So here I am with part 2 of my cosplays of LA Comic Con 2018. Like I said in my previous post I’ve made it more of a mission to go to Cons and find people who choose to dress as more obscure or unique characters and LA Comic Con always delivers on this. I’m not sure if this is because LA Comic Con takes place on the last week of October which means people like to show up wearing their Halloween costumes or maybe LA Comic Con is just one of those Cons that brings out the best in people.

Looking back at my photos from this Con there was something really bothering me about them. It wasn’t until I showed my coworker, Beto them that he told me that my F-stop settings were too low and that I should have set them higher to create a shallower depth of field so that I could put more emphasis on my subjects. It was a big mistake on my end.

Looking back at my photos I feel that I made so many mistakes at LA Comic Con 2018 and that this Con was such a regression for me. Not only were my photos way below my current skill level but I also did so little to help promote myself on social media.

These were stupid mistakes and I feel really bad for making them but I can easily trace where they came from. The reason I wasn’t so big on posting on social media is because I wanted to make sure I had content posted on my blog for the rare number of people who would actually click the link in my profile and would find my site. Unfortunately, things got hectic for me and I ended up posting up my content late. As for the photos, this is probably due to the last few months where I’ve been shooting cars and trying to photograph my toys for my site. Due to what I’m shooting I need a much lower f-stop setting in order to get everything properly focused and it just slipped my mind that f-stop settings like those don’t work when photographing people at cons. This plus the fact that I was so focused on getting as many pictures in as possible I rarely took the time to take an actual good look my camera after snapping a pic.

There’s a saying, “Amateurs practice so they get it right while professionals practice so they don’t get it wrong,” and I’m a firm believer of this. I really need to just step back and get some more practice shooting at conventions but it’s going to be awhile until my next Con.

Right now, the next convention for me is the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo which is in March. I’m really excited for this one. It’s my first time going not just to this Con but also to Chicago and also it’s C2E2’s 10th anniversary so I’m hoping it will be extra good. I also finally managed to score passes to San Diego Comic Con in the summer so I’m super excited about that but that’s also quite a while away.

I suppose I could keep my ears open and check out some of the smaller conventions. It’ll be easy practice and they should definitely help establish my credibility but honestly and not to sound like a snob but they rarely have anything noteworthy.

I am trying to find some other cool things to take pictures of. With the way I built this site I can be pretty broad on my subjects. For instance, the Red Bull Soap Box Race provided a lot of good content for me and was a really good experience. I’m really hoping I can find more stuff like that to attend.

Until then I’ll just stop here and leave you with the rest of my cosplay photos from LA Comic Con 2018.

Enjoy!

With Halloween right around the corner it was very appropriate to run into this couple dressed up as Freddy Krueger and Jason from the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th movies respectively.

A really legit looking Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. I really wish I took another step back so I could get his entire sword in frame. I had a coworker who works IT who was Jon Snow for Halloween one year and I remember he used a bathroom rug for his fur coat and 1 of the other IT guys kept calling him “Jon Yellowsnow” for the rest of the day because of that. I wonder if this guy did the same thing.

A toy soldier reminiscent of the ones from the Toy Story movie. Taking a closer look at him it’s pretty obvious it’s homemade. It’s not too terrible but he could use some more details on his costume. I’m also a bit disappointed he used a bodysuit instead of painting himself green.

Jason Nesmith and Gwen DeMarco as Lt. Tawny Madison from Galaxy Quest doing the “Never give up. Never Surrender” pose. Gwen/Tawny had to tell me that her companion was Jason Nesmith otherwise it would have completely went over my head. It was a really good touch from these two considering how meta Galaxy Quest is.

Dr. Jillian Holtzmann, Kate McKinnon’s character from the 2016 remake/reboot of Ghostbusters.

Sexy Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. I really don’t know what to say about these two.

I did run into them again like 20 minutes later in the LA Convention Center lobby and all these fan boys were crowding around taking photos of them so I figured what the hell and snapped another one.

