[Touhou Project] This Year's Cosplay Year-End Summary and Photoshoot Review

Looking back at the entire year of cosplay shooting work in 2025, being able to compile these meticulously produced finished photoshoots into a year-end summary is indeed a great sense of accomplishment. This year, I invested a massive amount of energy into my spare time, with the main shooting direction revolving entirely around the theme of Touhou Project, covering distinct visual styles from bright outdoor Mori style photography to deep dark studio shoots.

In terms of selecting and setting up scenes, we did a massive amount of homework this year. For outdoor real-life scenes, we stepped into forest streams and traditional wooden courtyards, utilizing the mist between the trees paired with the backlighting of early morning or dusk to form a beautiful Tyndall effect, making the characters look as if they were placed inside a fantasy painting world. In the garden shoots, the combination of hydrangeas covering the ground and an old-style wooden piano created a powerful romantic atmosphere, with highly soft overall colors. Meanwhile, I also challenged quite a few dark Gothic style indoor studio shoots this year. To create a strong dramatic atmosphere, we used a vast amount of iron chains, crosses, skulls, spider webs, and bright red roses in the set decoration, paired with a black-and-white checkerboard floor to maximize visual impact.

Preparing the costumes and props was also an exceptionally tedious part of this year's work. Detailed designs were made for the wig and makeup of every single look, such as long gradient hair colors, fluffy twin tails, and exquisite, complex headpiece details. To ensure the puffiness of the umbrella skirts or hems, multiple layers of petticoats were worn under the character dresses. Whether it was lightweight lace ruffles or heavy black-and-red color-clashing fabrics, a vast amount of time was spent adjusting the details. The transparent umbrellas, folding fans, wooden staves, and specific handheld props used in coordination with the shoots all needed careful preparation on the day of shooting to ensure no wardrobe malfunctions or behind-the-scenes slips occurred on camera.

This year's high productivity is inseparable from the ultimate cooperation of all the TFP photography masters. At the shooting sites, everyone frequently needed to repeatedly reshoot dozens of times just to capture the most perfect dynamic moments. To wait for a well-timed beam of sunlight, everyone could stand in place for a long time. Especially when moving large props and building studio sets, the masters poured out a lot of sweat. Although we were exhausted after every shoot, seeing the final finished photos made this shared effort and creative process feel truly happy and completely worth it under the realm of professional cosplay photography.

In the post-processing phase, I also experimented with more diverse color grading techniques this year. For bright outdoor sunny scenes, desaturated cool or warm tones were applied, striving to highlight a natural and fresh texture. In the dark-styled studio works, the red-and-black contrast was intentionally stretched, enhancing the contrast between light and shadow in the shadows to make the visuals sharper and more oppressive.

Looking back at this year, I feel my expressive power in front of the lens and my mastery over costumes have both improved significantly. In the new year, I will continue to pour passion into this hobby, challenging more character images that I haven't tried before, striving to make this Touhou Project series even more complete. I am deeply grateful to every friend who collaborated with me this year, and I look forward to continuing to leave more wonderful works on this creative path in the future.