To keep up with the Tradition to  post things way too late I present you today the pictures of the Dokomi which was held at the beginning of June. These Pictures have actually been sitting on my Flickr Account for quite some time but my Flickr WordPress Plugin died on me recently and I didnt feel like inserting them manually.  In the end I decided to do this post anyways since there were some pretty nice Cosplays attending. Hit the Jump for the pictures!

First off I have no clue if these pictures might be too big for the screens of some of you.If this should be the case be sure to drop a comments so that I know for future posts. As of now there doesnt seem to be any other proper plugins that would take this workload of me.

This was my second Dokomi and while the program of the convention wasnt any special ,which is to be expected of such a small convention, there sure were some really nice Cosplays present to make up for it. Overall this years public interest was far more than expected and the  loaction was loaded with people. I expect the organizers of the even to switch to a different location next year since there isnt any room left to grow which in itself is a good thing.

I was in the lucky position to make my bro come with me as my lackey which isnt fun since it includes  hauling a softbox around and  reacting to my commands. I dont think that he really did mind though. The next convention ill attend ill have to make do without a Flash-Boy/Girl  and Im sure that itll be an adventure itself…

The weather was a fierce mix of heavy  bright sunlight and  some rainshowers inbetween and it was hard to get the right settings for  these pictures so some  are a lil bit too blown out. Furthermore I  realized that my D3000 is reaching its limits since it isnt offering high speed synch and therefore I am limited to a rather closed aperture on such days without any nice Bokeh.Its a real shame when you outgrew your camera in some areas but are still not up to better ones in other areas so I am really pondering if I should invest into a new body. Guess that this all depends on my next tax refund

One of my biggest flaws yet is still the ability to see what makes a good picture and turning it into reality. Most of the time it ends up in mere Portraits since I know jack about poses or composition.This is something I try to work on yet have problems with to turn into action. I think my pictures are getting better over time on the technical side but this  more creative side seems to be my weak side.

One of the good things that came out of the Dokomi is that I was able to  make some contacts with nice people and that ill be able to take pictures with them in the future which is always a good thing since its really limiting when you are  taking pictures at conventions only.

Before you start to doze off I better start posting pictures though huh?

Lets start off with this group of Guilty Gear Cosplayers. I started to fangasm when I saw them and I hope that I didnt scare them off to much with my enthusiasm. I am really lucky that Ill be able to meet them again at the Gamescom with even more Guilty Gear cosplayers <3<3<3

Millia Rage is definately one of my fav characters. She was really happy I recognized her

Next up is everyones favorite Trap

My absolute Highlight of the group was A.B.A though <3

As you probably noticed the light on the GG Cosplayers is rather harsh thats because Iaccidently set my DSLR to 1/250th and my Cam is only able to synch up to 1/200th ^^;;;;;

Next up are two Highschool of the Dead Cosplayers I encountered and luckily I was also able to talk with them a bit and  well be able to take some more pictures  next weekend. Hopefully these will have a better background than these:

I admit that I dont really like either Character but the girl doing Rei is cosplaying as Saeko next week <3

And since all good thing happen thrice Ive met yet another group, this time from Kannagi, which Ill be able to take pictures of later on aswell

Yeah, I sucked ass with the flash in these pics ^^;;;

This is my absolute favorite out of the Kannagi set. The lighting on her is so nice~ I wish I could have done the same with the other girls ^^;

Kami-nisama and Haqua from the World god only knows

Beatrice from Umineko

Kino from Kino no Tabi

The Great Murdercase with the culprit from Gintama, the victim from Naruto and the investigators from Ace Attorney XD

Emma Skye eating snacks way past their prime

Pearl trying to be cute

Pearl trying to be angry

Hakufu and Mou-chan

And then I stumbled across a Gintama Group and I was sure that this was such a successful Convention in tracking down stuff that I like. Even if i can appreciate good cosplay its still the best for me when its from a series I like.

Do you notice something?

Maybe now?

I expected so… Since this always happens to me. These two revealed to me that I photographed them the other day too! Its Kami-nisama and Haqua XD

Aww Kyuubei why must you be so hot? <3

The Birako arc was actually more enjoyable than I thought

Maggie Byrde, Maya Fey and that weird ass cook from Ace Attorney

The Sperm Girl from Touhou err I mean Yomu? I think XD

Rachel Alucard from BlazBlue

DRRR!!!

And now something for the Ladies:

FREAKAZOID!

QUAILMAN!

I always liked the Persona Designs but sadly I have no clue who these two are cosplaying ^^; Oh WAIT! A Bird suddenly told me that its nameless Maincharacter Dude and Mitsuru Kirijou

To round this off ill post some more pictures of the  Girls that opened this post:

I still dont know what to make out of that pose ^^;;

Oh man inserting these pictures manually took me more than an hour. Please tell me there are still some Flickr Plugins that are working with the newest  WordPress Version. Otherwise my desire to post will drop even more….

Heres one last picture for the ladies of an especially sexy fella

EDIT: Damn the dark BG makes those highlights really pop out…. ^^;;;, On a light BG they look just fine …. Another lesson learned XD

I am wondering how this post will fare against all the boob-laden posts I usually do because this time its solely about a guy.He was the third Cosplayer at the Event I attented in December and of course I also gave him the attention he deserves even though taking pictures of guys wont become a favorite past-time of mine XD

Hit the Jump for some Pictures and some further rambling!

I know that this is totally out of the usual context of my blog but I hope people wont ignore it or worse just because its pictures of a guy this time.I think that he should have the same opportunity as the girls to be photographed and published on my blog.Even if this isnt your Cup of Tea i think its only fair to acknowledge that also males are cosplaying and putting effort into this.

I was rambling about how I got interested in Cosplay Photography in my other post and ill refrain from doing that again. Instead I wanna talk a bit about what I learned from the shooting and the weather we had to work in.Its pretty obvious that it was snowing around that time of december and boy was it snowing.We were pretty lucky that it wasnt snowing for the most time during the shooting and were able to have a smooth session without having to take cover or switch location.

