[Yang Yuhuan cosplay] Honor of Kings' ultimate hero's gorgeous illusion

The color grading of this set of photos really gave me a headache for a long time. During the studio shoot, to create that atmospheric vibe, I used a lot of cool-toned blue-purple light, resulting in skin tones that were always hard to restore to an ideal state during post-processing no matter how I adjusted the curves. But since she is my ultimate favorite hero Yang Yuhuan, no matter how difficult it is, I must portray her well.

Yang Yuhuan in Honor of Kings has always been a very special presence in my heart, possessing both a detached and lofty temperament and a tenderness of compassion for all beings. To restore this styling, individual red hair strands had to be dyed into the white wig, and they also needed to be braided into thick braids. Although the golden horn-shaped hair accessories on top of the head look good, they are indeed quite tiring to wear for a long time. Regarding the makeup, I tried for a long time on the pink mark under the eyes and the glitter eyeshadow, wanting that subtle shimmering effect under the lights.

The details of the clothing are also quite demanding. The translucent pearlescent gauze sleeves and the intricate gold-and-black patterns on the costume all took a lot of thought. The black-and-gold colored pipa prop in my hand is actually quite heavy; when holding it with one hand to strike a pose, my arm had to stay taut to keep it steady. Because the background featured bamboo rafts, wisteria flowers, and pink cherry blossoms, along with those wooden floors and square lanterns glowing with blue light, the entire scene was filled with an oriental fantasy atmosphere. To match this environment, I incorporated some freeze-frame feelings before or during playing in my actions. When leaning against the low table, I needed to pay attention to the curve of the skirt hem, and when kneeling, I had to keep my back straight to properly showcase the character's temperament. Although the shooting process was exhausting, especially kneeling on the wooden floor wearing high heels which made my knees ache painfully, seeing the overlapping light and shadows in the final photos made me feel that everything was worth it.

Returning to the topic of color-grading failure, because of the on-site blue-light background combined with white clothing and reflections, the highlight areas were actually very easy to clip or blow out. Sometimes when trying to pursue that dreamy tone, pulling up the saturation would turn the character into an Avatar. Through continuous adjustments of HSL and color balance, plus using masks to erase parts of the character's skin, I finally managed to get this set of images. Although the color-grading process was near collapse, seeing these photos always made me feel like I had once again encountered my favorite hero in reality. I hope to continue improving my post-processing skills in the future and live up to every carefully prepared cosplay.