[Mari Makinami Cosplay] Strolling Through CRRC Shared City: Sharing Photos of Industrial Style and School Outfits

For this school uniform outdoor shoot of Mari Makinami cosplay, the location chosen was Chengdu CRRC Shared City. Transformed from an old factory, this place retains graffiti train carriages and mottled railroad tracks, creating a unique visual contrast with the character's iconic school JK uniform. This shoot used a Sony a7m4 paired with a Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 G2 lens, which has a wide focal length range covering mid-telephoto to wide-angle, making it capable of handling almost any scene switch during the shoot.

School uniform matching details are crucial. Apart from the reddish-brown hairband and red-framed plano glasses, the key props are the deep green tie and the white short-sleeved shirt with a badge on the chest. To enhance the character feel, a classic pleated skirt with interwoven brown and red plaid was selected for the lower body, paired with a pair of textured black over-the-knee socks and black platform, thick-heeled Mary Jane shoes, bringing the retro campus vibe of the entire look to the max.

The outdoor shooting relied entirely on natural light. On a sunny afternoon between 2 PM and 4 PM, the sunlight filtering through tree leaves and metal train skins creates a strong contrast of light and shadow. At this time, stopping down the aperture slightly or finding suitable cover helps avoid overly harsh hard-light shadows on the face. Several outdoor photos, such as those of me flipping my hair or adjusting my glasses next to the railing, caught the side light nicely, giving the facial features better three-dimensional depth and making the overall frame highly translucent.

The shooting experience inside the carriage was completely different. The interior of the old-style passenger carriage was quite dim. Standing directly under the top light would make the face look as pale as wearing a mask, so fill light was absolutely necessary. This time, I used an LED light stick equipped with a small softbox, placing it in a rim-lit position to outline the character's edge, while using a reflector for subtle fill light from the front. This combination yields a very natural, rich, and oily look for the Sony portrait, and the brownish-red leather seats and metal luggage racks in the carriage present a very retro narrative feel after being lit up.

To avoid looking rigid, I chose a pose with one foot resting on the seat and one hand holding the seatback for several photos inside the car. For the one on the tracks, I opted for a slightly low-angle looking-up perspective combined with the action of pinching the edge of my glasses, highlighting the character's dashing and calm nature. The extending lines of the tracks nicely concentrate the line of sight onto the figure, while the green plant background and the industrial environment form a color contrast, making the image highly vibrant.

In post-processing, I tried my best to retain the highlight and shadow details of the environment. The Tamron 28-75mm G2 remains sharp even with the aperture wide open, particularly when shooting half-body portraits to obtain a great background blur. Choosing CRRC Shared City for this type of outdoor shoot was indeed very clever because of its highly recognizable scenes, and its various elements perfectly fit the theme of ACG characters stepping into reality. There are many similar industrial style scenes in the Chengdu area for a Chengdu photoshoot request; this outfit is not only suitable for portraying Mari Makinami but is also quite appropriate for shooting other school uniform themes.