I took my small Lastolite Reflector with me because I thought that it might come in handy because there were actually people that could hold it for me this time. Soon after arriving in Cologne I realized that it isnt needed though because the snow is of course reflecting the light, making the reflector obsolete.This well known property of snow brought up another problem I already expected to encounter: your DSLRs Light Metering System is pretty useless. The Whiteness of the snow is messing pretty badly with it,ending in underexposed pictures unless your manually correcting your cameras setting or shooting in M mode.

Throw in a bright Costume like Garuru`s and your in for a pretty hard time.I had my fair share of trouble to get well exposed pictures of him.Unlike the two girls hes covering less of the frame and as a result more snow is visible ready to mess with the my DSLRS`s Metering. Throw in the wacky yellow Jumpsuit and you get many bad pictures that sadly end up in the garbage bin.

Talking about that wacky Jumpsuit…Garuru is cosplaying a Character named Hiro-C from a series called Dear Girl-Stories-Hibiki which I of course have never ever heard of before.I tend to notice that what I like and Cosplayers like doesnt seem to be compatible at all.I guess this is mainly rooted that I feel more in touch with the English Speaking Scene and those are often limited to the german scene only.The Fact that I have a tendency to like Ecchi Series is probably also noteworthy even though I am of course not limiting myself to those only.

As you might have already noticed theres also a inconsistency of colours and sturation inbetween these pictures which werent as obvious with Hotaru & Kyouya.This is also due to the fact I had a hard time balancing exposure,colours and saturation in Lightroom thanks to the snow and jumpsuit. Its not awfully bad but noticeable and I cant see a way around it unless I tone down the pictures and take away some of the BOOM. To me Cosplays are alot about the colourful Outfits though so I decided to live with it and hope for better working conditions the next time.

What else is there to say? Its still obvious that my Composition has alot to be desired and I still have problems to get rid of pictures that didnt turn out too well but I am strangely very attached  to them.The next CFS is just around the corner and hope that my experiences from the first CFS will help me to take pictures there.

Its actually pretty hard to find interesting poses for a Cosplayer whose character you have absolutely no Information about.In the end you have to make everything up on location and that doesnt work out too well as you can see in this set.My only excuse is that I jumped into this three days before the event and couldnt look anything up about the characters.This is definately something ill have to chance for the next event.

Many things happened the last few months and theres no real excuse that the blog has been on hiatus this long except for my own lazyness.I hope to keep up with the blogosphere and my own blog from now on though and hope to make this somewhat of a routine of mine for the last few readers of my blog that are still left

As you may remember Ive taken a liking to Cosplay Photography and had the Chance to delve a bit deeper into it last December.Hit the Jump to read about my experiences and for the first set of pictures.

One of the very first things I realized after getting an interest in People/Cosplay Photography ( whatever you wanna call it ) is that its very hard to get Models to practice on.Your very first move would be to look around if someone  in your family or friends want to be your very personal guinea pigs but atleast in my case everyone acted like I had the Cholera, Smallpox and the Black Death all at once.

Cosplayers on the other hand are the exact opposite,since they normally are happy when someone asks for pictures of them.The fact that they share the same general hobby as you is a definite plus aswell and should break the ice in the at first awkward situation.

My first experiences with “Cosplay Photography” were the usual Events where Cosplayers popped up and you could snatch a few pictures of them.I started off as nearly anyone with a Point and Shoot ( the Nikon Coolpix P50 in my Case) and took pictures where the opportunity arose and I had the guts to ask for a picture.

Ive bought my first DSLR,the D3000, last year and this is where my interest in Cosplay Photography turned into a serious interest after realizing all the possibilities in regards to techniques and posing of the character.My pictures were still pretty much on the same level as my point and shoot camera but I hoped to work on that.

Ive spent some time on the Internet and reading Photography books and a short time later I decided to switch from my Kit Lenses (with limited abilities) to a high grade 50mm Prime Lens by Sigma.The Crop Factor of my DX Camera  turned the 50mm glass effectively into a 75mm Lens which makes it a nearly perfect lens for portraits.I was hestitating a long time about this decision since it involved a good chunk of cash but the 50mm Prime has basically become my exclusive glass nowadays. There are a few occasions where I switch to my 15 – 55mm because of space restraints but otherwise I stay faithful to my prime.

Fast Forward a few months and another Convention and I realized the next big step I had to take.Taking pictures every few months at a Convention might be fun but pictures will stay mere snapshots because of the surroundings and you get only very limited experience out of this.This is where I realized that I actually have to do some social networking even though I am no big fan of it.I gave out my namecards a few months later at the Animagic but the resonance was rather small you could even say nonexistant.This is where I knew that I had to rely on the one thing I actually hoped Ill never have to do: register at the biggest german Anime/Manga/Cosplay FanSite.

As probably most of you I try to avoid local Anime Communities like a hikkikomori avoids the outside.Most people registered at these sites are a whole different breed than those wed usually like to socialise with but most suprisingly I didnt encounter any of those yet.Instead of glomping Yaoi fangirls Ive gotten Access to a pool of  Cosplayers aswell as Cosplay Photographers and most importantly some exposure to the potential peer group.

I joined a few Circles there and luckily soon after that an Event  popped up that I swore to attend: The First Cosplay Foto Shooting NRW. It was organized by one of the Sites`s members called Kyouya who took part in similar Events in Munich. Its basically about people meeting up and having a good time while posing and taking pictures.The First Meet Up was rather small with only one Photographer and three  Cosplayers but I actually liked the laid back atmosphere of this. You dont have the pressure of  having to take great pictures like with a private Shoot ( I am still learning after all) but it isnt overcrowded like a Convention either.

