At Another Anime Con 2014, I scheduled three photoshoots with Murder by Cosplay. It was my first time working with them, and I am so glad I did! Each day, I had one photoshoot. On Friday night, I had my Aoba Seragaki (DRAMAtical Murder) photoshoot. On Saturday, it was Mikasa Ackerman time (Attack on Titan)~! On the last day, Sunday, Murder by Cosplay shot my Maki Nishikino (Love Live!) cosplay. Be sure to check out their Tumblr and their Facebook!

The people behind Murder by Cosplay are not just photographers… They are cosplayers too! They understand how to conduct photoshoots for cosplayers since they have experience being cosplayers themselves, and they are also very friendly and understanding. The photoshoots feel relaxed and stress-free; they asked me what I wanted to shoot and what sort of poses I wanted to do, so I never felt uncomfortable or awkward.

First, I’ll share each of my Murder by Cosplay photoshoot experiences.

Totally not my phone.

1. Aoba

I felt so bad when I got to the photoshoot because I was running late. 😦 The photoshoot took place after dinner, and the restaurant I was eating dinner at had really slow service… It took a while to get the bill and then an even longer wait to get the change, so I had to call Murder by Cosplay and ask if we could move the photoshoot to a later time. They were very accommodating and said that it was fine, so I called them again when I finished with the dinner issue and quickly went to the lobby to meet them. My first time meeting them was fine; they were very friendly and introduced themselves and explained that they are open to trying to capture whatever photos I would like. I really wanted to get a photo in the elevator… And it took us several tries (pushing the elevator button a lot), but we finally got lucky and found an empty elevator! Before we found this elevator though, we took other photos while we waited. Here’s that precious elevator picture:

This photoshoot was a lot of fun, and I’m glad that they were willing to listen to my ideas for poses and help me out. They even let me borrow their iPhone (since it was blue and matched Aoba perfectly)! They even caught a silly picture that I absolutely love…

I present to you: Aobutt!

This Friday night photoshoot was a fun success! I am a very indecisive person, so I usually have trouble with thinking of poses; I am grateful for their patience with me. The photoshoot did not take long, but they captured lots of fantastic photos.

Attack on Photoshoot!

2. Mikasa

At 10 am on Saturday, I met up with Murder by Cosplay for an Attack on Titan photoshoot! It was chilly outside, but my cosplay kept me warm (although the harness/straps were as annoying as ever). We found a nice area next to the convention center where there were lovely trees, so we took some photos there! We also found other locations outside the convention center, like a small wall in front of a grassy area, where we tried to capture some photos. I was happy that the photographers did not try to rush me. The Survey Corps straps are really annoying to deal with, and even though I modified them with velcro, they still slip around. I had to fix them in between photos, and I am glad that Murder by Cosplay did not mind.

They also caught some cute candid photos! Here’s me fixing my straps:

#HarnessProblems

Ahh… those straps will be the death of me… (But at least I got some lovely photos! <3)

Sunny days are the best days.

3. Maki

On Sunday, I started off my last day of the con with a photoshoot with Murder by Cosplay! They were not familiar with Love Live!, so I quickly explained it to them and then we started picking locations for the photoshoot. I felt nervous because it was my first time cosplaying Maki and I was feeling stressed out over a variety of things, but Murder by Cosplay had a great positive energy and I was able to relax and come up with poses. They helped brainstorm for photoshoot locations and also helped with positioning some of my poses. It was easy to find nearby locations, and we made the photoshoot a fast one because my outfit was not very cold-weather-friendly (miniskirt problems…).

It was a lovely sunny day on Sunday despite the cold, so we caught lots of colorful pictures. The autumn leaves were a beautiful touch in many of the photos. ❤ I liked the variety of shots I got from Murder by Cosplay: some of them look more like portraits, while others are more artsy-looking.

Finally, my iPod matches a cosplay!

They also caught some silly photos, like me holding my skirt down. (By the way, it was really windy this day, so the wind was blowing my skirt a lot. The wind was evil.)

I hate you, wind. >_<

If you have any questions about the photoshoots, feel free to ask me or Murder by Cosplay. All of the photoshoots were really fun, and I hope you like the photos!

There are many things I love about Murder by Cosplay‘s photography policies. They have reasonable prices, they are open-minded, and they are honest and respectful. They allow you to repost their photos, as long as you credit them. Their watermarks are in convenient places; you can see the watermarks, but they are not obstructive or distracting. The watermarks look professional and do not detract from the photographs. They also allow you to edit their photos, which is really exciting! I enjoy photo-editing, so I’m always happy when photographers allow me to edit the photos after receiving them. When the lighting is too dark, I mess around with the brightness and contrast to give the illusion of better lighting. For example, the Aoba photoshoot was done at night, indoors, so the lighting was not very good. We had the indoor lighting to work with, so the lighting was a bit awkward. Below, you can see a comparison photo of before-and-after my editing:

I also became addicted to filters last year… So I will usually apply filters to photos (they’re so easy to use!) as lazy editing.

Here is a little blurb from them:

“Murder by Cosplay is a two-man studio co-founded by cosplayers Emile and Alex of the New England area.  Emile has been doing photography for the majority of his life, having studied the art of portraiture and site capture in college.  Alex’s field of study specializes in composition and design.  Together, both work to get the best images possible during photoshoots.”

I would definitely recommend Murder by Cosplay for anyone looking for affordable photoshoots. ^_^ Please check them out!

Maki in her natural habitat.

If you’re a photographer and would like to meet with me for a photoshoot, don’t hesitate to ask! I love working with photographers. ^_^ Check out my Facebook page for cosplay photos by Murder by Cosplay and others!

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