[Sakura cosplay] Magical night moments at the Firefly ACG Expo

To present the best state at this Firefly ACG Expo, I started preparing this Sakura cosplay equipment more than half a month in advance. This golden short-hair wig took me quite a lot of time in trimming and styling. To make it look more natural and fluffy, I used about three or four hair padding inserts to prop up the crown structure. Wigs are prone to tangling at convention venues, so I also specially brought a small bottle of care solution. For the makeup part, this time I wanted a dreamy stage effect. I specially chose emerald green contact lenses, paired with pink-toned eyeshadow and blush, used dark eyeshadow on the lower eyelids for an aegyo-sal treatment, and added a little bit of glitter as an accent. Such eye makeup will make the eyes look deeper under the night lights. The overall eye makeup leans towards a peach makeup tone, but to avoid looking swollen, I deepened the brownish-red layers at the outer corners of the eyes.
The costume is the main focus of this preparation. The design of this white formal dress is quite intricate; the bodice uses fabric with subtle sparkles, and golden crown-shaped patterns are spliced below the waistline. The upper half of the skirt hem is white, gradually transitioning to light blue tulle downwards, and some star-shaped rhinestones are scattered inside. To make these details have a better reflective effect in front of the lens, I ironed the skirt hem very flat before the outdoor shoot. The crystal ice crystal crown on top of the head is fixed to the small updo with hairpins, fitting right into a suitable position with this short hair. The pink staff prop in my hand was the thing I was most anxious about all the way; the staff body is more than half a meter long, and the silver wings and pentagram decorations at the top are made of hard materials. In crowded places at the convention, I basically had to hold the staff a bit higher, for fear of accidentally poking nearby passersby or booth owners.
Because the daytime natural light at the Firefly ACG Expo is relatively strong, coupled with the typical top lighting inside the venue, the photos taken tend to show excessively heavy facial shadows. Therefore, the photographer and I discussed and arranged the main shooting at an outdoor location after the convention closed. Although the outdoor night is dark, it happens to avoid messy background light sources. By simply using a telephoto lens with a wide aperture, combined with an external fill light to illuminate the face, we could capture a background-blurred and deeply colored effect. When we were shooting in the open space, a gust of wind blew by, blowing the skirt hem up. The photographer captured this dynamic instantly. To prevent the skirt hem from sticking to the legs, I actually wore a small petticoat inside the skirt to maintain fluffiness, which happened to play a role in this wind. To match the night view, we also specially adjusted how we held the staff during the shoot, trying some waving actions to make the picture look less rigid.
Although I walked in the venue for a day and the soles of my feet and knees were a bit sore, being able to meet so many friends who share the same hobbies and shooting satisfactory night portrait effects outdoors made this Firefly ACG Expo completely worth it for me. From the smoothness of the wig to the cleanliness of the skirt hem, although minor flaws were inevitable after a whole day, the photographer's lens preserved the best side of it all.