#photography tutorials and tips

[lutaviacosplay]

A cosplay tutorial on how to pose for photoshoots, no matter what you look like and what you're wearing -- with example shots to help guide you along.

[fabrickind]

Finding Cosplay Photoshoot Locations: Part 1

📸Want to do cosplay photoshoots but don't know how to find that perfect place to shoot? This tutorial covers how to brainstorm a location for your shoot, logistical and cost concerns with shoot locations, and how to actually find your dream location.

📸This tutorial can be applied to shoots of all types, including but not limited to self shoots, shoots with friends, and shoots with hired photographers. Self shooting or shooting with friends only requires a camera (a phone works!) and possibly a tripod.

Part 1: Location Types

Coming up with the general type of location you want requires some brainstorming about what you want from the shoot. Think about your specific goals and types of photos you want and how certain types of locations would work for your goal. Remember you can always do multiple shoots for the same costume with different concepts!

For example, if you want big, sweeping shots, you will need a location that allows for wider framing and still looks good, while if you are primarily after shots with closer framing, you can go with a location with only a small usable portion. If you are looking to primarily showcase the costume itself or your posing, a flatter and simpler background works better than a busy background, but if you want cinematic shots or shots where you are existing in the environment as the character, somewhere that can show off the location itself as well as how you exist in it would work better.

Types of Locations

There are three main types of locations for cosplay shoots in relation to the cosplay itself. Of course, you can combine these types and there is a lot of overlap, but thinking of these three location types will help you conceptualize your shoot.

The first type is locations that are similar to something in the series, or an exact location from the series. My cover image is an example of this, where I took photos at the location of the climactic battle of the manga. Most fictional locations don't exist in real life so exactly, however, so think of locations that look similar to where this character might be found. The example on this slide shows a cosplay at a nature preserve with grassy fields and oak trees, which is similar to the locations the character traverses several times throughout the game she is from. This category can also include locations with similar vibes, such as a studio made up to look like a fancy European castle for a character from a series about European royalty, or a shoji screen backdrop for a character who lives in a Japanese-style house.

The second location type is locations with symbolic meaning. These locations showcase something about the themes or character arcs present in the series, and this can be accomplished with anything from specific props and setpieces to the entire background. One shoot I'd love to do with this concept is of Lady Blackpearl staring into a mirror -- this would symbolize her dual personality nature -- or of Lady Oscar wrapped in thorns, with the rose thorns symbolizing her glorious but fragile life. I chose to represent this location type with Ultimecia, a sorceress who wants to compress time so she is the only one who can live in the combined past/present/future, set among ruins. The ruins aren't accurate to the game, but show her crumbling reign marked by the passage of time.

The third location type is locations chosen for pure aesthetics. Obviously all locations are chosen for aesthetics, but these are locations with no deeper meaning and may not represent anything from the series at all. These can range from a simple colored wall backdrop to a sweeping landscape that simply looks good with the colors of the costume. Some examples are the Yasuho Hirose ocean shoot on the slide, where it doesn't represent a particular scene or location in the series but simply looks good with the cut and colors of the costume and the sailor theming, or my Princess White Rose milk bath photoshoot, where again the character never takes a milk bath, but a bathtub full of milk and roses shows off the detail of her floral hat and showcases the opulent nature of a rose-themed princess.

Requirements of your Shoot

Once you have a general concept, think of what is required to fit that concept. This can be as general as specific backgrounds or types of backgrounds to as specific as particular items at the location or particular lighting setups. Some shoots might need specific props, such as furniture to sit or lounge on, and props that won't work in a public location, such as realistic weapons that may cause panic or worse. Also keep in mind any accessibility needs, whether it is an accessible location in general to accommodate a disability or a need that is caused by the costume itself. Check not just the specific area you want to shoot, but how to get there from the parking lot or transit stop. Finally, keep in mind that unsecured outdoor locations, such as a park or beach, are locations where you can't change things about the location and you may encounter other people. Discussion of how to be respectful of such locations is in part 5.

Stay tuned for the rest of the parts~!

Links to other parts: 1 Location Types, 2 Discovering Locations, 3 Indoor vs Outdoor Locations, 4 Location Permissions, 5 Location Logistics

[leota-nexus]

^ the process

v the result

[barananduen]

Art Advice: Composition pt. 1 - Leading Lines and Focal Points

Composition is a vast topic that would take a long time to talk about in full, so I'm breaking it down into parts of more manageable size. This article is for people who draw/paint and for photographers.

