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[Anime_Freak_]

I'm cosplaying as Alois Trancy, but, I can't come up with any good poses. I don't have the cosplay yet, but, I'm getting it pretty soon. So, what do you recommend?

[FiveRings]

http://www.google.com/images?q=alois...w=1217&bih=759

[cosIT]

Originally Posted by AleriaCarventus

Here's a question: Leaving photoshoots aside, just focusing on 'hall pictures', are you more likely to take a picture if the person is attractive, or if their costume's well done?

Excellent question, I do a lot of hallway photography (just breaking into photoshoots) so I hope I can answer this for you.
There's three things that catch my eye regarding hallway shots:
-A character I know
-A cosplayer who has put a lot of heart into their costume
-An attractive or body that compliments the cosplay.

Point #3 doesn't mean they are super hot bomb shell. I've seen plenty of cosplayers who are meaty and really bring out their work. To be honest, everyone deserves a photo of their cosplay, not only the cream of the crop. They put effort into their cosplay and they should have a photograph to remember it by.
Although I should add a disclaimer that I tend to only process the ones I feel reflect well in my portfolio. I've been trying to get out of quantity over quality.
With that said, I mainly go to conventions to show off the hard work of others as it is also a great photo opportunity.

[Axelai]

Here's a question, I'm genuinely wondering.

Do you do all your own photo editing, or do you sometimes allow the model to edit the photos a bit?

I ask because the three photographers I've ever done much with, they've all sent me the raw files and I edited them myself (as I'm self conscious about the bit of acne that shows through my makeup, as well as a few other things). And this isn't for like, crazy photo manipulation things. Just very normal looking shots.

So... is what i do the norm? Or the exception?

[parv]

Originally Posted by Axelai

Do you do all your own photo editing, or do you sometimes allow the model to edit the photos a bit?

I do my own regular editing; would not allow anybody else to edit without a written agreement. My main reason partly is I do not care for later prettification; come already as you would like to be.

I ask because the three photographers I've ever done much with, they've all sent me the raw files and I edited them myself

Axelai, receiving raw profiles instead of processed ones by default is obnoxious, I think.

(as I'm self conscious about the bit of acne that shows through my makeup, as well as a few other things). And this isn't for like, crazy photo manipulation things. Just very normal looking shots.

Did they tell (or you ask) why they were not giving processed files?

Did you specifically ask to them clear the skin even jokingly? If so, then that may be reason to avoid skin editing. That could be due to lack of such experience, or prospect of offending you due to too much or too little editing. In any case, giving raw files would be an, well, three, exceptions for various reasons.

Utterances of wedding & model photographers that I read seem to indicate your expectations about editing are normal.

Then again "normal" is relative, as you just saw.

[Ashurachan]

Originally Posted by Axelai

Here's a question, I'm genuinely wondering.

Do you do all your own photo editing, or do you sometimes allow the model to edit the photos a bit?

I ask because the three photographers I've ever done much with, they've all sent me the raw files and I edited them myself (as I'm self conscious about the bit of acne that shows through my makeup, as well as a few other things). And this isn't for like, crazy photo manipulation things. Just very normal looking shots.

So... is what i do the norm? Or the exception?

More like an exception. All the photographers I know edit their pictures themselves and consider it to be part of their work.
I'm a bit touchy myself on the subject and highly prefer when the cosplayer asks me for specific edits (I always send the set to the cosplayer before publishing, so that he can say when something doesn't fit him).

[Eriol]

Originally Posted by Axelai

Here's a question, I'm genuinely wondering.

Do you do all your own photo editing, or do you sometimes allow the model to edit the photos a bit?

I ask because the three photographers I've ever done much with, they've all sent me the raw files and I edited them myself (as I'm self conscious about the bit of acne that shows through my makeup, as well as a few other things). And this isn't for like, crazy photo manipulation things. Just very normal looking shots.

So... is what i do the norm? Or the exception?

I do my own photo editing and retouching, and I have had no problems from cosplayers I have shot. They have all been very happy to receive photos that were not your typical "con photos." Only once did I get a request for additional skin retouching, because the retouching was not adequate to deal with "shiny foreheads."

