Sherbrooke Forest, in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne, is one of the most striking settings for a family portrait session: towering mountain ash, deep fern gullies, and a quality of filtered light you won't find in an open paddock or a studio. If you're picturing your family somewhere that feels like it belongs to the forest rather than a backdrop, this is the place, and the session is planned around the light and your children's age and routine rather than a fixed formula.
Why the forest works for portraits
Mountain ash are some of the tallest flowering trees in the world, and standing among them does something to a family group that a flat field or a plain wall can't. The scale puts people in proportion, small against something old and steady, and that contrast is part of what makes the portraits feel true rather than staged. The canopy also does the hard work of shaping the light. Direct sun through open sky is harsh and forces squinting; light filtered through layers of eucalypt leaves softens and scatters, wrapping around faces instead of carving hard shadows under eyes. Sherbrooke's understorey of tree ferns adds a second layer of texture and colour, deep green against the grey-brown of the trunks, which reads beautifully whether the final piece ends up in colour or black and white.
If you'd rather see a broader comparison of settings across the ranges, family portrait locations across the Dandenong Ranges covers gardens, ridgelines and open paddocks alongside the forest itself, so you can see how each one suits a different family and a different mood.
The light changes through the day
Forest light is at its best in the hour or two after sunrise and the hour or so before sunset, when the sun sits low enough to filter sideways through the canopy rather than beating straight down through gaps in the leaves. Around midday, that same canopy creates patchy hot spots and hard shadows, which is why sessions are timed around sunrise or sunset rather than convenience. For families with young children, a sunrise session in the forest can be gentler than you'd expect. Cooler air, quieter tracks, and children who are often at their calmest before the day gets going. For families whose children do better later, an evening session works just as well, with the added benefit of gold light catching the tops of the ferns as the sun drops. Golden hour in the Dandenongs goes further into how that low, warm light behaves across different times of year, which is worth a read if you're weighing morning against evening for your own family.
What the forest floor is actually like
It's worth being honest about the terrain, because it shapes what you should wear more than the outfit itself does. Sherbrooke's tracks are formed dirt and boardwalk in places, uneven, sometimes damp, and often covered in leaf litter and fallen branches. Heels, thongs and anything with a slick sole are a genuine hazard here, not just a style mismatch. Closed shoes with a real tread, whether that's boots, trainers or sturdy sandals, matter more in the forest than almost any other setting Arek shoots in. Once footwear is sorted, clothing follows the same logic as anywhere else: layered, muted tones that sit comfortably against green and brown rather than fighting them, and nothing so precious that a child sitting on damp ground or leaning against a fern feels like a problem. The full guide to what to wear, including how to coordinate a family without matching outfits, is available free from the home page under the styling guide.
Forest through the seasons
The forest doesn't look the same in every season, and that's part of its appeal rather than a limitation. Ferns hold their colour year round, so the gullies stay lush even when deciduous trees elsewhere in the ranges have dropped their leaves. Autumn brings a different quality again, with warmer tones creeping into the understorey and clearer light through thinning canopy in places where the forest meets open garden. Autumn portraits in the Dandenong Ranges looks specifically at that seasonal shift if timing your session around a particular look matters to you. Winter mornings can bring low mist through the gullies, which photographs beautifully but asks for warmer layers underfoot and patience with younger children in cooler air.
How a forest session fits the wider experience
A forest portrait session sits inside the same three-meeting experience as every Five Castles Portraits session. It starts with a one-hour consultation at the Belgrave gallery, where you see finished artwork on the walls, see prices openly, and plan the session itself, including whether the forest, the studio, or somewhere else entirely suits your family and the light on the day. The session follows, timed around sunrise or sunset and around your children's age and routine, with Arek directing rather than posing the group so what comes through is natural and candid. Within a week, you're back for the viewing and design appointment, choosing favourites and designing the finished artwork together.
The forest doesn't need much help. Standing your family under trees that were there long before them, in light that's doing the shaping for you, is most of the work already done.
Most families invest between $1,500 and $3,000 across the collection, with payment plans available, and every piece is artisan printed and hand finished, ready for collection within three weeks of the design appointment. If Sherbrooke Forest feels like the right setting for your family, the next step is booking the initial consultation, where the forest, the light, and the shape of your session get planned properly.
Every portrait begins with a conversation at the Belgrave gallery.