In this issue, we will talk about guiding the viewers' eyes using: I. Leading lines II. Focal points

Every artpiece (drawing/painting or photograph) has visual pathways that guide the viewer's eye from one point to another in the piece, whether you intended to include them or not. It's important to be aware of them and learn how to use them to your advantage.

I. LEADING LINES

One way to guide the viewer's attention through a piece is by using explicit and implicit lines. An imbalance in these can cause your drawing to appear lopsided. (Imbalance, however, can also be used to your advantage; we'll talk about that later in this article.)

"Cupcake Love" [link]

Explicit lines are easier to identify: they're actual lines in your drawing. Here, we have three explicit sets of lines:

The sprigs of greenery: the two main ones are shown by the solid green lines on the diagram on the right. Here, they have a top left ↔ bottom right motion;

The black and white lines on the coaster, running in the opposite direction; and

The creases on the cupcake paper, fanning out from bottom to top.

Implicit lines are harder to spot, but your subconscious does catch them, so it's important to train yourself to see them. Here, there is an implicit line, marked on the diagram by the red arrow, that goes from the strawberry on the bottom left (notice its alignment) to the "Love" sign on top of the cupcake (notice that the "L" also forms an arrow that points back to the strawberry).

There is also another implicit line (shown by the dotted green arrow) going from the strawberry on the bottom right and connecting with the explicit lines formed by the sprigs on the top left.

🌱Tip! For people drawing: While training yourself to see implicit lines, a good way to spot them more easily is to flip your canvas. When working traditionally, you can use a mirror or take a photo of your work (make sure you paper is straight/not bent, and that your camera or mirror is perpendicular to your paper). You may not notice where the implicit lines are, at first, but you're more likely to spot a skew/slant this way.

The "red" and "green" lines here are perpendicular to each other, giving the painting a balanced appearance, despite the cupcake being off-center. You may have noticed that, if we were to remove the "Love" sign, we would still have more bottom left ↔ top right lines, from the sprigs behind the sign. So there is not just one bottom left ↔ top right line; there are more, and this also contributed to the sense of balance.

II. FOCAL POINTS

Another way to guide the viewer's eye across the canvas, or make them pay attention to a specific area, is to use focal points smartly.

Here, I've marked with Xs the secondary focal points of the painting (the main focal point being the cupcake). These are the points on which a viewer's eye will rest (after spotting the main subject first).

Like with leading lines, you want to use these to guide the viewer's eye around your piece in the way YOU want. This visual pathway can vary from piece to piece. You can try to arrange them in such a way that you keep the viewer's eye within your drawing, as opposed to leading it off the canvas. In this painting, they form a circle, but they can have any number of shapes.

IMBALANCE CAN WORK FOR YOU...

So far, we've talked about maintaining a balanced composition and keeping the viewer's eye from wandering off the canvas, but there are situations where you may want to do the opposite, to achieve a certain effect. For example:

To create a sense of bigness of smallness, or of open spaces

To cause an uneasy feeling in the viewer

To guide the viewer's eye in a specific direction

Let's look at some examples:

from my photography account: @barananduen-photo

These two compositions have very strong bottom left → top right leading lines (explicit), and nothing bringing the viewer's eye back. The focal point(s) are also all clustered toward one end of this line (in these cases, they're in the bottom left). This is done intentionally to create a feeling of open-ness.

You could also use a group of leading lines all pointing toward one focal point off to one side, to create a feeling of both isolation and focus/stress on said figure ("all eyes on..." type of concept). On the other hand, keeping the focal figure on one side, but, instead of lines pointing toward it, using curves leading away from it, can create a feeling of exclusion or loneliness for the figure.

So, you can use imbalance in composition in different ways to convey different messages.

...OR AGAINST YOU

"Christmas Chocobo" [link]

This (the painting by itself), on the other hand, has pretty bad composition. I have one leading, explicit line: bottom right ↔ top left. If you take away all the stuff I placed on and around the sketchbook, that composition is not really doing anything for me. The subject is centered, and there's nothing in the spaces around it, so it's not creating a pleasant sense of open-ness. It just looks skewed. There's a weak implicit "swoop" in the feathers on the bottom right, but it's not enough. The figure balances off a little bit because it's very bottom-heavy, so the body of the bird is like a horizontal mass.

