Destiny Extras


	Creating a Miniature Forest for Indoor Photography by Deb Wood


			It appears this little fae is laying in the woods, next to a pond.....


				Well, she IS next to a pond.... that's part of her setting. But is that really deep in the woods where she's laying?
		Ah, no....and now you know my little secret! This is my setup for winter time photos, when the gardens are buried under several feet of snow. Take a sturdy cardboard box, like an appliance box, and cut away the sides to let in more ambient lighting.... If you notice the stair step effect- that is a styrofoam box under the moss to give some height and depth to the background. Cover the walls with sheet moss, pin in place with T pins. Cover the pointed ends of the T pins with tape or you'll stick yourself about 100 times.


Find some cool things to add to your setting, like stumps, flat rocks are great--- and pinecones, twigs or sticks. I used a great piece of cedar driftwood in the back of this setting. On the back upper part of this box, I placed some artificial greens- to give the effect of ferns, etc. They don't often show in the photos- but they're there if I take a wider angle shot. If the box is sturdy enough, you can clip on extra lights to fill in. Don't shine the light on your sculpt-but rather bounce the lighting off the sides of the box. (see above left photo) If you notice the holes in the side of the box, I was trying that to see if I could get rays of sunlight to shine into the scene-- it might have worked if the sunlight would have been stronger in the room I use to take photos- but it didn't work out. An hour or so before you are going to take photos, lightly mist the whole inside of the box with plain water. The moss will spring to life!!! It looks awesome! Spritz the rocks just before taking photos- the whole scene will look more like it's in the deep forest. When not in use, throw a sheet over the box to keep sunlight OFF the moss. It will last a whole lot longer if you do. Otherwise it will bleach out quickly.