Well, today was better than yesterday, not the least of which was because we got there just on time for the cosplay competition around 2 PM in a group, and not to mention we spent almost all of our time in the cosplayer's area just snapping away. Unfortunately for me, my "Indoor" function sucked to high heaven and beyond. There was a lot of noise in the pictures, and I do not feel up to editing them in Photoshop since I have no idea how to go about it exactly, or that I have an idea but might make it worse and refuse to try.Stormtrooper at the walkway.Some disclaimers before we move on, as well as a request for advice. I am currently using an Olympus Stylus 760 and would like some advice regarding taking indoor and outdoor shots. I am planning on using Cuisine (still photography) function all the way since that has, so far, given me the best results both in- and outdoors. But if there is also a way to improve any indoor and outdoor shoot, I would like to hear it. Cuisine is mainly for figure photoshoots, and I hardly use the flash either, but the noise this time round has disturbed me way too much, and I would like to know how to improve in order to be prepared for Cosfest 2008, which is just next weekend.The stormtroopers at the walkway.I am also well aware that cosplayers have all the right to ask me to remove their photos, so if you find any not suited to your liking and would like me to remove it, please do send me an email at pantherrh -at- gmail -dot- com or leave me a comment in this post, or leave a remark in my chatbox. All these ways are possible. Some of these photos were taken from Dead Snake's set and I will be in charge of contacting him if you would like any of his photos removed. If you would like to request the hi-res version of any of these pictures, I am very sorry but in hi-res all of them sucked. I am pretty sure my friends all have better ones. Many thanks to Dead Snake for allowing me the use of his pictures.The initial group. From left to right the back row consists of Double, CI, me, Squee, and Hirito. The person squatting in front is Dead Snake. So, on to the event itself, and my take on it. For the first day's coverage, click here. This is a photo-intensive post again, so you have been warned beforehand. I know as well that the picture used at the top was the same poster as I mentioned yesterday, but this was a different shot taken from today. I know, freaking unoriginal.Close-up of the troopers. They were just waiting to shoot.We surged from the train station to the spot of the convention once more, this time making more headway as we were there late compared to yesterday, and we already knew we were going to skip the booths. Fariz and Biggu Gai were there way ahead of us, and I think half the time during the convention they were spending their time queuing up for some item or other, seriously.We were testing out photos outside the convention of a few cosplayers, none of mine from this stage in time survived, so here are DS'. I did however take some of the stormtroopers we met in the walkway.Nekomimi. Not sure if she was cosplaying any character.A first look at the Hatsune Miku cosplayer. Miku is from Vocaloid, for those not in the know.We then went in and I proceeded to set the Wii girl mentioned yesterday up the bomb. I shall leave this for last.Squee at work.Of course on the way to the stage area for the main event, the cosplay competition, several of us were happily snapping away. I took a few shots at this time, and also found out from Fariz the poster I wanted from yesterday (shown at the top of this post) was not for sale. Damn. If anyone knows where this picture can be found on the Net, do inform me thanks.Over at Imaginary Friends Studio. I heard this picture of the girl with headphones sold like hotcakes. I have the picture as a wall somewhere, I am sure, taken off 4Chan /w/. Taken at a booth selling Chinese-styled art, I believe. I forgot to take a look at the name.Taken at the same booth as above. Lavender shot!And once at the stage area, we were overwhelmed by the number of people who were actually there, putting any possibilities of a good shot of the stage instantly worthless. So we then moved to the right side area, where I first spotted some cosplayers, and the remainder of the time at the event was spent here, because all the cosplayers were here almost the entire competition. You heard right. While lining up, or after finishing their presentation on-stage, they were always in this area, along with their bags, and stuff, and all. In fact near the end of the competition the place grew really crowded, and there were like, hundreds of photographers or something. Moving around was difficult, let alone taking a good shot.Anyway here are the cosplayers that I took shots of, and DS' for the ones I was unable to take better ones of. Note that I only took the best out of my album to put here, if you want to view the rest of the lousy pictures, head on over to my album. Click on images to enlarge.Hatsune Miku! Her voice really sounded like Miku when she started singing too. Kawaii~koe.You do not mess with a special ops person holding a shotgun. He looked like a character right