A Jeff Goldblum Grandmaster from Thor: Ragnarok. I googled Marvel Grandmaster to see how he looks in the comic and the comicbook version looks nothing like the movie version.

Rufio from 1991’s Hook. It’s really bugging me that his sword is missing the coconut shell hilt but other than it’s pretty good.

The Penguin and Catwoman from Tim Burton’s 1992 Batman Returns. Batman Returns was my favorite movie when I was a kid and looking back at it as an adult I can’t believe I wasn’t more traumatized by it considering how dark it was.

Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series and Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. Lara’s look is obviously based on how she did in the original games from the ’90s/early 2000s. I never played any of the Uncharted games but judging by his keffiyeh I’m guessing he’s Nathan Drake from Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

I’m a sucker for people who bring their dogs to conventions especially when they dress their dogs up in costumes which is why I got pics of this dog in a Spider-Man costume.

Found this little kid dressed in an Avengers: Infinity War-era Spider-Man costume posing on a recycling bin. It’s one of the few photos where I managed to get my depth of field right.

Cammy from Street Fighter. Her costume is really good but I should have cropped out her feet because her flip flops are really destroying the illusion.

Daphne from Scooby Doo and Harley Quinn from 2016’s Suicide Squad. Another 1 of my photos where I got lucky and got the depth of field right. I did some surfing on Instagram and found who these girls are. Harley is known on there as Jade Graves aka @gothamsqueenofchaos while Daphne is Kaitlin aka @wildflowerful.

Fry and Leela from Futurama. Leela is probably one of the harder characters to cosplay as. Fry and Leela are such contrasting cosplays. Fry is probably one of the simplest cosplays to do while Leela is one of the hardest. I’ve seen so many Leelas and it’s just too hard to get the giant one eye right.

Rebecca Buck aka Tank Girl. This is really well done. The old timey flight helmet with goggles, fingerless gloves, even the rocket bra (which I’m really reluctant to talk about because it makes me feel pervy). It all adds up to an awesome costume.

Drax the Destroyer from the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Big props to the dude for doing Drax’s tattoo which until now I didn’t realize were legit tattoos of dragons and stuff. I always thought they were just some patterns.

Mercy and McCree from Overwatch. I really regret getting that game because I grew out of it pretty quick. Although considering what a phenomenon Overwatch turned out to be I am glad I got it so I could learn what the hell Overwatch is. I’m so glad people don’t cosplay as Fortnite characters because if they did I’d be so screwed trying to figure out who they are.

Louise from Bob’s Burgers. Between the fact her Kuchi Kopi is wearing a No Face mask and she’s Asian and giving me a dead-eyed stare it makes her look a bit creepy-which is something I really like.

Here is one of the most unique costumes I’ve ever seen: a Spawn Lego minifig. This is a big and elaborate costume and this guy pulls it off really well.

Here’a tsukemaru_ig as a female version of Link.

A Zazie Beetz Domino from Deadpool 2. She looks really good. Like she could actually be confused for Zazie Beetz as Domino from Deadpool 2 good.

At first I thought this guy was supposed to be the Invisible Man, but now I’m thinking he’s the Headless Horseman especially because the headless Horseman from Fox’s Sleepy Hollow wore a Revolutionary War-era British redcoat uniform. Although if he is the Headless Horseman I don’t get the glasses and hat other then he just wanted to show off his costume-making skills.

I mentioned in my last post that aside from finding more unique and obscure cosplay characters I’m also on the hunt for guys who go all out in detail and this guy’s Iron Man is one of those guys. Armor that actually looks like it’s made out of metal, battle damage, and actual lights for the palm repulsors and the arc reactor on his chest. This guy obviously put some work into his costume.

A Rule 63 version of Enchantress from Suicide Squad. You have to respect guys who have the confidence to walk around conventions dress as scantily-clad female characters. I mean it’s pretty rare to even find girls willing to wear outfits like this. Anyway, big props to this guy for also getting the tattoos and the eye makeup down as well.

Here’s a guy who dressed up as that stupid paper clip from older versions of Microsoft Word who would give you totally unnecessary advice on how to write things.