Throw in some people that are fun to work with like Hotaru, Kyouya and Garuru ( hes gonna be featured in a  different post) and you can produce some pretty decent results.These pictures were taken in cologne during the snow-ridden december days and proved to be quite challenging in terms of lighting.On the one hand the Snow masses made a reflector nearly obsolete because it was reflecting so much light but on the other hand it was hard to find a balance between blowing out the snow covered parts of the picture and correctly lighting the subject.I still have huge problems to pick only the cream of the crop and usually keep more pictures than  true photog would ever do.Guess I just cant part with my babies ^^;

The Girls were Cosplaying two characters from the Show Hitman Reborn! of which I havent got a clue of because I dropped it after 2 epsiodes of enduring the annoying name giving protagonist ^^;;

Hotaru cosplays as a guy known as Dino Cavallone  and Kyouya is doing a apparently humorless fella called Hibari Kyouya.If youre more interested in the characters id recommend that you check out Wikipedia or if youre more the M type of personality feel free to endure watch the series.

Before the whole post looks like a giant wall of text ill stop now and save up some for the second post thats coming hopefully sooner than later ;-P

These two pictures represent a dilemma I often have.Nearly Identical pictures yet I like something about both of them and in the end I keep them both anyways…On a second Look these two arent looking too great though ^^;

Here we have a special case where I didnt want to get rid of the picture above because it is essential to the Titanic Feeling we wanted to catch with these pics for fun.The picture above has a very busy background with objects that disturb the “composition”.The picture that follows is alot better in that department but isnt really showing the rail which takes away alot of the desired  atmosphere.Only Hint to Titanic here is the pose of Hotaru and Kyouya

I like how these turned out

SNOWBALLED!

Okay were now sort of entering very mild Yaoi territory but remember this are two chicks just dressed up as guys basically making it very mild implied Yuri ~~ XD

I like this closeup the most out of the three pictures even though it isnt showing too much of the winter scenery.Yup another case where I can definately decide on only one picture and  keep them all ^^;

Same goes for the lying in the snow acting all gay pictures ^^;

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures out of the whole set.Hasnt got anything to do with serious cosplaying because the girls were goofing off while I was trying out my settings.Sometimes natural pictures beat the best planned ones

Here we have once again the case where I have nearly identical pictures with lightly varied poses where I couldnt decide on only one.

Kyouya doesnt seem to be too happy about the Bird

Thats it for today girls and boys! I know that I still have a long way to go before my pictures are “truly there” but so far Ive been quite happy how these shots turned out. That doesnt mean I am open to any sort of critique though.If you got any hints or advice feel free to share be it composition,lighting or postprocessing of the RAW Files.

Check out my Flickr Set if you cant get enough of Hotaru and Kyouya and want to see some unused pictures!

I thought it might be a good idea to show that I am not dead and decided to make the best out of my situation right now and post some pictures from my trip to Belgium in late August.After alot of trouble and mishaps I savely arrived in Hasselt and was able to meet up with Smithy.The Results of that Trip can be found after the jump!

Smithy told me a few weeks ago about the biggest Japanese Garden in Europe which is located in Hasselt/Belgium.We decided that we could meet up there if the weather allows it and soon decided on a weekend.It turned out that the weather god wasnt on our side but luckily we were able to enjoy the garden without getting wet.

Smithy didnt come alone but also brought along his Yoko Dollfie to take some pictures of her and to convince me to join the dark side.It was quite funny to see other visitors reactions when Smithy started his  photo sessions with his big ass doll.Before I arrived at our Destination I got lost in the Netherlands though and arrived about 1 1/2 hours late in Hasselt and then had major problems finding that damned garden.Smithy already told me that its okay to bail out if its such trouble to get to him but  soon after that I found him.Due to all that trouble most pictures didnt turn out too great but I decided to post them anyways since I used them as Training Material for Colour and Lighting Adjustment.Its my very first try and fear some results may look unnatural ^^;;;

There isnt much more to say as of now except that until the mold situation in my flat is solved I can only update very irregularly and only do things like magazine/artbook reviews since I cant access my equipement for figure reviews.

Enjoy the pictures!

Those were some BIG and vicious Koi!!!!

Ive finally made my debut as a more ambitioned Cosplay Photographer last weekend at one of Germany`s biggest Conventions called Animagic which was held in our former capital Bonn.Upon my arrival I was armed only with my trusty camera gear and optimism that Ill finally succeed in doing more than snapshots of people in weird clothes.Did I succeed? Find it out after the Jump!

First off I want to send a huge thank you to Meronpan for the support and guidance he gave me when I told him a few months ago that I want to get into Cosplay/Portrait Photography.He endured alot of silly questions and chatter from my side and was patient all the time.Its thanks to him that I decided for my Sigma 1.4 50mm Prime and not for the photographers standard solution of a Zoom Lens with 70 – Something mm. I simply dont wanna turn back to my Zoom Lenses after laying my hands on my prime even though it involves alot of walking to frame the subject. ^^;;;

One of my biggest drawbacks in taking pictures of cosplayers has been my shyness in regards to asking them for their picture.I always felt kind of awkward taking pictures of girls in scantily clad clothes and had a hard time during the Japanday`s aswell as the Dokomi.Luckily I overcame that shyness pretty fast at the Animagic and throughout the days Ive shot more than 750 pictures.The Organizing I did the last two days was pretty time consuming but I wanted to post only the cream of the crop ( which in my case is still pretty mediocre ^^;)

Another thing that took me some time to get used to was to hand my meishis to the cosplayers since I felt once again awkward advertising for myself like this.I thank JimmPantsu for encouraging me to hand my meishis to Cosplayers.It turned out that most cosplayers were more than happy to take my card and who knows maybe some opportunities arise from these exchanges.

Since were already talking about German Bloggers  I recommend you to take a look at JimmPantsu`s aswell as TMSIDR`s  Cosplay Gallery.We were often prowling together for our prey,thats why quite a few pictures display the same characters but in the end the personal preferences of the bloggers resulted in a nice variety of pictures.

My last big thank you goes to all the cosplayers that did allow me to take pictures of them.You all rock!

Time for some pics otherwise its TL;DR huh?

Who you`re gonna call?

Fuu,Mugen and Jin from Samurai Champloo seem to be obsessed with a dango ^^

One of the many alternative Saber costumes which I think is from Fate/Extra

Wedding Ceremony of the Dead? eh…I mean BRAAAAAAAAAIIIIINSSS!

