Here we present the last of our Gen Con 2024 portrait subjects! Cosplayer Chris Gehrich signed up for a session at the convention, thanks to the recommendation of Mike Burd (featured here!).
Chris created a Final Fantasy paladin cosplay with wings that folded out. The costume had glowing lights in the sword, shield, and wings. As we discussed the session, Chris talked about a dream image for this paladin and showed us some references of a dramatic pose with huge, sweeping wings of light.
Our first objective was to capture something as close to the pose in Chris’s dream image as we could, within the capabilities of our Gen Con setup and portrait offerings. However, once we captured that pose with the wings extended, Chris pulled the wings back in and we got some intimate character portraits.
After some initial shots with a blue gel filling the shadows, we removed the gel and took some portraits without any colored light. Chris did an excellent job with these, showing a more thoughtful, contemplative side to the paladin character.
At the end of our twenty-minute session, I put the blue gel on my big light and flooded the whole scene with blue.
Later that day, after the Gen Con cosplay parade and contest were over, we encountered Mike and Chris in the convention center. That’s when we found out Chris won first place in the video game cosplay category for the paladin! Every year, we’re so thrilled to photograph subjects that place (and win!) in their categories in the contest.
Post Processing
In the weeks following Gen Con, we communicated with the subjects of our mini sessions, asking which portraits were their favorites. To these we made detailed edits. Chris chose one of the candidates for the dream image.
I needed some practice for my current Gods and Heroes of the Aegean series, so I composited a background from paintings, and on Chris’s request added some magical flames to the sword and shield. I still have a lot to learn about compositing around light in Photoshop, and every image I work on is another step in that direction, so I’m grateful to Chris for the opportunity to practice!
And with that, we conclude our Gen Con 2024 mini sessions! Many thanks to Chris for signing up on Mike’s recommendation, and I’m grateful for all our past clients who reached out and brought Distant Era back to Gen Con for 2024. It was wonderful working with everyone and capturing the portraits of their beautiful and detailed cosplays!
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