Two of the female characters from the Mortal Kombat games, Katana (L) and Jade (R).

I wanted to give some equal face-time to other cosplayers in the group (one of the little Harleys [who looks totally confused by all of this and is frighteningly adorable!], the Harley/Ivy mash-up, the "Mad Love" Harley, and the far right one [possibly from the Injustice game?]). So I muted the colors of all the other cosplayers and background to highlight these particular seven cosplayers.

Street-Punk Harley (w/ red hair): Shelby

A very lovely, young lady dressed up as a character from the on-line game, "Skyrim."

An action pose for the group: left side leans and reaches to the left, the right side leans and reaches to the right, and the center reaches up and a bit towards the front.

Another photo of Lena Volkova's "Lady Jaina Proudmoore. The location - the Cloisters in Timonium - lends itself as a great backdrop to many time periods and fantasy worlds.

Photographer: Jason R. Eras

Under "Type-Moon" storylines, there are sometimes "Alter"-ed version of the heroic spirits added to the plot. These are twisted, corrupted, or sometimes evil versions of their normal selves.

This is an "Alter" version of Saber, who wears a much darker dress (sky-blue with white and gold accents is now in hues of midnight blue with dark trim and silver-white fourishes) and her sword has gone from silver metallic with blue letter/markings to jet-black with blood-red markings.

We found her again! She was in McLean, Virginia. :-)

I used Nik Software's Color Efex Pro - Pro Contrast / Dynamic Skin Softener and Dfine filters.

Cosplayer: Life of Cosplay

These poses just struck me as being really funny... especially when she made the "whiny-face" to express her frustration with not being able to get the door to open up.

I used Silver Efex Pro with a Luminosity blend to let a lot of the colors in the image bleed through but keep a bit of the monochromatic look.

Photographer: Jason Eras

Cosplayer: Akemi101xoxo

www.facebook.com/akemi101xoxo/

Cosplayer: Akemi

www.instagram.com/akemi101xoxo/

A scary - but sexy - Rule 63 version of Scorpion from the "Mortal Kombat" games.

Cosplayer: the very sweet Bethany Maddock

UPDATE: Bethany was featured in Uproxx's Funny, Sexy, And Awesome Cosplay of the Week (02.12.14). Yep, definitely sexy.

Tech stuff: added a very subtle golden glow around Bethany (to help define her against the background); and used Topaz Adjust "Dark - Ghostly" filter on the background. Both effects were done to give Lady Scorpion an unearthly feeling. In the MK game, Scorpion is a vengeful spirit given flesh.

Comments?

I recognize the character Yuna (FF X-2 game) but don't know who her gorgeous friend is. Any ideas, folks? In working on this pic, I was really amazed by the "friend's" physique - I'm not talking being just being in good "cosplay shape" but she looks like she could easily be professional model.

I used PS's healing and clone brushes to fix up some marking on her "friend's" leg (looked like some kind of cuts/scrapes) and added a very subtle white glow around the women in an attempt to make Yuna's face and hair not look like I did a crappy paste job. This is honestly how she turned out due to the shadows cast by my camera flash. I *hate* being a perfectionist!!

UPDATE: These ladies were featured in Uproxx's Funny, Sexy, and Awesome Cosplays of the Week (June 6, 2013). Thanks for showing these ladies some love Uproxx and RoboPanda!

This is the "Elemental" skin version of the character.

Cosplayer: Esther

I'm not really sure what the Harley in the checkered & striped dress is doing to Deadpool's sword. And maybe I don't wanna know?

Thanks to BiddyStyle for IDing the character and series.

This is "Baby" from the Five Nights at Freddy's video game. This variation is referred to as either the "nightmare" or "scrap" version. This cosplayer nailed the character as she looks just like the images I have found on-line of her.

