Kollogov

Cosplay in Lehenga

XT1068

Aperture 200000/100000 ISO 1250 Shutter 6586/100000 Focal Length 3540/1000

upload_date

Sep, 2016

Views

1037

Likes

+18

Awards

People's Choice in Conceptual Fashion portraits Photo Challenge

Peer Award

Top Choice

Outstanding Creativity

Superb Composition

All Star

Emotions

Impressed

Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in a friend's home. It's a self portrait actually. That's me dressed like a girl. We had been planning for this shoot (me urging my friend) for almost a year before the fateful day of August 13, 2015, when it finally happened.

Time

It was evening. I had reached my friend's home that evening with excitement. After some tea and snacks, we went upstairs in her room. She took out her clothes and helped me put them on, for what did I know of wearing women's clothes- LOL! Well, my friend, Puja, has the credit for costume and styling, of course.

Lighting

Yes, lighting is something I'd be happy to talk about for this photo. After dressing up, we started shooting in normal fluorescent light for home. There was one tube light. But then there was a power failure and the light went off. We were in dark for some time before Puja switched on her emergency light. It is the light from from the emergency lighting which can be seen as the overexposed area at the bottom right corner. Besides, I was also perspiring without fan and I was worried about the light make up used. Anyway, we took some quick shots with the emergency light on my left and the camera flash from the front. Then lights came on and we had some more shots.

Equipment

Well, I don't generally consider mobile phones to be proper photography devices. But that evening I didn't have my camera because it was out for some servicing. So all I had was my Moto G (2nd Gen) and its inbuilt flash. As for the tripod, well, there was my friend Puja. I would come up to her, make the camera settings and go back to posing while she tapped the mobile to capture the shot.

Inspiration

Well, this is one my most favourite photos and there is more than one inspiration behind this. At a very young age I had learned that Lord Krishna once dressed like Radha to try understand what she felt like. Since then I had been haunted by the same thought- what it is like to be a girl. And I wanted to follow Krishna's ways. To me, it was celebration of (romantic) love. Indian spiritualism has another concept called Ardhanareeshwar, meaning the God who is half man and half woman. It depicts equality of man and woman and the importance of both to hold a unit of society, that it, family. So this photo is my tribute to both Indian spiritualism and the female population world over, because I think they are special and deserve more care from the male population. Well, my friendship with Puja was only some months old but very deep when we were discussing such ideas and how to bring a female out of my male body.

Editing

Post processing is always a must for me. Little adjustments, if not major changes like those in Photoshop, help finetune the image to visually more appealing. This was a colour photograph. But when I went into the editing process, I thought that it would be more intriguing in black and white because that would bring out the mystery element, the little adventure that we went through due to lack of electricity. That was all- turning from colour to B&W and little brightness-contrast enhancements.

In my camera bag

Besides the mobile phone which we always carry, my photography equipment consisted so long of only the Canon Powershot A1200, a mere compact digital camera. Its only two months now that I have finally managed to upgrade to a DSLR- Canon EOS 700D with two lenses: 18-55 mm and 55-250 mm.

Feedback

Well, I hardly know anything about fashion photography, but if cosplay is the question, the foremost thing to be considered is the kind of costume that would be proper for the model/subject. Ours was a fun project, but you know- having fun is serious business. So plan ahead. Lighting is to be kept in mind. And lastly, post-processing as per the theme and vibe of the image is necessary.

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Kollogov

Kollogov

Cosplay in Lehenga

Behind The Lens

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