[Mi Fu cosplay] Arknights: Endfield, a hardcore strike beneath the gauntlets

This studio portrait preparation took a very long time, with the main energy focused on prop assembly and the restoration of costume details. From the black-and-gold building block pieces on the gauntlets that needed to be pieced together one by one, to the tactical pendants at the waist, the golden double-ball hanging ornament, and the voluminous blue-white-pink gradient plush tail, we spent several hours before the shoot repeatedly adjusting the wearing positions to secure all these fragmented items around the body, ensuring they wouldn't slip during movement.

The layering of this costume is very rich. A white short techwear jacket is paired with a magenta crop top, and the sleeves feature very eye-catching blue and pink geometric color-blocking. Hanging on the chest is a beige mechanical structure decoration, paired with a striking cyan-blue tassel, adding a touch of special classical detail to the strong modern sci-fi feel of the whole. The lower body consists of a grey miniskirt paired with dark green over-the-knee stockings, with a knee pad on the left leg and brown leather straps tied to the right leg. For the dark green platform boots on my feet, I specially swapped in bright pink shoelaces, echoing the colors of the gloves and the inner top. The wig is gradient long hair with pink at the tips, which, paired with blue coral-like horn ornaments and elf pointy ears against the backdrop of the pure white studio background, gives the character an extremely high visual recognition.

To fit the character's setting of being confident, calm, and even a bit arrogant, I tried a variety of poses in front of the lens. Lifting the huge gauntlets with one hand, or holding the weapon straight up with one hand, both require extremely strong core support. Especially sitting on a black tactical box, with one foot stepping on the box, the other foot suspended in the air, knees bent, body leaning forward slightly, and looking back at the lens—that posture really tests body center of gravity. With the heavy weapon props plus the platform boots, every time I stabilized a pose, my body needed to tense up. When I held the heavy props horizontally in front of my chest, or swung them with one hand to prepare for combat, I needed to keep my facial expression relaxed while letting my eyes reveal a sharp sense of certainty.

The lighting for the studio portrait was arranged very evenly, and the pure white background can restore every color on the costume to the maximum extent, preventing the complex colors from looking messy. Especially the green stockings showed a very translucent texture under this strong light; combined with the black knee pads, the cutting sense of the leg lines is very obvious. I tried multiple angles in front of the lens, such as standing, cross-legged sitting, and single-knee kneeling, hoping to showcase the character's dynamic tension in flat photos.

Every time I shoot a character with a large number of physical accessories, the physical exhaustion is extremely high. The weight of the props shifts the center of gravity, requiring constant searching for balance points. However, seeing the light and shadows presented in the camera, and that fierce feeling found through repeated pose adjustments, the fatigue of the entire process just melted away. Being able to successfully capture this complete styling into photos in the studio this time was a hugely satisfying shooting experience.