PinkStoneShooter and what I believe to be Kei Kishimoto of Gantz

EXCAAAAALIBUUUR!!! and Free from Soul Eater

Decided to spice up their poses a bit eh voila…Wonderful!

Stein,Death the Kid and Soul from Soul Eater beeing Asymmetric

Thalassa Gramayre from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Thalassa,Klavier Gavin and Ema Skye from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Black Star joined the Gang!

I believe that this guy is an early Version of the Guy in Jin Roh ^^;;;;

Lookie,Lookie I even photographed Miku and Luka for you fine people

Furio Tigre from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Excel and Ha-chan must have been in dire straits since no Menchi is to be seen ^^;;;

Love and Peace!

This is a very coolsome and dedicated Voldo Cosplay including barenaked ass.

Taokaka is more confusing than regular cosplayers since you cant even see the cosplayers face

Ranulf,Lethe and…girl I forgot from Fire Emblem

Zoidberg and Fry

Blair from Soul Eater.One of the few instances where shes running around fully clothed ^^;;;

Looks like Frank West took care of the Zombies

Now hes thrown into a much more fightening nightmare than a city crawling with the undead: an anime convention.

But hes gonna be alright.Why you ask? He`s covered wars ya know?

Our favorite  14 year old readhead with boobs like melons: Yoko

Another Taokaka! I wa sreally pondering if I already took a picture of her or not.Luckily I didnt

I think these are the Silent Hill Nurses without that stuff on their faces?

Oh Yoko how I love your big …Gun

This is the Moment where I went Nuts… A Queens Blade Cosplayer of our favorite non-loli Ymir the Dwarven Steel Princess! And this was only the beginning!!!

Nabeshin and his afro

Gintoki without his trademark dead fish eyes and Haruko with her trademark Rickenbacker

Okay,okay in this Situation a  WideAngle Lens would have been the better choice.Crappy Framing aswell and  poor Konata is hidden behind  the PomPoms….Im sorry girls ^^;;;;;;;;;;;

Claire and Jill!

I guess Frank West had help clearing this area of Zombies

Lucy/Nyu and Nana

The cast of Jibril: the Devil Angel

My hats of for cosplaying a hentai series.Btw that series had an interesting way to level up your powers … ^^

Fanboymode increased! Second QB Cosplay Get!

Menace and her trusty friend Sethra! Too bad she was so busy.Would have liked to take some more pics because it was a great cosplay.

Harima and Tenma

I think I must have foam on my mouth when I saw QB Rebellion Ymir and QG Alice XD

Those two were really nice and agreed to take a few more pictures later

Gurugu Mawaru! Harima,Tenma,Sou,Eri,Hanai and Yakumo with Iori!

This is where I have to apologize to the awesome Alice Cosplayer…I used the intelligent auto focus function of my camera during this shot and the camera was intelligent enough to focus on the wall instead of you…It didnt show up blurry on my Cameras Screen even when I zoomed in otherwise I would have taken another picture worthy of the pose I asked you to do.

On the other hand these two look great.I especially like the close up of her face below

Heres a short intermission before we continue with the pictures…

When I asked Alice and Ymir for a few more shots with posing all the sneaky photographers jumped out of their corners and started taking pictures aswell.I never knew how annoying it feels as a photographer when other people take advantage of the fact that you asked for pictures.I felt quite pressured  by all the people taking pictures behind me and is probably one of the reasons why I messed up the full body Alice Shot. I used to do the exact same thing on the Japandays and now I realize that it isnt exactly the nicest thing to do since youre disturbing the photographer that had the courage to ask and wants to take some nice pictures.

I dont want to sound snobby or anything but guys please wait until the other ones done and then ask for pictures again.

Awesome QB Rebellion Ymir Cosplay! She should have come with Eirin!

Great Pose!

Love how these Close Ups turned out thanks to bokeh

Elizabeth! I wonder  what happened to Zura?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Gundam and Transformers united!

Heres a nice Aria Cosplayer!

Was fun to see how much she enjoyed  that pictures were taken.

BRS once again but this time with blue flame…and a Blowfish Reflection in her Shades XD

Shichika and Togame from Katanagatari.

Too bad that no Maniwani Ninjas were around

CHEERIO!

Yes,another QB Cosplayer! This time its the infernal temptress Airi waiting to suck out your life energy!

The funny thing is by the time Airi popped up I thought that its not possible for me QB Cosplayers popping up but I was completley wrong ^^

Asuka and Rei in one of the trillion alternnative costumes

Row,Row fight da Powa!

Yoko,Nia and Simon

Yup,this Ymir also agreed to let me take some more pictures

Thank you!

Meryl Strife must have been in cold sweat when she realized that there were several Vashs running around the area ^^

Black Gold Saw by the former Ymir Cosplayer!

God I love Closeups with a nice bokeh

Nicholas D Wolfwood beeing badass

DRRR! Mikado + Anri beeing harassed by the Ganguro Girls

Poor Shinobu was all alone…Noone else from the Bakemonogatari cast was seen.I do know that she also cosplayed Taokaka.I wonder if shes one of the Taokakas I got infront of my lens.

Milly Thompson infront of a terribly outburnt sky

Yes! More QB <3

Elina beeing sneaky

A girl in Shuffle Uniform! Sadly I forgot the characters name ^^;

Real Life Mario Kart!

Hehe… Okay,this is where it starts to become epic!

Nowa and Tomo from QB

Ru is just hanging around.Lazy Ape!

Young Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Yay! More QB!

This time its Sai Nyan from QB Rebellion!

Remillia and Hong Meiling

Remillia is sporting such a great pose!

Woot! New QB Cosplayer get: Alleyne!

I guess its time to say that I was really,really lucky  and that there was a QB Meeting going on.You can only imagine how happy I was,as the QB Fanboy I am, when they allowed me to come with them to take  some more pictures.

A BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG THANK YOU to you girls. You cant imagine how happy you made me with this.

