On the way back from Nancy’s maternity shoot in Sacrameno (see earlier post), my assistant Bekalou and I stopped by Vacaville to do a DC Superheroes shoot with Carladawn as Black Canary, Winken Goodfellow as Green Arrow, and Jessica as Supergirl.

After replacing a burned-out headlight, Bekalou and I made the short drive to Vacaville. After a little bit of driving around, we found Andrews Park, parked, and met up with Carladawn, Winkin, and Jessica. Andrews Park is a very pretty medium-sized park in downtown Vacaville; it has a wide variety of backgrounds, making it an excellent location for this superhero shoot.

Like with Nancy’s shoot, I used my Canon 5D Mark II camera body, Canon EF 135 f/2L lens, a Canon 580 EX II flash, and a reflector. Unlike Nancy’s shoot, though, I used a Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe softbox (held by bekalou) for many of the flash-lit shots. Also, for the shots after dark, I switched to the Canon EF 24-105 f/4L lens, and used a second handheld Canon 580 EX II with a Lastolite Big Bounce diffuser to create multiple light sources.

Group shoots are always fun because characters are more interesting when they’re interacting. Also, cosplayers get breaks while someone else is posing, giving them time to come up with more ideas for poses and shots. In this case, not only were all thre cosplays from the same universe, two of the characters (Canary and Arrow) have a complex personal relationship. This provided lots of fodder when brainstorming poses. In addition, all three cosplayers patiently (even when freezing their butts off in skimpy costumes) worked with Bekalou and I to get each shot set up perfectly. (Incidentally, this type of careful set up is next to impossible at convention shoots, which is why I prefer non-convention shoots.)

The downside of having such an amazing group of cosplayers at such a pretty location, though, is that it makes for a very long shoot. We met up around 1:30pm, and were shooting by 1:45pm. We were starting to wrap up around 4:15pm when Jessica mentioned that she had ridden to the shoot with her boyfriend on a motorcycle. After a brief round of “Wow that would be great for photos! Why didn’t you mention this before?”, we shot Supergirl, then Canary, and then Supergirl again on the motorcycle. This took us all the way through sunset around 4:45pm.

At that point, Jessica and her boyfriend had to leave, but the rest of us moved to an alley in downtown Vacaville and took some more urban-looking shots, including a very amazing “Alley Fight” set. We finally wrapped around 5:30pm, having shot for almost 4 hours straight.

The photos from this shoot are now posted on my site at http://l.oscarc.net/wv9OD6. Here are a few of my favorites:

You can view more photos from this shoot on my site at http://l.oscarc.net/wv9OD6.

In early December, I had the privilege of doing a maternity shoot with Nancy at Land Park in Sacramento. I’d shot with Nancy before at Fanime and DragonCon, and was very excited to work with her again. I was also going to meet and shoot Nancy’s husband Andrew for the first time.

Because the shoot location was 3 hours away, my lighting assistant Bekalou and I hit the road early that morning. Bekalou has been my lighting assistant at many shoots over the last two years, and has gotten quite adept at translating my grunts and cryptic statements into meaningful requests. She’s a great lighting assistant and I really enjoy working with her. (She’s also a top-notch cosplayer — check out her site!)

Traffic was lighter than expected, so we had plenty of time to grab lunch and relax before the scheduled 1pm start. Fortunately, the rain that had been forecast earlier in the week never materialized; the day was clear, with few clouds in the sky. It was also a bit chilly (in the 50s) and windy, but that isn’t unexpected for early December. Shooting in bright sunlight isn’t ideal, but in December it’s a lot less harsh than, say, July. We also tried to stay in the shade until about 3pm, when the sun was lower and the light more diffuse.

For this shoot, I brought my Canon 5D Mark II camera body, Canon EF 135 f/2L lens, and a Canon 580 EX II flash for fill. I purchased the 135 f/2L lens at a Black Friday sale a week before the shoot, and after taking a few test shots, was very eager to try it out “for real”. It proved to be the perfect lens for this shoot, letting me pick up more of the scenery than the 200 f/2L, while blurring the background better than any zoom lens could. Also, for some shots Bekalou held a reflector for fill. I brought some other lenses and gear along for backup, but I didn’t end up needing any of it.

