I'm having a truly awful time trying to get the lighting on this scene right. Being a relative beginner at this, I could really use some of your expert help :) What I had in mind was sort of a misty morning atmosphere with sunlight piercing through the leafy canopy.

Two problems: when I use a volumetric quadratic spotlight to simulate sunlight coming through the leaves, it washes the scene out. This problem is also worsened when I increase fog/haze.

In trying to light the unicorn in the center of the image, it looks like someone drove up in their car and turned their headlights on high. When I tone down the power of the lights, the unicorn is way too dark.

Thanks for your feedback!