The Sound Pillar
Character: Tengen Uzui
Sauce: Demon Slayer
Cosplayer: @trxpcoxplxywxifu (IG)
Tyler asked if we could reprise an older shoot of his Tengen Uzui (see the video here) at the same location. I agreed and decided on equipment: a simple setup of one camera, one lens, and one pocket light. Mobility and traveling light were going to be a significant, as the location we were shooting is generally heavily populated. I had intended to use that to my advantage to show a lively environment; however, much to our surprise, the area was all but devoid of people.
The lack of crowds was startling to the degree that we were wondering if there was a public notice of the area being closed off or other situation developing. I guess it was just an odd night. The photo setup that I opted for was my Fuji X-T30, the Sirui 50mm F/1.8, and a Smallrig Pix M160 rgb light. The light easily fit in my pocket and I had a voice-activated light stand (Tyler’s friend/cosplay handler) to hold the light in position. Going with the anamorphic lens was a commitment in itself; the wide aspect ratio was not friendly toward vertically oriented photographs and it also meant stretching out each image from 16:9 in post. What it did, was help me to stick to the cinematic mindset I had in mind.
To target the cinematic concept, I primarily followed along some pretty basic techniques. Lighting was typically opposite of the camera so that the portion of Tyler facing me was in shadow. I kept the Fuji color balance deep in the cold to capitalize on the blues, while keeping my light to a very warm tone. This gave the typical “orange/teal” look in-camera and guided my color grading in post. Because the photoset is not a continuous film, I opted to change that color grading in some images which would benefit more from red in the shadows with cyan in the highlights.
I generally prefer to work with a single body/lens combo and naturally lighting, because it is a pain to do any setup - especially while constantly changing locations and angles. I have shot along side other photographers I don’t envy the excessive set up time per image. I have observed self-imposed limitations of that strategy resulting in a photographer using the same setup and location for most of their photoshoot to avoid having to tear down and set up again; thus, there is less variety in their work output. Perhaps if I had a team to work with, I would utilize more equipment and control, but working solo means a different optimization.
