# Inspirational Iwagumi layouts using terrestrial plants and moss (must view)



## Mark Evans (29 Mar 2013)

Wasnt sure if this is photography or aquascaping. After trying to recover from a chest infection, i'm getting bored, amnd as usual, doing too much when i should rest.

Anyway, here's a few Iwagumi layouts. The 'false' way.


gumi1 by saintly's pics, on Flickr


gumi2 by saintly's pics, on Flickr


gumi3 by saintly's pics, on Flickr


gumi4 by saintly's pics, on Flickr

A few more later


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## Antoni (29 Mar 2013)

Very nice, Mark! Thinking out of the frame again! I think this kind of "false" scapes are cool and efficient way to show different layouts and techniques. They are fast and beautiful  
Are those terrestrial mosses and plants?


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## Mark Evans (30 Mar 2013)

Thanks for looking and commenting Antoni,

The plants are indeed terrestrial. The forest gets an overall yearly with (mostly) the silver birches getting lopped. There's a lot of debris and piles of moss all over the place, so I don't feel bad about taking from nature. And to be honest, if you saw the place the amounts of moss that i take (very little) is probably 000000.00001% of the total....Nothing!

I'd like to take my full photography kit down to the woods. I can get a generator no problem, so power wouldn't be an issue. I'll get some more in-situe shots then. 

Indeed, this way, allows the user to see how things may look if they were to actually carry out the scape.

I tried to male the moss and the other random plants look as natural as possible.

feed back always welcome guys. A lot of work goes into this.


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## tim (30 Mar 2013)

Hi mark, I was waiting for the more later images before commenting( sat up all night waiting)  
All joking aside I really admire your photography skill and thought processes in pushing this hobby forwards.
This to me seems like a further step forward in capturing prospective nature aquarium layouts a huge improvement from a box of sand with a few sticks and stones in it. Your hard work is always appreciated maybe the lack of comments stems from people not having much to say other than top job keep pushing those boundaries mark, if by the time I finish with this hobby I can capture 1 image of 1 layout I've done half as perfect as one of yours ill be a happy man  keep the photography and videography coming its inspirational mate.


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## Mark Evans (30 Mar 2013)

Cheers Time.

Here's a few more. All Ps'd, but then how how would i create them.

There's one with a sunset vibe, which is slightly different.


gumi5 by saintly's pics, on Flickr


gumi-6 by saintly's pics, on Flickr


sunset-gumi by saintly's pics, on Flickr


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## Antoni (30 Mar 2013)

Mark Evans said:


> Thanks for looking and commenting Antoni,
> 
> The plants are indeed terrestrial. The forest gets an overall yearly with (mostly) the silver birches getting lopped. There's a lot of debris and piles of moss all over the place, so I don't feel bad about taking from nature. And to be honest, if you saw the place the amounts of moss that i take (very little) is probably 000000.00001% of the total....Nothing!
> 
> ...


I wouldn't feel bad of taking some moss, neither. It is everywhere and will not affect the eco system. But the benefit of this experiment is great and amazing!

Keep doing this for all of us please! It is so inspiring! I really love the sun effect!


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## tim (30 Mar 2013)

Agree with antoni, exceptional personally the first image has that lovely summers day feel to it with the blue background, what type of stone are you using in the images mark.stunning work.


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## George Farmer (31 Mar 2013)

Mark Evans said:


> feed back always welcome guys. A lot of work goes into this.


Flippin' lovely, Mark! 

Great photography, as to be expected from you...

But the best thing is the fact you're getting out there, getting your hands dirty, and sharing the inspiration with us all on UKAPS. 

I for one really appreciate it. Thank you. 

PS Maybe if your thread title were a bit more high-impact/descriptive, to do the contents more justice; you may get more views and therefore comments...


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## Mark Evans (31 Mar 2013)

Cheers George. I've changed the title. Still not sure it's great. I've got some more ideas coming to me.

I have a thought, that at a seminar, creating an iwagumi but using terrestrial mosses. This will help in giving an 'instant look' rather than letting the brain decide on how it may look 4 months down the road,

I've got some lovely grasses growing in the back garden which could help give different looks. This can be done with wood, rather than just stone. It's endless. And if I'm really pushy, I'd like to do an iwagumi in a 120cm, and keep it misted. These mosses don't need much moisture actually.


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## Mark Evans (31 Mar 2013)

Here's the stone.You can use either copper green granite (if you can find it, or purple schist #(i think is similer)


stone by saintly's pics, on Flickr


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## Mark Evans (31 Mar 2013)

Heres one last shot with stone...

gumi-7 by saintly's pics, on Flickr


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## Ian Holdich (31 Mar 2013)

Mark Evans said:


> Cheers George. I've changed the title. Still not sure it's great. I've got some more ideas coming to me.
> 
> I have a thought, that at a seminar, creating an iwagumi but using terrestrial mosses. This will help in giving an 'instant look' rather than letting the brain decide on how it may look 4 months down the road,
> 
> I've got some lovely grasses growing in the back garden which could help give different looks. This can be done with wood, rather than just stone. It's endless. And if I'm really pushy, I'd like to do an iwagumi in a 120cm, and keep it misted. These mosses don't need much moisture actually.



