[Chihaya Anon cosplay] BanG Dream! convention photo check-in

Today I am sharing the Chihaya Anon convention photos I shot at the Shenzhen Circular Universe Anime Convention. To cut straight to the point, this set features Chihaya Anon's casual outfit from BanG Dream! To faithfully recreate the character, I meticulously prepared many details.

First, let's talk about the makeup and styling. The wig chosen was a face-flattering long straight pink hair with moderate volume, avoiding a top-heavy look. It was paired with black thick-rimmed rounded glasses, which is one of Chihaya Anon's signature accessories. To match the tone of the glasses, light blue colored contacts were selected, and the makeup leaned toward a daily, lightweight style with a very fair base to handle the strong lighting at the convention. Light pink was used on the lips, overall creating a clear, student-like vibe.

In terms of clothing, a white short-sleeved turn-down collar shirt served as the inner layer, layered with a light yellow V-neck knitted sleeveless vest. The tie chosen was a gray-and-white checkered pattern, a detail that adds a lot of points. The lower garment is a yellow-and-green high-waisted checkered pleated skirt. In photo four, this outfit also includes dark green over-the-knee long socks and dark brown leather loafers, completing the layering and accuracy of the overall look. However, wearing a knit vest plus long socks at a convention is actually quite hot, but I gritted my teeth and persevered for the sake of good photos.

The biggest difficulty in shooting convention photos lies in the environment. The convention site is crowded and the background is relatively cluttered. After communicating with the photographer, I deliberately found a corner with a dark background and used a high-power outdoor flash for front fill light. This not only ensured even lighting on the face but also darkened the background to highlight the main subject. The photographer used an off-axis side camera position paired with the flash, which nicely outlined the character's edge contours. During the shoot, to showcase the character's vitality, I designed quite a few poses. For instance, the peace sign gestures in photos one and three, the glasses-adjusting action in photo two, and the double-fisted forward-leaning posture in photo four. Chihaya Anon's cute trait in the work—striving hard to blend in with everyone while harboring a bit of self-confidence—is a part I really love. So when portraying her, I purposely added some playful expressions. For example, the hand-on-hip peace sign pose in photo three was chosen because I felt it captures her confident and cheerful personality.

Regarding post-processing and photo editing, I tend to retain a realistic, cold-white tone. The first step was to unify the skin tone, correcting the uneven skin tones caused by various ambient colored lights at the convention site. Next came adjusting the color tendency of the pink hair to make it look softer and glossier. Since several shots were full-body photos, the lines of the legs and long socks also needed careful adjustment, slightly optimizing the proportions through liquefaction while increasing the saturation of the green long socks. Additionally, convention photos often have passersby or debris entering the frame, which required using healing tools to clean up bit by bit, trying my best to keep the frame neat. Photo editing is not just about color grading; it's about restoring the character as envisioned in one's heart. While walking around the exhibition hall, I also met several fellow enthusiasts who came over to trade photos and social media, and everyone was very friendly.

Doing cosplay for me is not merely putting on clothes, but rather presenting the vibrant state the character ought to have within the lively environment of a convention. Although walking around the exhibition hall wearing a heavy wig and glasses was quite tiring, the moment I saw the photos, I felt everything was completely worth it. Looking forward to encountering good lighting at the next convention.