dccomics

03
May
2023
Calgary Expo – Comic Cosplayers

Calgary Expo – Comic Cosplayers

Calgary Expo 2023

or Another Comic Con with Cosplay

On a road trip out west, I timed it so I could attend Calgary Expo.  I went on the Saturday, the day after I arrived in Calgary this trip.  The 29th of April, 2023.

Last time I attended something like this in Calgay was 2017.  Seemed like it was quite different.  Then realized that there are a couple of different shows now.  Pretty sure this happens the same in Toronto.  A couple a year.  They are getting popular.  I’ve got a couple that I will attend in Ontario when I get back. A smaller one in Niagara Falls (Comic Con Niagara) and one in August - Comic Con Toronto.

The lighting for the types of photos I like to do generally sucks.  And the backgrounds are worse.  Trees, buildings and a thousand distracting colours.  I like simple backgrounds, so I spend hours cutting out the backgrounds with Photoshop.  There are faster ways but I haven’t found a better technique on Photoshop yet that gets me the sharpness and exactness.   Just started learning Photoshop recently, so be patient with me.

Then the search to find an appropriate background for each character.  The few here are some that I’ve had a chance to edit over the last few days.  Spiderman (DC Comics), Deadpool (Marvel Comics) and Aloy (from Zero Horizon Dawn).

I’m not a gamer but do love learning about the characters and photographing them.

More to come when I get a chance to edit them.

Posted by Martin in Blog, 0 comments
07
Apr
2023
Comic Con, Cosplay with a touch of Photoshop

Comic Con, Cosplay with a touch of Photoshop

Comic Con Calgary 2017 Update

I’ll be there, in Calgary, again in 2023.  April.  And in Toronto 2023. August.

Calgary Comic Con 2017 was definitely a riot of fun taking photos.  I spent two days there photographing an unbelievable number of creative individuals with their costumes. 

I started recently to figure out some stuff with Photoshop.  I’m an old guy and didn’t grow up with digital workings so it never came to me naturally.  Not like with my kids. 

I had a vision of what I wanted with some of the photos that I was taking in Calgary at the ComicCon event.  I’ve been practicing and finally am able to use Photoshop to get what I want.  At least it is a beginning. 

For me the photos here are a big win.  Not terribly complicated with the steps I’m using. Just a lot of grunt work.  Which I don’t really mind.

With Photoshop, I’ve tried several different techniques.  The ‘Eraser’, ‘History’, ‘Clone’ and ‘Blur’ are my main tools.  Bizarre but I never really ‘understood’ layers until more recently.  Once I twigged that learning other techniques were not that complicated.

ComicCon is really a hoot for a photographer.  The folks in costume really want to be photographed.  So, as a photographer it is a real treat.  Your models know their characters and naturally go into appropriate poses. 

Now that I have a even better idea of what I want as an end product, I can photograph individuals from the angles and distances, with the poses that I need. 

Best advice that I could ever give photographer: You don’t need a reason to create!

I hope I find as many willing Cosplayers this year as years past.  As I said, I should be in Calgary - April 30th, 31st.  Toronto in August, and hopefully, will be back in time for the Niagara Falls Comic Con in June.  (I live in Niagara Falls, Ontario)

You can follow my escapades on Instagram

@martysroadtrip1

@portraits.by.martin

Hope you like the photos.  I’ll be editing more and add them here on in future on the blog.

Posted by Martin in Blog, 0 comments