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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...

Here’s a video talking about photography at Anime Central 2023. Midway through the video I talk about guidelines I follow and suggest that people wanting to do photography at conventions also follow. This applies to attendees with smartphones as well as general photographers unfamiliar with convention photography. I’d hope that convention and cosplay photographers already keep these considerations in mind! Photography at Anime Central Pretty simple, but a good way to have fewer issues and not accidently make the convention a bad experience for others. https://youtu.be/n_3U2ofvwlE In my vertical YouTube Short I condense the video so it’s focused on the guidelines aspect. Ask for a photo. Avoid taking candid photos. I often motion with my camera and they give me a nod or whatever which works too. Don’t ask for a photo when cosplayers are eating, on the phone, or clearly in a rush. I also tend to not ask when they appear to be in a serious conversation with someone. If there is a big grou...

Thanks to the motivation and transportation from a local friend, I was able to attend the c2e2 convention on that Saturday for 2023. Day trips are pretty viable and at least for that convention it’s the only way I’ve experienced it (2011 and 2018 articles are on this website) Here’s the Facebook image gallery. I’ve been trying to think of options to host cosplay photos on other sites besides Facebook. I would be nice if there were backups online so if FB has issues my cosplay photo work would still be available. A while back I cleared my Zenfolio connection on Facebook and it ended up deleting a bunch of photosets. So at the very least I need to re-process and upload those (EDIT: These photos magically showed back up at one point which is good! Saves a lot of time and effort, but I'm still on only the one platform). With the passing of Kevin Lillard  I have definitely been thinking about making sure my cosplay photo work is as accessible as possible. The problem is time and indirec...

I was around Anime Milwaukee on Saturday the 15th for a few hours. I didn’t have plans to attend, but on a whim, I was able to attend with a few friends that had planned on going. Check out the photos below. Facebook gallery As for equipment, I used the D600 and 50mm f1.8 lens exclusively. I had brought along a small wireless flash setup, but didn’t end up using it at all.

I ended up with around 715 photos and a few video clips. My technique was varied and depended on the level of effort at any given point in time. I didn’t bring my manual flash and RF triggers. They take a certain level of effort I don’t find that enjoyable for quick hallway cosplay photos, so moving forward, I probably won’t use them that often for this purpose. I was lucky enough to turn my remaining consignments into a 1-to-1 trade-in for a SB-800 flash unit. I am very happy with the results and simplicity it brings to the table.  Facebook Galleries (tag-able):  Friday ,  Saturday ,  Maid Cafe ,  Masquerade , and  Sunday The SB-800 was used to create a balanced foreground and background exposure. Friday: I arrived pretty late to Arizona and only attended the convention around two hours. I decided to go simple with the Nikon D600, SB-800 flash, and 50mm f1.8 lens. This combination allows for a large amount of general versatility and especially good at nigh...

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...

I went to a convention in Indiana called Ramencon. I was planning on staying two nights, but decided to check out on Saturday morning instead. I was still able to get a good deal of images on Saturday afternoon, which was nice. Facebook (“like” the main page so you can tag yourself): General Photos Lollipop Chainsaw Photos Magi Photos A few highlight photos:  You can see my related cvfta.blogspot.com article here for a different discussion about Ramencon and convention photography in general. As I’m trying to sell of my equipment, I only took a minimal kit. I brought the K-5 and K-01 with the 31mm and 24mm lenses along with my Sigma flash. I ended up only using the K-5, 31mm lens, and flash for the whole convention. Using that combination isn’t new to me, but I feel that I was able to get a lot more variety than I’ve normally been able to achieve with it. I first started off with just the camera and lens, but eventually decided that flash would be safer from a quality standp...

What is Chicago Comic Con? It is a large multi-day Comic/Science Fiction/pop-culture convention held at the Donald E. Stephens convention center in Rosemont, Illinois. It consists of an extremely large dealers room, a vast number of artists showing and selling their work, a large number of famous people, various scheduled events, and a lot more. This year I felt that they stepped things up to another level with a nice flow to the convention layout. I found that navigating the main convention was much easier than in 2011 because they moved some of the large booths like the Delorean car, Batmobile, and Ghost Busters vehicle to a nice bright location in the convention center’s entrance hall. A wise decision that made the convention even more exciting to explore because it used more floor space. You can learn more about Wizard World Chicago Comic Con here: Why I attended this convention? I was there to cover what I call hallway cosplay, which are costumers that attend the convention as cha...

I finished processing and uploading my photos from Saturday at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con 2012. I have the images uploaded to this Facebook gallery (you can tag yourself after liking the FB page). A few highlight photos: 

I finished processing the photos from Friday. I ended up with a bit over 100 photos. Not bad considering I only attended the convention for around 1.5 hours on Friday. I have the images uploaded to this Facebook gallery (you can tag yourself after liking the FB page). A few highlight photos: 

I was able to attend Chicago Comic Con at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center for around 1.5 hours on Friday night (6:30-8pm). I plan on going there today as well, so I don’t have enough time to process photos for submission to my gallery. Expect the photos to be uploaded in a few days. I was really impressed by the level of activity so late in the day. The convention hall was full and there were quite a few cosplayers/costumers walking around.  I know someone from the D20 Girls booth, so I talked to them for a few minutes. A few of the things they do are modeling, convention volunteering, booth staffing, game demoing, being panelists, and event coordinators. The convention was full of classic costumes with individual flare applied. Here is a classic Batman costumer and someone from the Green lantern universe. These gentlemen were very tall and fit their individual super hero persona well. Mortal Kombat video game cosplayers. They were very friendly and enthusiastic abo...