out of Vegas 2.Someone identified him as being from Yakitake! Japan, this was confirmed by CK. Can anyone pass me his name? Because this guy was awesome. He also made it into top ten. Great stuff, sporting guy.Lenalee from D.Gray-man.2 lolitas that went to a corner of my suggestion, more on this later. Sadly enough, after this shoot they disappeared, and I never got to take one of the black-clothed one alone. Jedi with lightsabers......who were owned.Photo of the victors. No idea who they were either.Kallen and someone else from Code Geass series. I have no idea the orange-haired one is actually in the series despite watching it. Did she get the hair color wrong? This event proudly sponsored by the Empire. (Hanif's quote)What the hell am I doing with this afro dude...Yeah you're not bad yourself, afro.Vader on his inspection rounds.Very lousy picture of this cosplayer, unfortunately, for this was the best I could do. Identification is required. One of the more tired ones at the event too. Animax balloon wins. We nearly took it down by accident at one point."Oh my, what a bright flash you have!" Character from Vampire Knight Squee said, name is required. I also took a picture with her, she was one of the cuter cosplayers around, but the picture was taken by Squee. I hang out with angels, yo.The female judge. More on her below.I only remember the runner-up and the champion of the cosplay competition, who were Lenalee and Miku respectively, so yeah. We also took a small group shot with Miku but I do believe Squee took it for us and so we have to wait for his shots.We left the event right after the competition except for the queuing gang. Also Gordon kept missing the girl he wanted to take pictures of, who even posed for us and stuff. She arrived, he had left. He arrived, she had left. She was the female judge whom Hanif identified as being a cosplay from the series Air Gear, but I am not sure who she is since I never touched that series. Was it Noyamano Ringo, anyone know? She was the girl with the pink hair and a black cap above.A close-up of the female judge.Feel free to identify the cosplayers that I did not manage to above, thanks in advance. There was also an ultra hilarious shot of "Thousand Years of Pain" from Naruto, but I had bad shots of it and would rather wait for someone's better shot.We had "afternoon tea" nearby at Marina Square, then we decided to walk back and met up with the queuing gang, and all of us walked to Bugis for dinner. I did finally play with Zer0kage later on at Bugis, and after fun games with him and other folks I left for home.Cutie who said she was not cosplaying when I asked for a picture. I said, "It's ok." And she was forced to put down all her bags and stuff and allow me to take just two pictures of her. Oh man am I ebil. Thanks for the shots girl! You could have easily passed for a cosplayer at the event haha. Overall today was indeed better. Too bad the poster was not for sale.And finally, the G that I set up the poor Wii girl with. I spotted her and asked the folks with me to take pictures of her. It so happened that she was helping some kids learn how to play on the Wii, and so she was facing away from anyone who saw her from the front of the booth. The only way was to go around to a free side, so I advised them to do that. And immediately after that, I see so many photographers suddenly clustered together with the gang taking pictures of her. And the whole time she was unable to do anything except help the girl and try to pose whenever possible. Ah, kawaii. I took none of her since I was sure none of my shots would do her justice, so here are DS'.Hanif was saying that next time we should try out a random shot of some person with 2-3 of us going to take pics and find out if a whole bunch of photographers would follow just to take pics. Certainly there were quite a few pics taken today that seemed to be this case. One was the lolita duo shown above, I asked the black-clothed one for pictures, and we moved to a corner upon my suggestion, much to my regret since the lighting was seriously bad. Immediately we had a crowd of photographers upon reaching. WTF?I don't know this guy...I met quite a few new peeps today. Windbell was there with a friend, whom Squee recognized, and I also met with AK, PP and Rokku. DarkMirage was also there with us and Double almost the entire time. Thanks for meeting up with me and the rest of us folks, appreciate whenever we can really get out and hope you guys can also join us in future outings and events and the like.Why am I forced to take shots with this afro dude again and again...Anyway. this convention had poor management at the start, and the events themselves at the convention were hardly worth mentioning. It did make for a good attempt at a first try, but seriously, the management had plenty of lessons to learn from. Next time, more lighting is needed, better space, etc.Preparing for Cosfest,PantherPS: Someone identify the character the guy was cosplaying, of the one taking shots with the afro guy with a fan. Team Blue's post has links to the other blogs that have covered the event so far.
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