Continuing in my series of setting up illustrative still life images, I have an underwater-inspired scene that I constructed from a variety of found and purchased, natural and synthetic materials.

I was working in a new environment--my parents' house. My mother's collection of antiques and miscellany proved quite useful; she had beautiful blue glass (serving as the fish) and pieces of actual coral (from the days when you could freely comb the beaches). These, I think, help to make the scene a little more believable, especially since my fish have toothpick fins and some of my plants are made from chopsticks.

We had hit a thrift store the day before, and it was there that I picked up the iridescent and creeping scarves that create the background and flowing vegetation. It's amazing the things you can find in the right thrift store when you're not really intent on looking!

The lighting on this was the toughest part; I went through several iterations, occasionally adding color to my flash to see if that would enhance the scene. In the end, I settled on a dialed-down flash hitting from the "top", as though a beam of sunlight strayed through the water to catch two fish making their way somewhere.