Your case, where you were handed the unretouched photos, is not something I would ever do, nor do I think any experienced and well-known photographers in the con circuit should do.

[sukotsuto]

hallway photography

I do hall photos almost exclusively. It is usually fun and I can meet a lot of people.

- The main reason I do or don't ask for a photo is the situation. If they are rushing past me or are situated where I can't easily ask, I just skip it. Also, sometimes when they give me a strange look when we make eye contact I also skip it.
- Sometimes I can't tell if they are in cosplay or not. Wearing a closet cosplay or a character that is basically in street clothing is one I would probably skip.

As for charging for my work, I pay to use Zenfolio as a site host that allows for selling of prints and high-resolution downloads. If they don't like the photo enough to reciprocate by buying one of those, they they can just download the smaller watermarked photo for free.

[Axelai]

Originally Posted by parv

I do my own regular editing; would not allow anybody else to edit without a written agreement. My main reason partly is I do not care for later prettification; come already as you would like to be.

Understandable.

Axelai, receiving raw profiles instead of processed ones by default is obnoxious, I think.

Did they tell (or you ask) why they were not giving processed files?

They could have if they wanted to, but it was just sort of... easier to give me the raws on a flash drive, I guess.

Did you specifically ask to them clear the skin even jokingly? If so, then that may be reason to avoid skin editing. That could be due to lack of such experience, or prospect of offending you due to too much or too little editing. In any case, giving raw files would be an, well, three, exceptions for various reasons.

Its not that they avoided it. Its just that the photographers I'm friends with and have worked with more of edit the lighting, effects, etc, and not exactly skin blemishes. I didn't bring it up to them, since with my two friends, they know I'm just going to edit that myself, and they'll go from there if they want to.

Originally Posted by Ashurachan

More like an exception. All the photographers I know edit their pictures themselves and consider it to be part of their work.
I'm a bit touchy myself on the subject and highly prefer when the cosplayer asks me for specific edits (I always send the set to the cosplayer before publishing, so that he can say when something doesn't fit him).

Understandable. Thats the vibe I was getting, which was why it was so odd to me since I usually edit them myself. That might just be a trust thing with my photographers, though, as they're my friends as well.

Originally Posted by Eriol

I do my own photo editing and retouching, and I have had no problems from cosplayers I have shot. They have all been very happy to receive photos that were not your typical "con photos." Only once did I get a request for additional skin retouching, because the retouching was not adequate to deal with "shiny foreheads."

Your case, where you were handed the unretouched photos, is not something I would ever do, nor do I think any experienced and well-known photographers in the con circuit should do.

Er... okay. I mean, I understand why you wouldn't, nor would I ever ask any photographer other than my friends, but I do think it is somewhat rude to say no one should do things just because you don't. I do believe my own edits on the photos came out good, and my photographers liked my edits and kept them. If there were a problem with it, they'd have not given me permission in the first place.

Thank you everyone who responded. I know what my friends and I do is not the norm now.

[Eriol]

Originally Posted by Axelai

Er... okay. I mean, I understand why you wouldn't, nor would I ever ask any photographer other than my friends, but I do think it is somewhat rude to say no one should do things just because you don't. I do believe my own edits on the photos came out good, and my photographers liked my edits and kept them. If there were a problem with it, they'd have not given me permission in the first place.

Thank you everyone who responded. I know what my friends and I do is not the norm now.

If these were your friends, then my statement does not apply. I thought these were strangers. You didn't mention that these were from your friends. There is a much more laid back atmosphere in regard to photos among friends than if you were receiving photos from strangers. I do not think I was rude for making my statement.

[Access]

Originally Posted by Axelai

I do believe my own edits on the photos came out good, and my photographers liked my edits and kept them. If there were a problem with it, they'd have not given me permission in the first place.

Thank you everyone who responded. I know what my friends and I do is not the norm now.

