Live Magazine Christmas 2016 Edition

PHOTO TIPS
WHY TAKING TIME FROM SHOOTING COSP
BETTER PHO
This article isn’t for the casual photographer
that loves to go along
to XYZ Con and shoot some cool
photos of cosplayers and that’s
them done for the month and or
year. No, this is for the photographer
that wants to get better.
Wants to improve themselves as
an artist. Firstly though, I want to
explain how cosplay can help you
become better as an artist. The
main benefits of cosplay photography
is you don’t have to worry
about make up, hair styling and
even models - if you know some
cosplayers they’ll usually happily
organise a shoot with you. What
you do need to do though, is ensure
your location matches the
character or mood of the shoot.
If you’re at a “con” the challenge
is that the background is often a
bunch of people walking around
having fun. So, what I tend to do
is treat a con shoot as almost a
journalistic style shoot - capturing
the day and the colour and
costumes of the event. Cosplayers
know their characters and
generally know how to pose to
suit. So you end up with much of
the photo worked out before you
even shoot.
So how does other genre’s help
you improve? Some time back,
on a cold winters day, I was walking
the city streets wanting to do
some street photography and
after a while I noticed myself
exploring angles and shadows. I
took the time to seek out these
subjects as I walked. I forced myself
to try getting lower down, to
climb higher places and to really
look at how shadows intersected
walls or even people. Taking notice
of these things got me thinking
about applying more drama in
my portrait work, using shadows
more creatively. Angles reminded
me how if I’m up high shooting
down, you can make a subject
look a bit submissive. Shoot from
a lower angle and the subject
grows taller and more dominant.
Characters like Batman are
strong characters and perhaps
a slight angle shooting up toward
them will give them a stronger
more dominant and powerful feel.
Also shadows can really enhance
the mood of the Dark Knight.
Experiment with light, colour, angles
and mood and then apply it
to your next cosplay shoot so that
you may grow in your art. Take a
look at some of the most creative
photographers on the web and
you’ll see experiments in light and
angles that can make a mundane
photo become a photo that pops
off the screen and grabs your attention.