At first I thought this girl was supposed to be some sort of vampire princess from Super Mario but after doing some googling and surfing social media I found out that she’s actually a Princess version of Boo aka Boo Diddly. I’ve been so out of the loop with Nintendo especially when it comes to Super Mario for the last couple decades. If it wasn’t for the internet I’d be so screwed when it came to Nintendo mythos. I have a Wii, and a Wii U and a few DSs, but those I only played casually since I was too focused on playing Call of Duty and other PS4 games. But other than those I haven’t been such a hardcore Nintendo gamer since the old 8-bit NES from the ’80s.

Here’s this nice family I met who was walking around doing a group cosplay/recreation of the part of Jurassic World where Claire is trying to lure the T-Rex into following her with a flare.

Sam from the 2007 Horror/Comedy anthology movie Trick ‘r Treat.

Skeletor up in this motherfucker! I remember watching He Man as a kid and I’m glad I found somebody who does a cosplay from that. Seeing this at LA Comic Con is making me wonder that with the new She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series on Netflix I’m wondering how long it will be before we see a He-Man and the Masters of the Universe reboot.

M. Bison with a Rolento from Final Fight and Street Fighter Alpha 2. Considering how strict of a weapons policy I know LA Comic Con has I’m surprised they let Rolento keep his stick unless they decided to lighten up this year. M. Bison’s costume is really good, he really reminds me of Raul Julia from the 1994 Street Fighter movie with Jean Claude Van Damme.

Here’s a Zatanna I met who’s on Instagram as Dollarstorediamond.

Here’s a really good Batman complete with an armored batsuit and light up batarangs along with Starfire and Raven from Teen Titans.

I can’t remember what this cosplayer is from. I remember I knew what she was when I snapped the photo but I can’t remember what she is now and it’s really bugging me.

Another Cammy from Street Fighter.

I’m not sure what this chick is from although it could just be an original cosplay. I want to say she might be from Deathnote but I’m not sure. I also tried surfing social media but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find anything on her.

I think this is probably one of my better photos and also something that would make great practice for photo processing. I’ve already tried experimenting with it in Adobe Lightroom and I look forward to playing with it more later. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’ve been meaning to learn how to post process my photos. Hopefully, I can figure out how to create an action that I can use to post process photos from my site. Right now all I really do is crop them, maybe adjust the brightness/contrast to make up for poor exposure settings and save for web to compress the files down. Other than that these photos are pretty much straight from the camera.

With that Bohemian Rhapsody movie creating quite a bit of buzz it wasn’t surprising that I bumped into this guy dressed as Freddy Mercury.

A Captain Jean Luc Picard and Commander Will Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I really like how these guys went the extra distance to actual model their appearance on actual Star Trek TNG characters instead of just wearing some Star Trek costumes they bought somewhere.

Here’s a simple a but pretty good Venom symbiote cosplay.

Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series complete with a stinger missile launcher prop.

Here’s Deadpool as the Pope. As a Catholic I’m probably going to Hell now for taking this picture.

Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler from the first Jurassic Park movie.

Spiderman 2099 aka Miguel O’Hara who first appeared in Marvel’s 2099 imprint. If I remember correctly Spiderman 2099 was originally drawn with a cape but the last couple years he’s been drawn without it. I know Marvel has something of an unofficial no cape policy because in reality capes are a bit impractical for superheroes but I thought the smaller cape that Spiderman 2099 had actually looked cool.

A couple cosplaying as Linda and Bob Belcher.

Here’s another person I found on Instagram. It’s Luanna Pinheiro as a female version of Captain America circa Captain America: The First Avengers. Seeing this I’m a little sad that Chris Evans is saying after the next Avengers movie he’s done being Captain America but I guess sometimes you just have to know know when to quit. Really good touch with the triangular shield and the utility belt.

Here are some more princess versions of Super Mario bad guys.

And I’m going to close this out with some barbarian looking chicks who I’m guessing are either from How to Train Your Dragon or World of War Craft? I’m not sure. There’s so many barbarian-ish properties out there that it’s just impossible to keep track.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check back for more