The photo set for Modernia — Butterfly & Flower is finally released today. This shoot took place at Taotao Studio 3.0, primarily chosen to capture the character's tranquil and divine essence.
Let's first talk through the overall styling concept. To faithfully reflect Modernia's aura, I chose a pure white lace tulle gown featuring a subtle high slit, paired with long straight silver-white hair. Managing the wig was truly delicate work: the bangs had to be trimmed immaculately straight to frame the face, and I added subtle light-blue and red highlight strands to the ends; while discreet in wide shots, they add delightful depth during close-ups. Accessory-wise, the emerald pendant necklace was the crowning touch, breaking the monochrome monotony of pure white. For makeup, I toned down heavy color saturation, focusing on a translucent base with soft reddish-toned eye makeup to accentuate a cool, porcelain skin texture.
Because I served as my own photographer, I spent considerable time mapping out compositions mentally before shooting. I prepared quite a few props, including a traditional paper umbrella, a wooden folding fan, and the pivotal butterfly round fan. The blue-violet butterflies stood out vividly against the white lace, perfectly echoing the theme of Butterfly & Flower.
While working through poses, I constantly contemplated how to keep the frame feeling organic. When holding the umbrella, to prevent my posture from looking rigid, I turned slightly profile, shifting my weight to the back leg with the front leg gently bent so the leg line extended fluidly down to the instep. For the shots seated along the edge of the wooden platform in heels, paired with dry ice fog and the moon projection in the backdrop, a celestial fairyland ambiance under the moon came to life immediately. The kneeling seiza pose heavily tested core strength: the spine had to remain upright, the skirt hem neatly fanned out by hand, the wrist holding the fan kept relaxed, and my gaze steered away from the dead center of the lens—casting eyes downward or glancing toward the frame edge to craft that detached serenity.
For lighting, I utilized a cool blue-white palette throughout. Side rim lighting was key, carving out crisp contours around the silhouette; in close-ups especially, hair strands looked gorgeously translucent in the light. To add compositional layering, I placed cherry blossom branches and softly blurred petals in the foreground before the lens—this optical framing creates wonderful narrative depth, which I highly recommend trying in studio shoots.
This shoot took quite a while from start to finish, and holding various poses in high heels definitely left my feet exhausted, but seeing how the light, shadows, and styling materialized made it completely worthwhile. There's no need for convoluted storytelling; it's simply about letting the imagery convey a tranquil, ethereal beauty.