Following up on the previous post, this shoot features Yinlin in collaboration with photographer @ICEBERG. The jokes in the previous post about \"the girl who only shoots her left cheek\" and \"thunder-sliding to snatch the shoe\" were actual bloopers from our shooting process—in reality, my ankles felt a bit sore after standing in these thin high heels for so long, so the photographer wanted to capture my natural posture upon landing dynamically. He specifically had me try the motion of \"stepping with one leg and then suspending in the air\" several times. But the movement was so dramatic that once a shoe actually flew off! He happened to be crouching at a low angle and was almost hit by the shoe, so we jokingly called it the \"thunder slide shoe-snatch.\"
Coming back to the photo set itself, I prepped this Yinlin costume for nearly three weeks. The main fabric is matte elastic black velvet, spliced with glossy imitation leather and red brocade-patterned fabric. The gold trims use stiff foil-stamped cloth, creating beautiful reflective layers under top lighting. What required the most effort was the metal chain ornaments; we had to ensure their weight wouldn't warp the clothes while keeping the chains draping naturally whenever I turned around. On set, I repeatedly adjusted the position of the shoulder strap buckles. Those elf ears used a silicone base with medical adhesive, fitting so well that they wouldn't detach even during large head turns. The high ponytail buns were supported by three iron wires of different thicknesses to ensure the hair ornaments and crown wouldn't tilt due to gravity.
The location was an unused section of a large exhibition hall. Rows of industrial-grade top lights up high and the dark gray concrete floor matched Wuthering Waves' cool, hard-core urban sci-fi texture perfectly. The photographer's lighting scheme was clever—instead of using high-power continuous lights to illuminate the whole room, he used two bare lights with grids combined with high backlighting. This illuminated only the character's silhouette and hair edges, turning the background top lights into pretty point-matrix bokeh spots. This highlighted the red hair while pressing the ground reflections dark, creating strong light-and-shadow contrast.
As for poses, Figure 4 is my personal favorite. We attempted to recreate the dynamic motion of the character using her energy weapon, but the purple glowing rope was actually a soft fluorescent tube stuffed with a rechargeable battery and LED strips. Pulling it by hand alone could hardly form a perfect arc. So this \"suspended rope pulling\" pose was shot in two steps—first, I fixed my position on the ladder to pose my arms and torso, and then the photographer used a low-power purple light flashlight from the front-side angle. In post-processing, he drew the glowing purple outline line and added purple ambient lighting on the light-receiving surfaces of my clothes. The final result looks as if I were truly charging up to unleash a skill.
Regarding the joke about \"only shooting the left cheek,\" it was actually because I have a small mole on my right cheek, which I deliberately covered with concealer for this look. The photographer's habit was to shoot from a left 45-degree angle, combined with the high-slit skirt and leg extension, causing my posture in nearly all photos to face left, with only my left face in the light. When editing later, we realized almost every side-profile angle in this set was extremely consistent, becoming an unexpected stylistic signature.
Outfit-wise, I selected a high heels outfit featuring patent leather red-bottom stilettos with a very thin platform. They weren't really suitable for standing for long periods, but for the sake of visual elongation and the character's sharp temperament, I toughed it out and stood in them for nearly three hours. During breaks, I could only rest my feet on the ladder's rungs to relieve pressure. The back of the outfit actually has a long slit; paired with the belt and metal buckles, turning around reveals a bit of the lower waist line, but from the front, it relies more on the skirt ribbons and dangling chains on the arm sleeves to add momentum.
As for post-processing, ICEBERG completed it all alone. Beyond the purple energy lines, he spent a tremendous amount of time refining skin texture and clothing details. Especially the reflections on the metal chains—which were silver-gray in raw photos—were layer-graded individually to look bronzed gold, harmonizing better with the red-and-black theme. He also mirrored the floor symmetrically to make the originally left-heavy composition visually balanced.
Lastly, my personal feelings about this photoshoot. The character Yinlin has an assertive and slightly disdainful demeanor. So during shooting, I carefully controlled the tilt of my smile, keeping my eyes focused slightly above the lens to make my expression look evaluating and coolly aloof. But the actual shooting process was very joyful—we often burst into laughter because my high heels got stuck in ladder gaps, or because a lamp shade was too big and got caught on the overhead light stand, forcing us to bring over a low stool to stand on.
This kind of theme blending industrial style with fantasy sci-fi tech places high demands on the synergy between model and photographer. With an empty backdrop, all visual focus rests solely on movement, eye contact, and outfit texture; any slight slackness makes the image feel hollow. Luckily, the final result met expectations. From the stretched leg lines in seated poses to standing on one leg, to the moment pulling the energy rope, it served as a complete interpretation of the character. My favorite in this set is the dynamic feel in Figure 4—though my core muscles were tensed for a long time, the resulting visual tension made all the hard work worth it in Cosplay photography.