The shoot itself was tremendous fun. Nancy was as wonderful to work with as I remembered, and Andrew was great too! For someone 9 months pregnant, I was amazed how well Nancy handled a 2 hour shoot that involved walking around a large park. Bekalou did an excellent job handling the gear, allowing me to focus on the shoot itself. We wandered around the park, shooting in various locations with various poses. Nancy and Andrew’s love for each other shined through clearly throughout the shoot; the photos of them as a couple made me feel like I was doing an engagement shoot. Despite some wind-related challenges, we got many excellent shots before wrapping at 4pm.

When looking at the shoot results, I was surprised to discover that in only two hours, I’d shot 661 frames. Part of the reason for the high count was because at f/2, perfect focus is absolutely critical; missing focus by an inch can be catastrophic. I shot more then I normally would to ensure that one misfocused shot wouldn’t cause me to lose a nice pose. Also, we wanted to take advantage of the many beautiful shoot locations at Land Park. The biggest reason for the high count, though, was that Nancy and Andrew were such great models, with lots of ideas for poses, and a willingness to try my and Bekalou’s suggestions.

With help from Bekalou and my wife Caroline, I was able to bring the photo count down to 121. After my usual processing in Lightroom and Photoshop, I posted them to my site at http://l.oscarc.net/zi2nkI.

A few of my favorites are below:

You can view the rest on my site at http://l.oscarc.net/zi2nkI.

A few of my favorite photos posted in 2011 are below. You can view the rest at http://photo.oscarc.net/keyword/BestOf2011.

You can view the rest at http://photo.oscarc.net/keyword/BestOf2011.

A big thank you to Mic Costumes for interviewing me for their blog! It’s now up on their site at
http://www.miccostumes.com/blog/photographer-interview-with-oscar-cwajbaum/

The birth of child #2 and a new job has been taking up most of my time for the past 6 months, but things are beginning to settle down. I exoect to start posting regularly again soon!

This year’s NorCal Spring Cosplay gathering, organized by Bekalou and me, was a lot of fun. We decided to hold this year’s gathering at Kelley Park in San Jose. Previous Spring gatherings were held at Hakone Gardens, but Hakone’s restrictions and fees were a concern. Even more importantly, Hakone was starting to feel cramped given the number of people who were attending. Also, the previous two Summer gatherings at Kelley Park convinced us that Kelley Park is better when it’s cooler, and that we should find a new, less hot location for this year’s Summer gathering.

My first photography decision for this gathering was to rent the Canon 200mm f/2 lens. This is one of Canon’s best lenses; it’s very sharp and has great bokeh. Its only downsides are its weight and its price. (It’s also conspicuous as heck, which doesn’t matter for gatherings.) For lighting, I brought along two AlienBee lights with softboxes.  To trigger & control them, I used my PocketWizards with the AC9 AlienBee adapter and the AC3 controller.

It was windy in the morning, so I shot with natural light for the first few hours. The 200/f2 lens was a dream, and let me get some really great shots:

After a while, the wind started to die down, and I found some volunteers to hold to light stands in case an unexpected wind gust came along. I set up my lights, and with my volunteers’ help, I started using the lights for my shots:

The PocketWizard AC3 controller made shooting with the AlienBees a breeze. It gave me three dedicated dials for controlling the power of my lights. No more digging into the menus or walking up to the lights to make adjustments! This was especially convenient with the 200/f2, which, because of its long focal length, required me to stand fairly far away to get full body shots. I can not imagine shooting the ABs without the AC3 any more.

Thank you to everyone who came and made this gathering a success, with a special thanks to everyone who posed for photos or helped me with my lighting gear! Also, an extra-giant thanks to Bekalou for organizing this with me! I look forward to seeing everyone at the NorCal Summer Gathering at our new location!

More of my photos from this gathering are on my photo site at http://l.oscarc.net/jBKCLz.