Heres another Airi thats beeing watched by Beethoven in the background

Thats the cast I was allowed to tag along with: Ymir,Airi,Tomoe,Alleyne,SaiNyan,Nowa

I was really excited that this opportunity showed up and therefore I made quite a few mistakes like forgetting to change the ISO Higher when shooting with a smaller Aperture which resulted in blurred shots.Its quite a bummer because I wanted to give my best for these shots.

I hope the girls arent too disappointed by my shots.I hope the other Photographs pictures turned out better

This was a hard decision…I couldnt choose between these two pictures for a few reasons:

Picture one is crisper but has the other photographers arm in it and Tomoe is nearly completley covered by Airi

Picture two is a bit more blurry but everyones visible and hasnt got the photographers arm in it.Sadly Airi isnt looking too good in this shot.Seems like I  pressed the button in the wrong moment ^^;;

If any Cosplayer is reading this: Do you prefer good compositions or good expressions? Both at once would of course be the optimum but what woul you choose if you had to pick one?

Recreation of the Anime!

This Picture is kinda awkward since Ymir is completley covered by Airi ( seems like Airi likes to do that) and it was the only one of the series that didnt turn out blurry.The Bokeh on Airis face on the other hand was on purpose.I wanted to give the picture a feeling of depth. I hope you dont mind Airi ^^;

Celty and Izaya

Celty Cosplay sounds good on paper but looks rather unspectacular in person.Its not that she did a bad cosplay but  Celtys gear is just black and a helmet.Theres not much for the eye to discover

The wise deity Horo

And last but not least Trucy from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

The last few days have been quite interesting for me since I think that Ive gained alot of great personal experience not only in regards to photography but also in getting in contact and socializing with others out of this weekend.Its great that you get so many chances tomake your shutter click and to ban so many people on your cameras sensor.Ive shot quite a few crappy shots throughout the weekend but I also feel that Ive taken quite a few nice ones.

I learned to always double check your settings before jumping into an exciting shooting the hard way but hey we all started as beginners right?

Im gonna rest now for a bit and gonna post a Convention Impressionn Post in the next few days.

Until then~

Blowfish

PS: None of these Shots were edited in any kind.Just developed them with Lightroom and Watermarked them in PS Elements.

My,my how times fly by….This is already the third time I am posting about the Japanday and yet I cant get enough of it even though its always more or less the same.Hit the Jump to see this years coverage and lotsa pics from the EKO Haus.

In case you are new to my blog id recommend you to read last years coverage since it covers alot of areas I wont be covering this year because I attended other events this time and I couldnt take any pictures of the fireworks because it started to rain in the evening.

One thing I didnt expect is that my trusty Nikon Coolpix was able to make better night shots straight out of my hand unlike my shiny new Nikon D3000.Guess its Tripod time next year!

Ive met up with Tami once again and we went straight to the Eko Haus in Oberkassel this time.It had no admission fee on Japanday and both of us were quite curious about its garden,buddhistic temple and the classical japanese house replica.I must admit that I went a little bit triggerhappy but whos to blame when theres such beautiful scenery and great weather?

Lets start with the garden area

The first 108 Visitors during New Year are allowed to hit the bell

This statue is of a prince whose name Ive forgotten but it was erected around 2002-ish ^^;

Lets take a look at the buddhistic temple!

Was incredibly hard to take good pictures in there.It was so dark that even High Iso Pictures needed a long exposure.I should have really taken a tripod with me.

The Japanese House was as expected rather small and since I only had my 55-200mm lens with me I wasnt able to take any pictures of its interior.The only pictures I took there were the view from the porch into its garden.

One of the things I noticed when entering the Eko Haus was the long list of disclaimers that you have to agree upon when entering the facility.Its a given that you should ask for permission when doing professional pictures for commerce and I didnt mind that rule but what really got my attention was the part that asked for appropriate behavior on a religious site and to not pose/act out things on pictures.

This is where I am reminded once again about western anime fandom and how much I hate the attitude of those so called Japan Lovers.In the end theyre just a bunch of snotty brats acting like the world is theirs not thinking about other peoples feelings.Im am 99% certain that these rules were added because some of them thought itd be a great idea to have one of their cosplay meetings there.I have no problem with these kind of gatherings if done in an appropriate but many people act like dicks and have an negative impact on other peoples enjoyment.MEH

Anyways….Tami and me went to eat at the Naniwa afterwards and around that time JimmPantsu arrived in Düsseldorf and we met up later during the day.This is actually quite a miracle since the japanday was crowded as usual and it was actually hard to spot good cosplayers let alone normal people. De_jay who later joined us was especially hard to spot even though he came dressed in his Minori gear ^^;;;;

The fact that it was this crowded resulted in very few Cosplay pictures even though I was more motivated than during the dokomi.Nevertheless I finally had the guts to ask a few people to get their pictures taken which is quite an achievement for me.I was especially happy that the Durara!!! Cosplayers agreed to let me take some pics at a less crowded area.

Nevertheless Ive made the resolution to attend the Animagic to take more pictures and getting used to it.Im gonna tag along with JimmPantsu and TMSIDR to not feel completley lost though.

Took this one for Persocom ^^

Shopped

This was my first try at shopping something and I think the result was actually quite good.I was really pondering if I went too far or not but in the end I think that she still looks natural enough.Whats your Opinion?

Original

Liked that reflection

The Popculture zone was underwhelming as usual <.<

Pantsu`s Mochi

A wild Pantsu appeared!

Taking Night Pictures with my point and shoot was so much easier

So what did I learn from this day?

I learned that my 50-200mm Camera is far from beeing optimal for taking portraits with a nice Bokeh and while Meronpan recommended me a nice lens I am more than open for any recommendations from the more experienced photographers.

To top this post off Ill finally reveal my real identity to my readers:

Pic is Courtesy of JimmPantsu

Thats it for today folks!

Blowfish,Over and out

EDIT: I was able to recover most posts after the big disaster with Guys Help and this is the first and only post Ill do before the redesign.Would be a bummer if I had to change everything again ^^;

Ive finally found some time to settle down and work through the impressions I had the last two weeks.Two weeks ago I attended my very first convention Dokomi and this weekend was the Japanday and boy was I dead after these events!

