Ozine Fest Anime Figure Special

Based on the name of the event (Ozine Fest Anime Figure Special), I was hoping that there'd be more figurines available (specif. Revoltech or Figma), but the selection at the shops was rather limited. Thus, I spent more time shooting the cosplayers (again).

The usual image spam and photography geek stuff below.



<photography jargon>

• This event made me appreciate the value of constant aperture zoom lenses. All shots of cosplayers were taken at f/2.8, 1/125s, ISO 400, and it made no difference whether I was zoomed in or using the widest angle at 17mm. If I had used my kit lens (18-135mm f/3.5-5.6), I would have been forced to either A) spend half of the time adjusting the settings to account for the changing aperture as the lens is zoomed, or B) use a narrow aperture of f/5.6 to retain constant values.
  
  
• In these crowds, subject isolation via bokeh is difficult due to limited working space. Using off-camera flash to illuminate the subject and underexpose the background seems to yield more favorable results. Compared to the more typical external flash + diffuser combo, using an external flash closer to the subject produces stronger contrasting shadows and it keeps the floors and ceilings underexposed
  
  
• Now that I have no issues with the main gear, I've seriously got to work on my shooting angles. Shooting at close range at eye level results in a forward leaning appearance and exaggerated upper body size due to the relative distance. I intend to shoot next time at chest/torso level to minimize this (perhaps with a monopod and using live view to prevent back strain).
  
  
• 17-50mm is sufficient for shooting in the halls, but a dedicated telephoto lens is required for shooting anything on the stage.

</photography jargon>


Day 1 potshots (no flash):

Made a few purchases and took a few shots before calling it a day. Relying on ambient light alone was a terrible idea.


Day 2 potshots:

Making up for the limited merchandise, Team Oniichan had several collections on display for picture taking, and they even had an on-the-spot toy photo contest. I used the opportunity to play around with less common photography techniques.

reverse panning

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