Other photos from the gathering:

• BlizzardTerrak: https://www.facebook.com/pages/BlizzardTerrak-Photography/115737278473539
• CoachOta: http://ota.smugmug.com/Events/Anime-Cons-and-Events/NorCal-Spring-2011-Cosplay/16851241_nc55PW
• Eurobeat King: http://www.acparadise.com/acs/display.php?c=6783
• KittyCatChi: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v661/WrentheFaceless/Norcal%20Spring%20Gathering/
• Moogleborg: https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150567527050554.665065.567470553
• RedRoses: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.1506807530463.58934.1842556226&l=6d1418cc40
• Ritsu H Saotome: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.151755521557848.37460.100001702041185
• Stormfalcon: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.2036078787335.127024.1405181169&l=da59b3dee8, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.2036109188095.127025.1405181169&l=783ee84253, http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j73/Stormfalcon_sj/NorCal%20Spring%202011%20Cosplay%20Gathering/
• Tenchi Fan: http://faidoi.smugmug.com/Cosplay/Kelley-Park-Cosplay-Spring/16878384_94ZFQM
• WinterWish: http://winterwish.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=8327

My 2011 Cosplay Calendar is now available. It has 13 of my favorite cosplay photos that I’ve posted in the last year. The calendar itself is 11″ x 17″, press-printed on 110# semi-gloss paper, and spiral bound at the top.

I will be selling copies of this calendar for a limited time, for $24 each. Shipping is $3.50 a calendar. If you live in the San Jose area or are coming to Anime Los Angeles, you can save on shipping by requesting hand-delivery of the calendar. To purchase one, or if you have any questions, email me at photos@oscarc.net.

Below are a few sample pages from the calendar. You can preview all the pages in the calendar at http://photo.oscarc.net/Calendars/cosplay-calendar-2011/14909383_e7kCg

See more at http://photo.oscarc.net/Calendars/cosplay-calendar-2011/14909383_e7kCg

Casual photographers take cosplay photos by stopping people in hallways; more serious photographers schedule shoots during conventions. But to be a really hard-core photographer, you need to set up private shoots at scenic locations far away from any convention center.  That’s what I did recently, by inviting eight cosplayers to join my wife, my daughter, and I for a long weekend at Angel’s Camp, CA.

Angel’s Camp is a beautiful small town about three hours east of San Jose, at the foot of the Sierra-Nevada mountains, and about one hour north of Yosemite. It has lots of open fields and small hills, and is near Calaveras Big Trees State Park, with its forest, river, and mountains. This combination of locales made it the perfect place for several cosplay photo shoots.

Day 0

Before the trip, there was much discussion about logistics and timing for the departure from San Jose, but in the end, things went fairly smoothly. We left from my house more or less on time in a rented minivan and my Camry. We hit some traffic on the way, but not as much as I had feared, and after a pit stop at A&W’s, we arrived at Angel’s Camp. After checking in and unloading the cars, a team was dispatched to the grocery store to get food for our stay. After that, we wanted to eat dinner. Because everything closes so early in small towns, we ended up getting fast food. A quick Avatar DVD marathon, and we went to sleep.

Day 1

After a delicious breakfast, we headed out for the Avatar: The Last Airbender shoot at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. This shoot had Azula (bekalou), Toph (blueskadoo), Katara (athena), Sokka (Keikishei), and Pien Dao (Michael).  We started out shooting by a river:

After shooting there for a while, we moved to a forest location, where I finally got a chance to try out my new AlienBees lighting equipment:

After that, we moved to another river location:

One quick stop at a scenic overlook:

and we headed back to Angel’s Camp, exhausted.

You can see the rest of my photos from this very fun shoot at http://photo.oscarc.net/Conventions-Cosplay/Photoshoots-2010/Avatar–The-Last-Airbender/13437821_YmKKp. You can also see Kazuha’s photos from this shoot at http://heulangel.smugmug.com/Conventions-Cosplay/Projects/Avatar-The-Last-Airbender/13331538_AS3S2. 

After a very filling dinner and a relaxing soak in the hot tub, it was back to photography.

First, I did a shoot of Keikishei as Son Goku:

You can see the rest of the photos from this shoot at http://photo.oscarc.net/Conventions-Cosplay/Photoshoots-2010/Son-Goku-Keikishei-Saiyuki/13387509_8NVCR.

After that, I did a shoot of Bekalou as Syaoran in the Dragon Illustration costume:

You can see the rest of the photos from this shoot at http://photo.oscarc.net/Conventions-Cosplay/Photoshoots-2010/Syaoran-Tsubasa-bekalou-Dragon/13400937_s723R.

One quick Avatar DVD marathon, and we all went to bed for the night.

To Be Continued in part 2…

General

This was my first year at WonderCon — I’d never been able to make it to WonderCon before. I’m glad I came! There were many great costumes, and I took a lot of photos.