Anyways hit the Jump to read my thoughts about my first Convention experience !

Some of you may remember that I actually wrote a post about last years Dokomi in german and that I planned to visit it because its a cat throw away from me.In the end I didnt make it there but planned to attend it the next year. I am not a fan of western anime fandom and its behavior and planned to use this as a testrun before shelling out some cash for one of the bigger conventions in Germany.

The Dokomi is a rather small self-organized convention and didnt burn my wallet too much with its 14€ for the Weekendticket.I didnt expect a convention on the level of the established ones throughout Germany and wasnt expecting too much from the experience except an understanding of the overall convention feeling.

I visited the first day with my brother whos rather the gloomy type and to be honest I hated that day even though it was a rather short lived experience since I had to urgently appear somewhere else in the middle of the day.I just didnt feel like taking any Cosplay pictures because I felt rather shy about it even though some pretty good cosplays were attending there.

My brother didnt feel like going there the other day and so I decided to spend my day with JimmPantsu and his Anhang B who was also attending the convention.This is where the up until then shitty experience turned into something fun.Its alot more enjoyable to spend the day with someone that shares the same interest (except for the dreaded Moe) and to just talk about random stuff /take pictures of cosplays you like.It just feels alot more natural to be with a fellow blogger than standing in a crowd of people you dont like at all and trying to get “into the mood”.Thats why I highly recommend you to not go alone or with a only remotely interested gloomy brother XD

Lets get back to topic:

If I had to judge the Dokomi Id compare it to a school festival where everyone is having great ideas and giving their best but fails at achieving the highly set goals.The fact that the Dokomi was inside a school building even undermined that feeling ^^;

I personally felt that the whole event lacked some organisation, since some simple things like timetables or floorlayout were nowhere to be found,but I guess thats forgiveable when the event is organized by only a handful of people doing this in their free time.

One of the few things I was quite curious about was the merchandise but I once again discovered that I am as far from the target group as possible and most things are aimed at younger,less seasoned anime fans.The few vendors that set up their stores at the con had quite steep prices and I am actually shocked that some people buy these.One of the examples I do remember is a Naru Narusegawa figure for 329 € o.0

There was also a booth that had some doujinshi in stock and I shuffled through them and it looks like they updated their Doujinshi Stock the last time in the 90s since most Doujinshi were EVA and Love Hina and price from 15 to 25€.The newest Doujinshi I found was a Guilty Gear one and that one also had some years on its back ^^;

I cant say if other conventions have these steep prices aswell but vendors wont see any money from me with such ridiculos prices but as said before I am not the target group anyway.

One of the few things I looked forward to was the Cosplay DSLR Workshop and due to some unlucky events we ended up with only two attendees but this turned out to be a great chance for us since we were able to pierce Tentakelmonster, the hostess of the workshop, with lots of specific questions and it was quite a fun time.The Workshop focused more on Etiquette,Law and Postprocessing than the technical mumbo jumbo and while I was at first a bit disappointed it sparked some interest in cosplay photography.Tentakelmonster grabbed one of my meishis and I hope shell shoot me an email when shes back from the USA.

The rest of the Dokomi was the what I expect to be the typical Convention Events with Cosplay Tourneys,Showgroups etcetera,ecetera.

Didnt I forget something? Oh yes! The Meido/Host Cafe! Since I was dead broke I couldnt attent the Meidocafe and youll have to check Jimm Pantsus Blog for some pics of Meidos ^^;;;;

Photography Wise it was an quite interesting experience since I had to switch lenses and needed to adjust to the changing surroundings and I think this alone made the trip worth its money.Thanks to Meronpan Im also eyeing a new lense that might prove more useful during those events.

I didnt take many cosplay pictures mainly due to the fact that I planned to take them on Sunday and alot of cosplayers were already gone at that time and I didnt feel like taking pics of ANY cosplay.

Overall the Dokomi was a flawed yet nice experience thanks to the right people and I am thinking about attending another one this year with Pantsu again.

After all that talk its time to show some of the less than spectacular pictures ^^;

Another thing I learned during the Workshop is that you should take your time when doing Cosplay Pics which I didnt really take while doing any of these shots ^^;

I guess I just have to get some more confidence to ask these people out.

Blowfish – Over and Out

Japanday Post will be Wednesday-ish

Disclaimer: This post will be void of any half naked plastic girls so if you came to fap you have to options: Fap anyways or search for better material somewhere else.

Now that,thats outta the way I welcome you to my picture dump of my last few trips with the newly aquired camera.Most of these shots are rather mediocre at best but I hope to learn from them for future photo trips.This Blog wont turn into a photo blog but ill post some of these from time to time to get some advice from bloggers with more experience.

Hit the Jump and bash my pics XD

The picture you see above is one I am rather confident of but then again these long night exposure shots are rather easy to make and its kinda scary to stand in the woods with such an expensive piece of equipement all by yourself.I also did a shot in the opposite direction and I guess a too long exposure isnt good either since the lights kinda blurred out in it.

It was hard to focus all in the dark since the autofocus didnt really work and I had to manually focus onto something and it was harder than I thought.I wonder if theres a more elegant way than messing around with the focus and praying that the picture will turn out halfway sharp?

I try to take most of my shots in manual mode and its sometimes quite a hassle to figure out a good setup.Ive noticed quite a few times that even if the scale tells you that the picture should be correctly exposed its over or underexposed in the end.This isnt a big issue under controlled lighting and evironment like doing Figure reviews but as soon as you leave your home it gets a bit more complicated.Sure theres the Option to Use Aperature/Shutter Speed Priority but I feel that I might rely to much on those if I get used to them.

Another thing I noticed is that you cant always trust the manual White Balance settings either when doing outside pictures.This picture has a horrible blue tint even though I took it with the daylight setting.I wonder if this is due to the fact that I took it during Dusk?

I followed Anonys advice and started to use the Auto White Balance afterwards and took my pictures in RAW + Basic JPEG format if theres a need to readjust the White Balance afterwards.To my astonishment the Auto WB seems to select the correct setting in most cases and there was no need to readjust any of the pictures I took after following his advice.

