Hello my lovely pumpkins! Today, I am sharing with you how to create the perfect flatlay. Flatlays that will be perfect to publish on your instagram or any platform, that will bring about good engagement and that will inspire others at the same time. Creating flatlays is one of my favorite things to do. I love taking flatlays for my instagram, my blog and my Pinterest, I do it all the time. And, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it (judging from your reaction of course).
Now if you want to know how I create my flatlays then keep on reading and don’t forget to check out my previous post: BLUE SMOKEY EYE MAKEUP LOOK.
How to create the perfect flatlay
1- Have an objective
First and foremost, you need to have an objective. You need to know the why behind your flatlay. When you have a story behind your flatlay, it will generate more engagement and work better in general. And, at least, you’ll know what to show in the photo. In the photo above, my objective was to show this lip kit by Huda Beauty. I’ve bought it newly and I wanted to be able to show the beautiful packaging and the products.
I will admit that sometimes, I take a flatlay photo for no reason whatsoever or just because I want to recreate another flatlay photo.
2- Have inspirational photos
retrieved from Pinterest
Second of all, you need to find photos that inspire you. I love looking at flatlay photos, they instantly motivate and inspire me to create beautiful content. You can easily find your inspirations from instagram or Pinterest. They are my two favorite platforms to find creative content. And of course, as a result of looking at flatlays photos all the time, you get the hang of it and creating flatlays becomes easier.
3- Find a theme
Third of all, to be able to create the perfect flatly, I would really recommend to find a theme. A theme, that you will be able to follow and guide you in taking the photo. For instance, I love to go for the luxury and neutral vibe. I always go for the same tone of colours and for the same high-fashion vibe. So naturally, I will always choose props that convey this theme.
4- Choose a clean background
My fourth tip to create the perfect flatlay is to choose an adequate “base” or background, if you will. I really advice you to choose a background that is plain and clean. I love to go for a marble paper. It’s simple yet has this luxury vibe that I like to go for.
5- Add texture
After choosing your clean background, you can start adding texture like an orange textile or pair of denim jeans. This will add more dynamism to your flatlay and it will instantly look less boring. Also, I personally love to go for busy flatlays, they look more interesting, in my opinion. In one of my photos, I decided to use water to add more texture to my photo, I absolutely loved how the photo turned out and it was actually reposted by Summer Fridays, yay!
6- Assemble your props
Along with texture, you can add props along with the main focus of your flatlay like a candle, magazines, tarot cards, jewelry tray, earrings or just skincare tools. Moreover, I sometimes love to use perfume bottles as props, they are so aesthetically pleasing. Use as many props as you want, enough to fill in the empty spaces and make your flatlay more interesting. Of course, go for props that follow the theme that you have chosen, so that everything looks coherent.
7- Compose your shot
The 7th tip to create a beautiful flatlay is to compose the shot and that’s when you’re gonna be placing your texture and props. There’s not specific way to place these objects, I would say just go with your intuition and try different positions. Also, you’ll need to decide how you’re gonna shoot your flatlay. Usually, a flatlay is shot with a bird’s eye view but I’d say, experiment with your camera, try a high-angle with an angle of 80 degrees. Try to take the shot from the right or left. Just play with your camera. Take a thousand photos if you have to.
8- Experiment with the lights
retrieved from Pinterest
Finally, the last tip is to experiment with the lights and what I mean by that is that you can experiment with shadows. Sometimes, taking a photo with a perfect light, no shadow whatsoever, can be very boring. Hence, taking photos with really bright natural lightening can be very interesting. It won’t work for all photos but it will work for some.
And that’s it, how to create the perfect flatlay
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and if you did, don’t forget to give it a ‘like’ and to follow my blog.
xx
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I love your flatlays! I think one of my goals for 2020 is to work on taking better flatlays!
Author
thank you love!!
I absolutely love all of your flatly. They are creative and beautiful to look at. Thanks for sharing these tips. xx
Author
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it xx
Loving your Insta content lately, flatlays are definitely a big part of that. You are doing them so well, so I’m really happy to hear these advices. They will be helpful for sure. xx
Author
Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it!!! and I am happy that this post is helpful to you xx
Great tips! I really like your flatlays, they’re very creative! Whenever I try to do some, I never know what kind of props I want to add and if they truly make sense all together 😂
Author
yess it’s so tricky sometimes! thanks for passing by xx