As we’ve talked about before, sometimes there’s some pretty silly stuff that goes into the making of an eminently cool cosplay photo. Often there’s something strange going on just out of frame, such as the heroine slouching like crazy to make the hero look taller or an assistant holding up a handful of a model’s hair to make it appear like it’s blowing in the wind.

The models above, however, are completely legit, looking every bit their parts as lovely young ladies relaxing by the pool. But this time the behind-the-scenes comedy is actually in the back of the scenes. Can you guess the funny truth behind those dramatic sprays of water?

It’s not just the photographer and model who have to pour their heart and soul into a cosplay shoot to make it a success. Many times there’s someone else helping out, and in the case of these photos here, that someone is the Twitter user who goes by the name Yukkey.

Recently, two of Yukkey’s acquaintances, fellow photographer Roki and model Hiokichi, wanted to take some photos of Evangelion’s Asuka posing poolside, and asked for Yukkey to lend them a hand.

Judging from the final result, the three of them really work well together. Not only do the lighting and hairstyling look great, but the sparkling beads of water flying through the air lend a real sense of immediacy to the photograph, so much so that you can almost feel the cooling sensation of the drops hitting your skin.

But just how did they pull this effect off? The answer is simpler than you might suspect.

Yep, that’s Yukkey in the bottom right of each picture, performing an artistically motivated belly flop a split second before Roki captures the images the team is after.

But as anyone who’s ever been on either side of the lens in a photo shoot knows, you usually don’t get the shot you want on the very first try. And while Roki and Hiokichi no doubt spent a lot of time on-site adjusting their camera settings and pose, each new attempt meant Yukkey had to jump back in the pool face-first, and by the time they were done, he’d made about 20 trips into the water.

Still, he can’t have minded too much, because he was back at it again soon after.

“The results of my efforts,” Yukkey tweeted along with the photos directly above, and he should definitely be proud of his work as Splash Master, as Roki calls him. We also think he’s earned a break, so if after his next take he wants to float on over to the Jacuzzi and relax for a bit, that’s fine by us.

Source: Jin, Twitter/@snowfairy8, Twitter/@roki_0217