Tech stuff:

I used Photoshop's "Gradient Map" to add dark-brown/monochromatic to dull down the colors but not texture of the background. I masked "Baby" from this color shift so that she would be the brightest, most colorful element in the image. The angled shot is referred to as a "Dutch tilt" or "oblique angle." I'm using an artistic technique (to denote energy and direction) by capturing this image from an unusual angle. It also helped to keep "Baby" in frame as much as possible (self-critique: I tend to cut off people's feet).

She is a Gijinka (humanized) version of the Ifrit from Final Fantasy X and X-2 video games.

Topaz Adjust's Brilliant Cold; Nik Software's Color Efex Pro - Dynamic Skin Softener; and Filter Forge's Film Frame filters

Cosplayer: Awesome Possum Cosplay

"Lightning" - one of the protagonists from the Final Fantasy 13 video game. Lovely girl. She was quite surprised at how well this shot turned out as we were completely surrrounded by con attendees when I took this. ^.^

I showed this to some artists vending at Otakon and they were blown away by how realistic she looked and her killer props.

One of the Lancers (classification of a heroic spirit or Servant to the mages in the Type-Moon or Fate stories) from the Fate/Grand Order game. Scáthach is from Irish Mythology and known as the instructor of Cú Chulainn (the Irish mythological hero a.k.a. "The Hound of Ulster") - also another Lancer-class Servant in the anime and games.

A very well done gender-switch of both characters.

He was a trip. Just driving around and pretending to throw his turtle shell at people.

Cosplayer: Joseph B B Quinn

From the "Metroid" video games.

Cosplayer: Intraventous

See? It's right here! And she's offering you some... as soon as you test out a couple of portals for her. ^.^

From the game, "Portal."

Photographer: Jason Eras

unknown cosplayer as Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw

I added in a couple of different processes (two Silver Efex layers among others) to darken the image, give it more of a gritty feel, and to emulate the vibe of the video game.

This is Byndo Gehk - a cosplay acquaintance of mine. She was the Arkham Asylum Joker from a few years ago. A very attractive (and incredibly sweet) young lady.

One of the more popular WoW characters.

I used Nik Software's Silver Efex to create a more monochromatic and darker background. "Jaina" was then carefully masked out in Photoshop so that she would be in full-color. I also used Dfine and Color Efex Pro - Pro Contrast / Darken-Lighten Center filters, as well.

"WOW" indeed! All of the purple skin (except for the ears) is body make-up.

The cosplayer's name is Miranda. She's a friend of my old friend, Miles.

Natalie wearing "Twilight Princess" magic armor as a gender-bent version of Link from "The Legend of Zelda" games.

Cosplayer: Nat Archaic

Character from one of the "Mortal Kombat" games.

I really liked the crazed look she gave me. ~swoons~

Chilling in the club, after work done

Tried something new - imitating a triple neutral density filter (via darkening the background a helluva lot) to make it look like she just emerges from the background. Comments?

Used Topaz Adjust's "Brilliant Cold" filter as a finishing touch.

From the Elder Scrolls On-line games *No homeless man was urinating behind her this time. 😆

Cosplayer: Revivi Barton

My MagMod flash modifier did something a bit different on this photo - it really made the background super dark.

I've been wanting to create some photos that look like the subject is melting out of the dark background (usually done with a ND filter, darkened background, and a good flash) so I tweaked this a bit in PS (various layers and masking) but the feathers on her gloves -which are darn near impossible to see but the eye definitely picks it up and is part of the melting out of blackness illusion - were challenging! I also used Nik Software's Color Efex Pro - Pro Contrast and Dfine filters in emulating this look.

Comments?

This guy's make-up was quite stunning. I was impressed.

A highly ornate armor created and worn by cosplayer Jamal Johns.

I did a lot of subtle enhancements to this image. I took photos with and without a flash and I liked the no-flash version the best as it showed off more workmanship, detail, and gave off a darker vibe which I felt was in sync with the character.

I very carefully masked out Jamal in Photoshop using Gradient Map and Black & White layers; blurred the background and sharpened Jamal up a little bit;

Nik Software: Color Efex Pro - Pro Contrast, Contrast Only, and Darken/Lighten center and Dfine filters.