The photo as a whole is more balanced out, because there is an implicit line going from bottom left ↔ top right, from the orange/reds paint wheel, through the bird, and to the paints on the top right (and this line is top-heavy). There are also various items forming a circle around the painting. Also, the darker leaves on the top left blend more into the background, keeping the bottom right ↔ top left explicit line of the painting from extending farther (therefore not diminishing the effect of the bottom left ↔ top right implicit line mentioned before).

🌱So the important takeaway is: Learn to identify leading lines and focal points, and arrange them to suit your purpose, whether it be creating balance or breaking it, and experiment to see when breaking it is good and when it is not.

CLOSING

Composition is a very important skill for both drawing/painting and photography, but the way each of these two types of artists goes about it is usually the opposite: While, when drawing, you start with a blank canvas and fill it up, when making (I prefer this term, used in German, over the English "taking") a photograph, you usually (unless you're doing still life, etc) start with a whole scene that you have to figure out how to fit into the frame.

For this reason, I'd like to encourage both types of artists to try each other's medium as an art exercise in training your sense of composition, because changing your approach often leads to you discovering new things you can use.

For people who draw: Take your phone (or camera if you have one) and try to frame things "artistically," taking into consideration the things we've discussed in this article.

For photographers: Try making little stick-figure doodles (for drawing/painting, this is called "thumbnailing") of what you'd like a scene to look like. This is something you can use in the planning stage before a photo session, sort of like a "wishlist."

And, like I said, there are more topics in composition, but this is a good chunk to digest in one sitting, so we'll leave the other topics, including other ways to guide the viewer's eye, for future Art Advice Articles.

I hope you found this helpful, and see you next time! 💗

MORE ART ADVICE ARTICLES

You can find the index to all Art Advice Articles [here] including:

How to Deal with Art Block

How to Have a Positive Outlook

Advancing in Art: The 3 Ps

The Misconception Behind "Study Realism"

How to Develop Your Own Style (coming soon!)

How to Photograph Traditional Artwork (coming soon!)

etc.

[dread-red-queen]

Welcome to my Little CharLI and VP spotlight tutorial I will be going over a few things I have learned since starting Virtual Photography in the hopes I can help out people unfamiliar with CharLI and want to learn how to light there model, make characters look at each other and how to use AMM to help get that perfect shot.

I'm not an expert but I have improved alot since I starting using these simple tips I will share with you.

Here is what CharLi looks like when you open it, it may seem a little overwhelming at first but once you get used to what does what, its prety simple to use

I'm going to be sharing how I use spotlights in this tutorial so don't worry about the other lights for now.

first of all I usually only use a single, or a set of 4 or 8 spotlights in my shots, you can use more of course.

this is what the spotlights look like, they are in two parts, the main spotlight mesh, this is the physical spotlight that emits the light, and the pink triangle (Pin) this gives you an indication of there height for reference, this is useful when you are getting your lights in position as you can physically see them to get them in the right spot.

Here you have your radius, this is how close the spotlights are to your model,

your rotation this does as it says and rotates your lights around your model,

your intensity is how bright your lights are. each as two sliders, the top is subtle the bottom will be more extreme.

For example with radius if I use the top slider it moves the lights further away but only a little, if I use the bottom slider it will move them even further away. be careful as you can push them so far away light no longer hits your model or they disappear through walls. so its a little trail and error.

Here you have colour, position and angle

colour - is self explanatory, you can use the red, green and blue sliders to change the colour of your lights, it can be a bit of trail and error to get the colour you want

Position - you can adjust your lights position in the X, Y and Z axis i.e to the left, right or up or down.

Angles - tilt you lights to the left, right or up or down

Ok now we know the basics of what does what.

There is more stuff you can adjust but I'm still learning so we will only be covering what I use and know which is the basics

When you first spawn in spot lights, they will likely be to close to your model and the light will be a little too bright, so once you spawn them in we can make a few quick adjustment to there radius and light intensity to make that lighting a little less harsh.

See how much better this looks already? a good tip I follow is to lower your exposure in Photomode down, then bring up lights with CharLi so you have a better control of the light on your model.

multiple spotlights spawn in a ring around your model, if you want to use different colour lights ect, I usually converge my lights so they are closer together then rotate them to one side of the model.

Once I have my coloured lights in position I duplicate them, this duplicates all settings from light intensity, radius, colour ect, then I use the rotate function to bring the duplicate lights to the other side of the model and adjust my colours.

here I have made the left lights pink and the right lights a pale blue. looks kind of cool right?