The following pictures were taken at the Japanese Garden and Nordpark and I did everything manually for the very first time.I didnt use a Tripod and some of the are rather shaky ^^;

My absolutely favorite picture of the whole Japanese Garden set.These Girls simply ran into my frame and I love how naturally it turned out.

Okay,this one makes me look like a stalker hiding behind a bush ^^;;

There was quite a bunch of Cosplayers around that day

Overall Id have to say that these rather lack punch but I guess it was because of the April Weather

Continuing with the Nordpark

Lately when I am on my Photo Trips I always stumble across Married Couples doing their Wedding Pictures

Dont ask me how many tries it took me to capture these.Should have really taken a Tripod with me

This Tree was full of Bumblebees ^_^

These are my favorites out of the Nordpark Set

It took me quite some time to get my butt up again to take some more pictures but yesterdays weather was fairly nice and I tried the Schloß Benrath and the Rhine.I shot the following pictures in Manual mode RAW and Basic JPEG with Auto White Balance and since the JPEGS turned out fine I didnt touch the RAWs yet.

Dont wonder about Shaky pictures because I once again forgot to take my tripod with me ^^;;

Its totally awesome that I came across these cutie pies

Accidently catched a pigeon during her flight ^^

I wish all of my images had this kinda punch

Ignore the half-naked dude with beer in this otherwise nice image XD

That japanese Dude with daughter was funny. He was enjoying himself as if he was a child

I liked the light in this one.

Its kinda hard to get good low angle shots.I somehow always tilt the camera so that I am getting weird angles.

My legs in the lovely riverbank sand ^^;;;;;

Girls collecting seashells

Japanese Dude doing a balancing act XD

Taking pictures of a japanese girl taking a picture

Marriage Shots again! They must be following me around

Nice Car!

Ive already talked a bit with Smithy about how to get some more Punch into my Images and he recommended me to buy a Pol Filter and to hope for bright Sunshine.If you have any other hints be sure to tell me

I hope I didnt bore you to death with these pictures and I promise its back to scantly clad plastic women soon XD

Oh noes! A post in German! Gonna upload a English Version later!

Im guten,alten Deutschland gibts ja eine handvoll Anime Conventions aber dem alten,knausrigen Blowfish sind die natürlich alle viel zu teuer und viel zu weit weg.Was glaubt ihr wie froh ich war,als ich vom Doitsu Komiku Market,kurz DoKoMi, erfahren habe.Die Dokomi findet am 30/31 Mai in Düsseldorf statt. Interesse? Dann schnell weiterlesen nach dem Jump!

Die Dokomi findet in der Aula des Freien Christlichen Gymnasiums in Düsseldorf-Reisholz statt.Sie ist somit bequem mit der S6 vom Düsseldorfer Hauptbahnhof und kurzem Fußmarsch zu erreichen.Zum momentanen Zeitpunkt beläuft sich der Preis für ein Tagesticket auf 7 (Sa.) / 8(So.) bzw 10 Euro für ein Wochenendticket wenn man zeitig vorbestellt

Geplant und veranstaltet wird das ganze in Eigenregie von 4 Jungs die sich eines langweiligen Nachmittages dazu entschieden haben nicht immer nur von der eigenen Con zu träumen sondern das ganze auch umzusetzen.Das Team arbeitet ehrenamtlich an dem Event und plant nach der Kostendeckung den ganzen Gewinn an humaitäre Hilfsorganisationen zu spenden.Ich hatte selber die Möglichkeit mit einen der Jungs ein paar Worte zu wechseln und bringe mal meine bisherigen Eindrücke zur Geltung

Cosplay + Doujinshi = Win?(Gelbooru)

Ursprünglich sollte das Event die deutsche Antwort zum Comiket werden,was leider an dem Deutschen Copyright scheiterte.Die Dokomi wird noch immer einen großen Doujinshi Bereich bieten,jedoch wird sich hier nur Original Material von Künstlern finden.Während einige dies mit Sicherheit Schade finden werden freut es mich das somit den kreativen Köpfen mehr Platz für ihre eigen Kreationen geboten wird.Neben den Standartevents wie DCM Cosplaywettbewerben,Japanisch Workshops,Games Room sowie zahlreichen anderen Events wird es noch eine großen Bereich für Anhänger der Gothic Lolita Fashion geben.Unter anderem wird es einen gesonderten Wettbewerbsbereich für diese geben.

Da der gute Blowfish ja selber schon so langsam zu nem alten Oji-san wird freut es ihm natürlich besonders,das die Dokomi als erste Con Deutschlands ihr eigenes Meido-Cafe eröffenen wird.Auf Nachfrage mit den Verantwortlichen wurde mir garantiert das sich nur 1A Schinken in den Meido Outfits befinden wird.Der richtige Augenaufschlag sowie Begrüßung wurde ebenfalls schon gewissenhaft geprobt.Gereicht wird so ziemlich alles was von einem Meido-Cafe erwartet wird.Ob die Meidos einem auch aus den ausliegenden Mangas vorlesen oder ob es auch potente Battle Meidos gibt ist mir jedoch unbekannt ^^

Ich hoffe jedenfalls das dies zum Standardoutfit des Cafes gehört (Gelbooru)

Wenn ihr mich auf der Con treffen wollt sucht einfach nach dem Typen der aus dem Meido-Cafe geflogen ist.

Wenn ihr euch jetzt denken solltet das,das genau euer Ding ist und ihr aushelfen wollte verweise ich euch auf folgende Seite.Viel Mehrbesser fände ich jedoch wenn ihr euch hier anmelden würdet und mir ein Erdbeerparfait samt Sahne reicht.

