[Zhen Hai cosplay] Azur Lane Zhu Yan Hong Xiu, the red sheer dress photographs amazingly well

For this Zhu Yan Hong Xiu styling of Zhen Hai, a lot of thought and effort went into it from the costume pattern making to the final styling. When I first got this outfit, what attracted me the most was the layers upon layers of red sheer fabric. This material is very lightweight, but it's also particularly prone to static electricity, so someone had to constantly help smooth out the skirt hem during the shoot. To capture that downward-spreading sense of extension, we specially chose this light-colored wooden board as the foundation. Combined with the top-down perspective, it allowed the layers of the skirt hem to be completely flattened out, providing a visual impact much stronger than standard standing photos.

In terms of props, besides the white paper umbrella, we added some woven bamboo baskets and wooden trays filled with red fruits and red flowers. All of these were meant to echo the traditional Chinese elements of Zhen Hai's outfit. Since the background was chosen to be pure white, the color balance of the entire frame relies on these red accents to support it, allowing everyone to feel that pure yet passionate contrast when viewing.

Regarding makeup and hairstyle, the wig was chosen as a relatively short black hair, with the bangs treated to lay smoothly and flatly. The gold and white flowers on the hair accessories were glued on piece by piece by hand, with the purpose of ensuring that head details could still be clearly seen even under the top-down angle, avoiding a hollow or empty look. Because the overall tone of the makeup leans red, the eye makeup purposely deepened the contours, using some warm reddish eyeshadows to echo the outfit, while the base makeup maintained a clean and translucent look. After all, under strong light, once the makeup looks dirty, it's very hard to fix in post-production.

The difficulty during the shooting process lay in the poses. Lying on the wooden board is actually a huge test of core strength; the neck remains suspended in the air the whole time while maintaining a natural facial expression, and one also has to figure out how to make hand gestures look unforced. Since I was wearing a sheer dress, constantly adjusting angles was necessary to cleverly reveal the leg lines without looking too cramped. I tried bending and crossing my legs slightly, which created more geometric lines in the frame. I didn't wear stockings this time; bare legs actually test lighting and post-processing even more, but to present a better skin texture, the on-site lighting was cast very evenly. I even deliberately chose a pair of dark retro low-heeled shoes, which could anchor the visual center of gravity amidst the red sheer dress, preventing a top-heavy feeling.

The lighting for the entire studio shoot was a typical flat light, because we wanted to showcase the translucency of the sheer fabric without having heavy shadows destroy the cleanliness of the pure white background. When the photographer shot from above, it really tested our mutual tacit understanding. I had to constantly fine-tune the angle of my face to cater to the top light, ensuring the three-dimensional feel of my facial features. Mid-way, to make the red sheer fabric flutter, we even turned on a small fan; although static flat-laid photos were ultimately selected, that flying sensation was truly amazing. In fact, the color blocks of this set of pictures are extremely pure—red and white, combined with the log-colored base, with no redundant miscellaneous colors. Instead, this puts the character's presence within the frame to an even higher test. Behind every finished photo are countless trials, errors, and communications, and being able to completely present this styling makes me extremely satisfied myself.