I noticed when having lights on either side, the middle of her face was not lit so I added a single spotlight in front to give her face some light. I also zoomed in using the FOV slider in Photomode. you can zoom with the scroll wheel but this can result in some distortion like making her head look bigger than her body at some angles. using the FOV slider gives you much better quality and far less distortion.

Once you are happy with your lights positions you may find the lights are in the way when trying to get your shot as at some angles the lights will be in the shot blocking your model. to solve this you can hide the mesh and pin we talked about earlier with these icons here. this will hide the lights while still lighting your model. giving you more freedom to get that perfect angle.

you know when you click look at camera in Photomode the body twists with the head, spoiling some poses and causing clipping ect. well with AMM you can make it so only the eyes look or only the head does.

using AMM if you head to tools, then either target your replacer or V then toggle if you want just the head to tilt to look at camera or just the eyes.

Here I have toggled just eyes so now Raven will track me with just her eyes rather than rotating her torso and head as well. if you want to swap to just the head, open AMM select just the head. then close AMM you will need to then toggle the look at camera of and on for it to change.

Another thing to bare in mind is when and if you decide to change the rotation or position of your model in Photomode. your lights will follow V so sometimes this can change your lighting. you may need to adjust rotation ect to get them back where you want them so bare that in mind if you adjust your models position after you have your lights in place.

simply use the tabs at the top to select each light and make any adjustments you need to get your lights back where you want them. un toggle hide mesh or pin if you hid them to make it easier to see where they are when making adjustments then you can re hide them when your done.

Lets say you have a replacer spawned and you want your characters to look at eachother. this can be done using the look at camera feature with a little help from AMM

open AMM and go to tools, now depending on who you want to look at who will decide who to target. in this example I will show both. first I will target Raven (V) and select head only for look at camera. then close AMM. I will rotate the camera to the other side of my replacers head then select V and look at camera. then open AMM and target V. then open Target tools and you should have an option to freeze target.

once you freeze the target close AMM and you will see her head will stay in position and is now looking at Goro

Bare in mind once you freeze a target this way you can not unfreeze despite that being a button, If u change pose while frozen it can get pretty cursed pretty quick. its a pain in the ass. some poses you can swap to without it getting to cursed but again its trail and error. if you need to change pose ect you will have to exit Photomode and re-enter it to unfreeze it can be prety time consuming. if there is away around this I'm unaware of it currently feel free to share if you know.

Here I repeated the look at camera trick with Goro so now my models are looking at each other yay

another thing to bare in mind with CharLi is the lights focus on V so you will notice here Goro is not as well lit as Raven. Spawning more lights and adjusting there position with X, Y and Z will come in handy here. it can take some experimenting though.

Here I have added additional lights and positioned them on Goro so he now has light to.

Here we have taken a photo after doing all our adjustments to lights, there position and making our models look at each other. sometimes there will be an error where it will go darker then you want when you hit space to take your shot. I think its called auto exposure error or something basicaly its the game being poopy its annoying but sometimes unavoidable so you may need to keep adjusting your lights and taking shots until the game behaves.

One final thing I like to do when tweaking my shots in photoshop. I usually adjust exposure. offset and contrast to make the pic really pop

Here I have adjusted the offset up a little and tweaked the contrast up a little. it really softens blacks and the light and makes the pic look better in my opinion.

And there you have it. all the tips and tricks I have learned while doing Virtual Photography. I hope this helps peeps out that want to get into VP.

If you have any questions regarding anything I have said my Asks are always open. I'm happy to talk you through stuff if you need some help. I'm also willing to do screen share discord calls to help you follow along or show you in real time how to do stuff if your interested in something like that drop me a DM.

🚫 Do Not Re-Upload/Edit My Shots/Art Without My Permission🚫

             [Pillowfort][Instagram][Tumblr][AO3][Nexus][Ko-Fi]

[bricktoygrapher]

Combining photos to achieve the desired mood 🖼️

What I've learned over the last two years doing toy photography is that lighting is extremely important, but not only to make a good picture in low light conditions – it can drastically change the look and mood of the photo. However, the images don't always turn out the way I envision them.

Fortunately, I found a way to overcome this problem – by combining photos in Adobe Photoshop. I wrote about it in a new article for the Toy Photographers blog.

[imaginarycyberpunk2023]

Blood splatter(ed) tutorial by @halsin

Okay, so @halsin was gracious enough to send me this lil tutorial in my DMs and I thought it might be useful for others, too so I asked her 8f it was OK to screenshot and put here.