I would say it's by no means unusual among friends, or even people you know, especially if they're known to be photoshop experts or artists. You exchange and use whatever it makes sense to exchange and use, sometimes the raw is the best starting point; it just depends on what the expert / editor / artist wants to do with a photo.

Among strangers there is a little more suspicion because there have been enough cases of unscrupulous individuals doing things like asking for raws or high-res or unedited photos when they are not the person in the photo, stuff like that.

[cosIT]

Originally Posted by sukotsuto

I do hall photos[...] Zenfolio..

High five! Another Zenfolio user!

Originally Posted by Axelai

Do you do all your own photo editing, or do you sometimes allow the model to edit the photos a bit?

I process all my photos. My processing includes color correction, contrast adjustments, and exposure compensation. As far as throwing the image into photoshop, I don't have time to do every single picture and detracts from the subject.
Given the choice, I wouldn't allow the model to edit my photo. I feel that it violates the work I put into the creative process only for someone to ruin it. It also reflects poorly on me. I've found one person who cropped my watermark out for a FB avatar and I wasn't very happy about it since there was no credit. Just as cosplayers work hard on their costumes, so do photographers with pictures. I can only thrive off the watermark and credit. Without either, no one knows who took the photo and I can't grow.

[Access]

Originally Posted by cosIT

I process all my photos. My processing includes color correction, contrast adjustments, and exposure compensation. As far as throwing the image into photoshop, I don't have time to do every single picture and detracts from the subject.
Given the choice, I wouldn't allow the model to edit my photo. I feel that it violates the work I put into the creative process only for someone to ruin it. It also reflects poorly on me. I've found one person who cropped my watermark out for a FB avatar and I wasn't very happy about it since there was no credit. Just as cosplayers work hard on their costumes, so do photographers with pictures. I can only thrive off the watermark and credit. Without either, no one knows who took the photo and I can't grow.

Okay but here's where editing can come in, if you don't have the time to do every picture in photoshop and someone else wants to do that for their pictures (the pictures you took of them), why not? Making really good cosplay photos is a team effort to begin with. To me, there is nothing wrong with letting someone else be involved in the post-processing part of your work, especially if you don't have that time yourself.

And having a good starting point for editing can help to avoid wasted work, ie. if you are doing color correction, contrast, exposure, and luminance curve adjustments, and the cosplayer wants to spend more time retouching but is otherwise happy with your photo, their starting point should be where you stopped, not the raw or original unprocessed .jpg / photo.

For credit, I think it's more based more on who you know, and who likes to work with you. The truly remarkable photographers I know have such a distinctive style that people 'in the know' will look at their photos and know it's theirs. For most everyone else, when people look at a photo online, the photographer, credit, a watermark, etc. is pretty much ignored, they look and say 'cool costume' and then typically move on.

Who likes to work with you -- follow-up can be important here, even the seemingly trivial ie. determining which pictures to process and which to discard.

[Max_Archer]

Originally Posted by Axelai

Here's a question, I'm genuinely wondering.

Do you do all your own photo editing, or do you sometimes allow the model to edit the photos a bit?

I ask because the three photographers I've ever done much with, they've all sent me the raw files and I edited them myself (as I'm self conscious about the bit of acne that shows through my makeup, as well as a few other things). And this isn't for like, crazy photo manipulation things. Just very normal looking shots.

So... is what i do the norm? Or the exception?

I only deliver finished photos. That means that they've been edited by me or by a professional-quality retoucher I work with. We release photos that are edited to commercial standards, and have never had a negative reaction when it comes to the level of processing.

However, I don't give out RAWs, and I'm generally not OK with a cosplayer or third-party individual processing my photos. The style I choose to use in my processed photos is as much a part of my overall style as the photos themselves. (I process very lightly aside from touchups, but that's as much of a style choice as heavy filtering is.) I'm sure people will view that as overly controlling or egotistical about my work, but I have a certain style and don't want that misrepresented to somebody who might shoot with me. There's a chance that if I like a processing decision, the cosplayer could run it by me and I'd approve it, but it hasn't happened yet.

[kuroki-neko]

well i dont really know of any good poses for him and i dont want to look bad so anyone got any ideas?