PhotographyBanzai.com

This year I attended Anime Magic 2024 on Saturday. I'll be going over my experience there, the photography aspect and interacting with people. Usually, I talk about the technical aspects of photography first, but I wanted to switch things up. Check out the related YouTube video for a lot more photos and such. Nikon Z5 Digital Camera: B&H: https://bhpho.to/39tFgdr ebay: https://ebay.us/bKxFRk Nikon NIKKOR Z 40mm f/2 Lens:  B&H: https://bhpho.to/44vC6lK   Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JRxcWP   ebay: https://ebay.us/Z0U1fW   As an affiliate of these shops, I earn from qualifying purchases! Keep in mind it doesn't matter what I link but rather time from the click, which is usually 24 hours.  Anime Magic: A Growing Convention with a Unique Vibe Anime Magic is a relatively new convention, and while it's growing, it still maintains a smaller convention atmosphere. I've found that it fills a void left by larger conventions like Anime Central (ACEN), which have moved...

Anime Magic is a relatively small but growing anime convention in the Chicago area, and 2022 marked my first time attending. I was curious to check it out mainly to photograph cosplayers. Even though it’s not as massive as Anime Central, I wanted to get this video edited before the next convention I plan to attend. Entrance to the main area. I have to say, Anime Magic was a pleasant surprise! It had a nice layout and while not nearly as huge as Anime Central, there were some unique aspects that made it stand out, which I’ll go over. A younger crowd. The convention definitely had a younger crowd than I’m used to these days. But hey, whatever works! With the younger vibe, my focus naturally gravitated toward capturing group cosplay photos. Funny enough, the much larger C2E2 convention was happening downtown the same weekend. I would’ve liked to attend C2E2, but getting into the heart of Chicago is such a hassle. Anime Magic ended up being a nice compromise for me. Squid Sisters paintings...

I attended Anime Central 2015 on May 15th and 16th. I have a few general hallway style photos as well as quite a few from photoshoots. Photo links: Facebook Gallery Here are a few highlight images from the convention: I tried to stay pretty mobile camera equipment wise as usual with conventions. I brought the Nikon D600, 50mm f1.8g, and two Yongnuo i-TTL flash with wireless triggers. I used the flash quite a bit, mostly when I had helpers to hold them.  Lightstands would have been helpful, but it’s added bulk I don’t want to carry around. In the future, I’d like the find something even smaller than those mini-lightstands, but so far I don’t see anything on the market that would fit the bill.  I think the photos turned out pretty decent considering the limited equipment and time. I hope everyone who attended ACEN had a fun time.

I attend Katsucon with a friend. This convention is located in National Harbor Maryland, which is at least a 13 hour drive from Northern Illinois. The main draw of this convention has been cosplay making it a good convention to visit. My decision to go was really abrupt, but it worked out pretty well. Check out my convention report for more general talk about the convention! Facebook  (you can tag yourself after liking the main page): Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday National Harbor Katsucon is a convention that is appealing to a person who likes photography. The event location is amazing with both great indoor and outdoor locations. The hotel has a large open area with a glass roof, so sunlight is amply available and the outdoor harbor location is also great for photos (as long as the weather hold up). Cosplay is especially big here, which means you have a large number of potential photo ops and should stay busy throughout the entire convention if that’s what you like doing. ...

Another convention done with more photos to show everyone! This time I was fully loaded with equipment. Two camera bodies, a number of lenses, and two flash units. I managed a pretty elaborate setup for 1 1/2 days, but eventually pared it down to less than half. I’ll get to the technical side of things after a few example photos. A few photos with information on how they were made: I had a photoshoot with a cosplayer that I know well. This was one of the many photos I had taken. I like the back-lighting and overall contrast of the image. I probably was using wireless flash from the upper right. (D600, 50mm, f2, ISO 800, 1/90th)  This photo was taken in the hallways of the convention. I like the “in your face” perspective as well as the bright colors. The 28mm lens on full-frame is still capable of nice background blur in many situations. (D600, 28mm, f2.4, ISO 800, 1/90th) This photo was taken at the cosplay contest. I decided to go with the 85mm lens instead of the 70-210mm becaus...

What is “cosplay” you might ask? It’s a Japanese word, which is a merging of two English words that describe an action and more importantly a subculture. It technically means “costume play,” or to dress up in costume similar to what many Americans do on Halloween. In this case it’s done more than once a year and at times with extremely impressive or ludicrous results. Many cosplayers create their own costumes based on designs of characters from various forms of media or even ones they invent. Attending anime (Japanese animation) conventions starting in 2003 was a big reason I became extremely interested in photography. Seeing colorful, interesting, and outlandish costumes, it’s hard not wanting to take photographs and participate at times. I started with a simple 2MP Canon Powershot S200 Elph back then, and eventually moved up to digital SLRs. I can see a pretty stark contrast between earlier images in output quality and composition. However I do see keepers in all sets, it’...