issues. Storing and hauling props was another major project, especially that long spear and white plushie. Originally thought to be mere display items, standing on the slope actually required using their weight to help balance body equilibrium. Before every shutter press, everyone habitually checked their held items to avoid accidentally reflecting outlines of reflector boards or lenses; though repeated micro-adjustments slowed progress, they rendered the final images far more refined.

Shooting on a bright day actually poses significant challenges, particularly unshaded direct sunlight. High midday light casts harsh dark shadows beneath eye sockets and jawlines, stripping vibrant color from intricate eye makeup. Following discussions with the photographer, we decisively adjusted plans to save the largest and most complex group shots for softer side-backlighting around three in the afternoon. At that time, light struck our purple-and-white skirts and waist ornaments, rimming fabric edges with delicate outline highlights and giving hair strands a translucent, airy feel. To deliver the best results, everyone helped each other check skirt hems and waist pendants behind them, scanning photo review discards for styling flaws, occasionally joking about silly little gestures captured on screen, turning what could have been an exhausting shoot into a joyous experience.

Teamwork left the deepest impression on me this time. Fitting eight people into a single frame while maintaining ideal states was truly no small feat; whether keeping eye lines parallel or holding props at uniform heights, repeated coordination was essential. Sometimes, for a position gap of just a few centimeters, we had to walk up and down stone steps several times to match the photographer's cues in adjusting front-to-back distances. Though physically demanding, nobody complained of exhaustion, because we all understood this as the purest joy of outdoor cosplay shooting—often the most labor-intensive candid captures yield the liveliest final photos. Whenever changing camera positions, everyone would casually kick away stray pebbles or help adjust a slipping collar for a companion; these small details fostered a wonderfully harmonious team atmosphere.

In the final finished photos, I am most satisfied with images that retained crisp on-site lighting characteristics. Without heavily relying on post-processing special effects composition, retaining shadows in trees and highlight details in the sky created a fantastic visual contrast between the coarse tactile surface of stone and high-texture fabric embroidery. If you can feel our immersion and character focus through the screen, then all the hard work for this outdoor location shoot was well worth it.