[Elysia Cosplay] Honkai Impact 3rd: Waterside Pool selfie Flawless Recreation

When finalizing the shooting plan for this poolside Pool selfie theme, the primary consideration was how to maximally recreate the perspective and ambiance from the 2D illustration. The composition in the original art is distinctive: a wide-angle perspective with an arm reaching forward paired with intense reflections off the water surface creates an immensely captivating sense of refreshment. To achieve this effect, I directly used the phone's ultra-wide-angle lens positioned slightly high, controlling the shutter myself. This ensured that the subject fully occupied the center of the frame while making the foreground arm appear slender, using perspective relations to bring the visual closer to the 2D proportions of the original art.

For makeup and styling, the Long pink hair wig took a long time to trim and style, matching the curled ends to the original art as closely as possible, with clear elastic bands securing the bangs. For the ears, silicone Elf ears were used, exhibiting a natural texture under sunlight. Contact lenses were chosen in vibrant bright blue matching the official artwork, while the eye makeup focused on outlining that slightly downturned, innocent puppy-eye shape, blended with reddish-brown eyeshadow at the outer corners and balanced with adjusted blush placement. This kind of makeup is especially prone to looking oily under harsh lighting, so I used plenty of setting spray and matte setting powder to maintain a fresh, clean finish during outdoor shooting.

Outfit-wise, the light-blue sheer tulle top was very breathable, showing a subtle translucent glow under sunlight that coincided perfectly with the semi-transparent texture in the original art. The natural drape and gravity of the pearl necklace and seashell pendant sat just right, and the mix of gold and pink beaded bracelets on the wrist prevented the accessories from looking monotonous.

To align with the original artwork's atmosphere, we also experimented with various small props and details during shooting. In front of the camera, the angle of reaching out with my right hand was tested many times, striving to make the splayed angle of my fingers look as natural as in the original illustration. In post-processing, white cat whiskers and pink cat ears on top were overlaid onto the frame, along with red graphic effect icons, little white flowers, and a camera UI border, making the overall visual much more memorable. Notably, the reflections off the water were quite intense; slightly pulling down exposure allowed the darkened halo in the scene to accentuate a translucent, radiant skin tone.

Comparing with the original artwork, pulling off this real-life 3D shoot was genuinely challenging. Real humans are naturally constrained by skeletal anatomy, making it difficult to fully replicate extreme anime head-to-body proportions, so we had to rely on high-angle framing and wide-angle stretch, refined by post-editing, to approximate it. In particular, getting the semi-sheer tulle sleeves and shimmering water light to complement each other required repeated focusing and lighting tweaks. The entire set was unified in the high-saturation, high-brightness pink-and-blue palette of the original artwork, yielding results that I, as the creator, am very satisfied with. It was a truly special attempt and a process of meticulously polishing details against the original art. Thanks to friends who helped scout angles and framing—the final visual effect harmonized seamlessly with our initial vision.