This was a fun shot to edit, featuring MINORI (TW) cosplaying as Ahri from League of Legends. This was my first time working with her, and I must say she is quite amazing at portraying the character: she really nailed the subtle expression to convey the slyness of the character, a feat that most Ahri cosplayers have failed. The shoot itself was too rushed, as I was hosting a drinking party in the same night, but we did end up with a few good shots, this one included.
The costume, as you can see, is bright red, and the hair blue. The strong elementary colors clashing against each other really messed with my color perception while editing this photo. I was confused to the point I had to re-edit the skin tone multiple times to salvage from the overly green or red tone that was applied previously. I think I got it good now, if not, it probably looks like an overdone SK-II commercial.
The orb also presented another challenge. Since it was quite a strong light source and held low, it casted highlights in many unwanted places on her face. Worse is they are blue highlights. To counterbalance this, I used a lot of red color brush to correct the hue, and diffused the highlights so it doesn’t bring out unpleasant features. The softened highlights actually helped a lot in brining out definition in many facial features. I might give this lighting setup more try and see how it works.
Other than that, lots of micro-adjustments like enhancing the lips and eyeliners, and also more annoying cleanups of the rather messy wig. This will make a good example of a photoshop tutorial should I write one. Until then, see you in Taiwan.