Starting with a haunted/abandoned castle model I just finished.
The curtain is drawn back and the illusion is revealed! I have a light box I bought off Amazon. It was about $50 I think? It is fairly small; only 11" deep and about 14" wide. It really should be in an area with more natural light. Someday I will get a bigger and brighter version.
You can see here how much better the model looks at "tabletop distance".
The box has two rows of LED lights to provide light from multiple angles and eliminate shadows.
The components are a blue sky backdrop, a "forced perspective" piece, a row of trees to hide the gap between the ground cloth and the hills, and a piece of felt in a color called "Reets Relish".
The trees are grouped on bases to make them easier to move. The bases are cut off flat at the back to save space.
The hills are made from foam core with "Reets Relish" felt glued on. Some trees - larger in front and smaller in back - are stuck in the foam core. I could do something more realistic, but I am trying to match the high contrast style of my miniature painting.
The back drop is a piece of blue foam glued on some foam core. The clouds were done with spray paint.
Ground cloth is Reets Relish felt.
This image shows the model photographed with just the plain grey background. I think this would work well for cases where you want to showcase the quality of your detail work. With this model I am trying to hide the detail work!
An abandoned castle should be hidden in the trees.
For this photo I switched to a lower angle to make the castle look taller, cropped it closely, and used a simple filter to adjust the colors. The grey background has now become a gloomy sky.
I am using an old phone (IPhone SE) from about 2020 but I plan to get a newer model this month. That should give me more options.