Neben vielen gesonderten Veranstaltungen bietet die Dokomi natürlich auch noch ein Programm auf das ich kurz näher ein gehen möchte:

Samstag

• 10:00 Einlass
• 12:30 Eröffnungsveranstaltung
• 13:00 Newcomer Showgruppen
• 14:00 Deutsche Cosplaymeisterschaft (Einzel Cosplay)
• 16:00 Showgruppen
• 19:00 Comedians

Sonntag

• 10:00 Einlass
• 12:00 Gruppencosplay Wettbewerb
• 14:00 Versteigerung
• 16:00 Convention Foto
• 17:00 Verabschiedungsshow

Ich hoffe einfach mal das ich ein paar von euch dazu motivieren konnte euch auf der Dokomi blicken zu lassen.Ich find echt klasse was die Jungs bisher so auf die Beine gestellt haben und finde das wir sie auf jedenfall unterstützen sollten. Sollte sich irgendeiner meiner Leser auf der Dokomi rumtreiben,können wir uns gerne einmal treffen ^^

Heres my coverage of the Japanday 2009 in Düsseldorf!This year was quite thrilling since it stood in the stars if the Japanday would actually be held due to swineflu.Many japanese citizens got infected with it and they feared that it would spread among the festival crows.They luckily decided that theres no real danger and I was able to take some pictures and videos of the event. Hit the Jump for this years impressions!

Ill start of with a brief summary what the Japanday actually is :

On June 13, Düsseldorf will turn into an Asian metropolis: the Japan Day 2009 will again attract visitors to the Rhine with an eclectic programme. A new feature is the pop culture zone, where thousands of Manga fans disguised as comic figures make the Japan Day the most important meeting point of their scene in Europe. Further highlights are a ten-hour stage show, free-of-charge join-in actions and the biggest Japanese fireworks display outside of Japan. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to witness the event featuring over 850 participants.

The popular meeting festival is repeated for the eights time and begins at 1 p.m. It starts with songs and dances by boys and girls from Japanese kindergartens, performing for the first time in front of a big audience on the stage at Burgplatz in the Old Town. In the evening there will be a classic concert by the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker. Also, drum artist Leonard Eto will perform for the first time in Germany on that day.

With free-of-charge join-in activities, numerous stalls between Old Town and Rhine embankment will provide a realistic insight into Japanese culture. Far-eastern skills such as Origami, Ikebana and Calligraphy can be admired or even tried out. In a camp, Samurai present magnificent armours and long arms. There will be demonstrations of Japanese sports such as Sumo, Judo and Karate as well as the art of archery, Kyudo.

To conclude the festivities around 11 pm, pyrotechnicians from the Far East will ignite the biggest Japanese fireworks display outside of Japan. For the light-spectacle in the sky, lasting almost half an hour, the organizers will have thousands of pyrotechnic articles shipped from Japan to Düsseldorf.

In Düsseldorf and its region live more Japanese citizens than anywhere else in Germany (11,300 in North Rhine-Westphalia, of which 6,400 in Düsseldorf alone).

(Taken from the offical Homepage)

To sum everything up: Its damn awesome ^_^

I already visited last years Japan day but it ended up in total failure for me due to bad weather and me getting wet tp the bones.Last year I went there flast year for the cosplayers but I didnt take any pictures of them (except for one awesome dude) this time.There wasnt anything that really tickled my fancy and ill leave the coverage to JimmPantsu.I tried to cover some of the more cultural evens and fireworks.I finally upgraded my Flickr account to Pro just for this post I finally found some use for myYouTube account aswell and uploaded a bunch of videos there aswell.I also took a 15 minute video of the firework in the end but itll take its sweet time until ill be able to upload it somewhere.

The Japanday gave me the chance to meet up with some fellow bloggers aswell.I knew that Jimm Pantsu and gang were going there and idle blog talent Tami called later aswell.Its always fun to meet the people behind their blog and if your in my area dont be shy to ask for a meet-up .

I went there around 12 Pm and it was absolutley stunning weather.Never expected the weather to be this good and i ended up with a sunburn ^^;.

The festivities started around 1pm

Düsseldorfs Mayor Elbers and some Japanese politician are openening the japanday

Stunning weather.

The sumo girls getting ready

I started with watching the Sumo event and to my suprise those two girls are ranked 2nd and 5th in the world ranking.Sumo Fights are actually really short and a matter of seconds.Another interesting fact was that in the female sumo wrestling world the eastern european countries are a force to reckon with

Some training beforehand

If i remember right both girls were called Nicole but they werent twins ^^

I headed down to some food stands and checked out what they had but oh boy their stuff was pricey.Good thing I made a Bento .

Fried noodles – 5 Euro >.<

I headed down to the Kyudo range afterwards to check out their marksmanship and those guys know their stuff

I took a video aswell but I forgot to twist the camra and its pretty crappy

While I was heading to the pop culture zone I found the best Cosplay of the day and I simply had to take a snapshot of the Project Rub dude.Seriously how awesome is this?He nailed everything perfectly down!

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

A J-Pop band called the Jelly Beans had a gig there and it was kind of a disappointment.This may be due to the fact that I dont like J-Pop but its kinda awkward when two girls are jumping,teasing and singing and everything else is pre recorded.I have No Idea if this works in Japan but it clearly didnt work here.I only took a picture of them but luckily i found a video of them on YouTube later.

Their normal voices were pretty high pitched.I wonder if they thought that its cute?

Not my cup of tea

Naginata Demonstration

Training of the shounen Kendo Club

Kendo Ceremony

And finally a Kendo training fight between two boys

And last but not least my absolue highlight of the Japanday 2009 besides the firework:

The Male Japanese Choir with what id call the Frog song

Ke-Ke-ke-ke-Ke-ke-Kero-kero-kero-ke-ke-ke-ke-kero-kero-kero-ke <3

Short before we were heading to a good fireworks viewing spot we watched a real superstar:

Leonard ETO and his Band Blendrums

It was an absolutely stunning performance and im kinda sad that we were in no good filming spot.Ive found this small movie on youtube though:

The Sun started to settle down and everybody was getting ready for the highlight of the Japan Day: the traditional japanese fireworks.It gets really crowded around this time and they expected about a million visitors this time

It starts to get crowded on BOTH Rhine sides

Getting darker

Yummy? Mushroom

S.T.A.R.S:!!!

AWWW!! How romantic!

Sad smiley is sad

TAMAYA!