So splatter away friends!

Thank you, babe, for being so kind 🧡

[eman-cosplay]

I JUST MADE NEW VIDEO PLEAS GO CHECK IT <3

[photosandtalking]

My first post!

Please continue reading this post if you're self conscious in any way.

--

I'd like to start off this message to all photographers (I'll get to the rest of yah soon) that I took the photo above on accident while in a moving car and I'm not able to take photos like these intentionally, this is an example of what I'm about to talk about.

What I'm saying is.

((*Snap snap* (blue balls on the colors lol.) you're almost to the end of the post. Take some pretty colors along with funny fonts and FOCUS. you are a TUMBLE WEED... OR A TUMBLR!! FOR TUMBLR AND YOUR MENTAL HEALTH. CHAAARRGG-))

It's very common to see things online that are made by people who have been practicing for years, are skilled at Photoshop, or who are just lucky like I was with the photo ((Yes, I know. I'm amazing, feel free to comment about how cool I am 💅))... Or made by people who are pretty and good with angles, Photoshop, or makeup. But the algorithm pushes those lucky and talented people TOWARDS you. This goes for ANYTHING, even if it isn't beauty influencers or photographers. Also, sometimes seeing cool things online at such a rapid rate can lessen your view on your own creations ((Whatever they may be.))

This concludes my very healthy reminder that you and whatever you do is amazing, no matter if you're just starting out of have practiced for a long time. Now please either take a cookie or a donut. 🍩 🍪

[belladoesmakeup]

Hi guys,

Looking for ways to make your makeup last longer in a heatwave? In the UK it is currently boiling and as someone who is pale and hates the heat, I need products that help me survive the day!

Here is a tutorial chatting you through my favourite products I recommend:

How to make your makeup last in a heatwave video link

If you have any products you recommend please let me know in the comments.

Lots of love,

Bella x x

[pinkverge]

What Is Photography? Photography Definition, Meaning (2023)

Photography is nothing but the art of capturing light with a camera to create an ‘image’. It’s a powerful medium to showcase your memories and express your creativity, and tell your stories to the world in an art form!

The term “photography” comes from the Greek words “photos” (light) and “graphos” (to draw or write). Joseph Nicéphore Niépce is the first man who took a first photograph back in 1826. Photography has made our lives have been shaped by it ever since. We have used it to document our memories, share our experiences, and tell stories.

Generally, photography has plenty of genres like Travel, Wildlife, Fashion, Documentary photography, etc… All of them serve their own purposes!

No matter what your interests & genre are, there is a type of photography for you. So what are you waiting for…? Just be curious and start taking pictures now!

Different Types of Photography?

Portrait Photography

Headshot Photography

Fashion Photography

Editorial Photography

Food Photography

Architectural Photography

Landscape Photography

Event Photography

Street Photography

Sports Photography

Product Photography

Wildlife Photography

Read More...

[miz-sophie]

cant really way I did a good job but this is my first attempt at trying to make to photos look natural together.

I used this 10 step guide to help and it had some very helpful tips, although I did find it hard to relate to their mostly white object to my bright colour full one.

[fabrickind]

DIY Cosplay Shoots in the Wild panel

Can't get a cosplay photographer? Want to yeet yourself into the woods and come back out with great photos? Join veteran cosplayer Fabrickind to learn the logistics, safety, and basic photography know-how for solo location shoots. Get those self timers and tripods ready!

This is just the bare bones of the panel, as many of the examples were elaborated on in-person, and it is just the slides, not any of my notes. It is not meant to be exhaustive or definitive, and is just meant for general advice and suggestion purposes only. If anyone has feedback they would like to give, feel free to do so. That said, I hope that people find this information useful.

Here is a link to a pdf of the presentation. You may download for personal use, but please do not alter the presentation, repost without permission, or do any sort of other unauthorized use. (If you have a question about how you can use this presentation, please send me a message with your question and we can work it out. I promise I’m not scary. ;]) Feel free to reblog this post as much as you want, though. I do these panels and post them because I want the information to be shared.

I hope someone finds this helpful! :]

[leota-nexus]

^ the process

v the shot

[samiefotography]

its already out click in the link below

Reimaging memories: learn how to colorize your black and white photo | photoshop tutorial

its already out click in the link above

[md3artjournal]

Watch "How to make Photography lighting Softbox at home" on YouTube