Looks great mate and top photography!
I know the stone is called 'green' but is it actually that green? Looks really natural. 
That's a good idea regarding the moss as well, as you say they don't need much looking after they are mainly found in area of poor nutrient soil around our parts
I found some stuff the other week, id'd by Darrel, I have it growing in my garden. Ill bring you some over as its the image of riccia!


image by Ian Holdich, on Flickr


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## Mark Evans (31 Mar 2013)

i had something similer to that Ian. I thought it was a sought of riccia...obviously wrong.

Here's the last of the test photos' A ripple added.

Time to move on to more land based layouts.


gumi-ripple by saintly's pics, on Flickr


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## LancsRick (31 Mar 2013)

Fantastic. Really really like that.

As much as I admire the composition of the shots, would it be possible please to have some pictures of how the setup looks in place in reality? Have these just been done in an empty tank as a terrarium?


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## Mark Evans (31 Mar 2013)

Cheers Lancsrick.

Here#s the basics in the following image...


light-tent by saintly's pics, on Flickr

It's a proper photography tent, which diffuses the light from every angle. Even the front if I put the front on. Don't need that though with no shiny surfaces.

There's 2 x 500w lamps back and left side, and 2 x 250w bulbs left corner, and front right (just out of shot, and a 250 halogen front right also just out of shot)to illuminate the front I'm not using flash on this, but constant lighting. I can't wait to get some 'slider' video shots going.

It's big enough to setup a 60cm or a 90cm tank, so that should look niece. Even getting them in position for the final shoot should be a breeze, and the lighting will be 'perfect' even for the final full tank shot. so excuses for a poor FTS shot now.

W/B is easy set, as most the bulbs (in fact all of them are 5400K I think)

Even the final RAW images look fantastic. For effect (obviously) I've PS'D ripple and added grad backgrounds. But the shots which are white backgrounds are pretty much as they came off the camera.

That setup gave this shot...You can buy different coloured backgrounds to help get rid of PS work. But doing it in PS is easy now.


blue-sky by saintly's pics, on Flickr


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## Aron_Dip (31 Mar 2013)

Hi mark 

The added ripple is awesome really like the way you too add things in PS to see how things might look and change the overall feel, I think it's a great way of getting a good overall feel for things before committing too it..

Iv done something similar by adding plants witch I intend too use too my hard scape too see how things might look..




plant plan by Aron_Dip, on Flickr 

But yer keep them coming mate 

Cheers Aron


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## LancsRick (1 Apr 2013)

Could almost do with a 60cmx30cmx10cm "tank" to frame these in, I can't see my relationship lasting long if I expressed interest in another aspect of the hobby that involved stealing all available tabletops!!!!


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## thelats1981 (13 Apr 2013)

I take it you are running purigen in these tanks, excellent water clarity!


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## grathod (14 Apr 2013)

Mark Evans said:


> Cheers George. I've changed the title. Still not sure it's great. I've got some more ideas coming to me.
> 
> I have a thought, that at a seminar, creating an iwagumi but using terrestrial mosses. This will help in giving an 'instant look' rather than letting the brain decide on how it may look 4 months down the road,
> 
> I've got some lovely grasses growing in the back garden which could help give different looks. This can be done with wood, rather than just stone. It's endless. And if I'm really pushy, I'd like to do an iwagumi in a 120cm, and keep it misted. These mosses don't need much moisture actually.



This is really frontier stuff Mark & thought I'd share my observation of a walk I do in Cumbria when I want to get out but not do a strenuous walk on those occasions after a few bevvies the night before- place between Grasmere and White Moss... This looks like something taken directly from there and the scene evolves as only nature can! In summer the  mosses grow emergent on rotting wood and stones but in winter when the same area floods and becomes a roaring stream the same mosses are still evident but submerged for months and still vibrant. I get your point about the quick method, have you tried flooding it in a tank? I think the flora may surprise us all with the ease of adaptivity. Worth a try?


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## Mark Evans (16 Apr 2013)

Thanks chaps.

I must point out; these are not in fish tanks. There's no water. They're just 'scenes' that I wanted to create but with aquatic ideas in mind.

Hi Grathod. To be honest, I'm not sure flooding it (or putting these mosses in water) would work. I think they may die. They're not from an area which see's much water. They're Very shaded areas indeed.

If it were possible, it would revolutionise layouts I think.

If we could get out hands on these kinds of quantities to completely cover a tank (aquatic moss) it would look pretty descent within just a couple of weeks. That said, my current 120cm probably has enough moss to do this in a 120cmx 45 base.

I really want to do an Iwagumi with just moss, bolbitis and crypts...so watch out!...


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## grathod (17 Apr 2013)

Hi Mark, think you've inspired me here... I'm currently in the process of a lengthy renovation but once done and back onto tanks, I'm going to grab a few handfuls of that moss I mentioned& give it a try submerged, gut instinct is telling me that it will work as its from a very wet area in Loughrigg in Cumbria. Your Iwagumi idea sounds fab mate, go for it. It'll make an awesome journal as well. Cant wait to get my hands wet again!


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## Steve Smith (18 Apr 2013)

Love these Mark


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