I only had a few photoshoots set up ahead of time, so I tried something new for my hallway photography. I did a little of my usual hallway photography, wandering around and taking photos, but that didn’t work very well because of the crowds and because the venue is not conducive to mobile photography. Instead, for most of the convention I set up a mini-studio in an out-of-the-way (but not too out-of-the-way) location, and did minishoots with cosplayers who walked by. Several other photographers, including Mike from ConPix, set up shop nearby, and together we had an informal photography area going.  This ended up working out pretty well. The only disadvantage is that a lot of the shoots look similar, since they were shot in the same location with similar lighting.

The convention itself was very different from other conventions I’ve attended. Unlike most anime conventions, congoers for the most part seemed passive; they were here to be entertained and to shop. Unlike Dragon*Con and other fan-oriented SF/F conventions, WonderCon felt very industry oriented. The weirdest thing for me was that the hallways started getting quiet around 5pm. That’s not to say it wasn’t fun; just that if you attend expecting Dragon*Con West or Anime Expo North, you’re going to be disappointed.

I considered staying at a hotel, but ended up driving up from San Jose all three days. Parking was expensive, but not that hard to find, so it wasn’t too bad.

I’m really happy I attended this year. I spent time with many old friends and made several new ones, and I got a chance to shoot costumes very different from what I typically see at the other conventions I attend. I look forward to coming back next year!

Photos

I’m still working on processing the photos from WonderCon, but some of the shoots are finished and have been posted. Here are some of my favorite shots: (click on a photo for a larger view and for more photos from that shoot.)

More of my photos from WonderCon 2010 are at http://photo.oscarc.net/Conventions-Cosplay/WonderCon-2010.

Summary

High points:

• Lots of great costumes
• Very friendly attendees and staff
• Ability to set up a “mini-studio” for hallway photos instead of fighting crowds

Low points:

• Weather (it was raining one of the days)
• Backstage masquerade photo area
• Dealer room crowds

WonderCon & Fanime Photoshoot Scheduling

• I will be at WonderCon Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. This will be my first year attending WonderCon, and I’m really looking forward to it.
• I will be at at Fanime Thursday evening, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday.

If you are interested in a free private photoshoot at WonderCon or Fanime, please email me (public@oscarc.net).  After your shoot, you will be able to download free web-sized, watermarked photos from my web site. Full-sized, unwatermarked photo downloads and prints are also available from my site.

You can see photos from shoots at previous conventions at http://photo.oscarc.net/Conventions-Cosplay/Photoshoots-2010.

Future Conventions

For various reasons, I will not be attending Anime Expo this year.  I am considering attending Pacific Media Expo, and will almost certainly be at ALA 2011, so I will be able to do shoots of SoCal cosplayers at those conventions.  My next convention after Fanime will be DragonCon in Atlanta,.GA.

Photo Processing Update

There are five more ALA photoshoots and one AOD photoshoot that have not yet been posted. I’m processing them as fast as possible and hope to have them up very soon. Thank you for your patience.

One of the most frequent photography-related questions I get is, “Which camera should I buy?” Given the sheer volume of digital camera models being introduced every year, and the mega-hype associated with every trivial feature, it’s not surprising people have a hard time choosing a camera model. When I get asked this question, I usually run down a quick checklist of questions (budget? SLR or P&S? etc.) with the person, and then make one or two recommendations based on my experience.

Apparently, the bloggers at Make The Photo get asked the same question a lot too, because they’ve put together a flowchart with the same type of questions I normally ask, along with their own recommendations for each category of photographer. Their flowchart is available at http://www.makethephoto.com/how-to-choose-a-digital-camera/.

I love this flow chart for several reasons:

1. It uses roughly the same questions as I use, in the same order, so it matches how I decide which camera to recommend.
2. It recommends the same cameras as I would in most situations.
3. The flow chart is regularly updated as new cameras are introduced. The last update was a few days ago, when they added the newly-announced Canon T2i.

In other words, if you use this flow chart, you’ll get the same recommendations as if you’d asked me directly, assuming I was able to keep up with every new camera announcement. From now on, when someone asks me for a camera recommendation, I’ll first point them to the flow chart, and, if they have any questions, I can answer them. Yay for the Internet!