Photography Tutorial: How to Take Perfect Flat Lay Photos

Follow these three simple steps so you can create beautiful flat lay photographs at home, with Darren Rowlands

Our social media feeds are filled with photos of objects or food taken from directly above, otherwise known as flat lay photography. But if you’ve ever tried it for yourself, you’ll find that taking a compositionally beautiful flat lay photo is trickier than it looks.

Darren Rowlands (@darrenrowlands) is a lifestyle photographer and video content creator. He has an eye for great composition and knows all the tricks to getting a perfect flat lay photo.

Learn from Darren in this tutorial as he shows you how you can turn a box of random objects into a beautiful flat lay composition.

How to Create Flat Lay Photos at Home

What you will need:

-A phone with a camera
-Random objects
-A flat surface

1. Lighting

Lighting is one of your most important considerations when taking photos. When you’re taking photos indoors, some photographers like to use artificial lighting and reflectors. Darren on the other hand prefers to use natural light coming in from the window. It can be a good idea to walk around the room you will be taking the photograph in to judge the quality of the light. Perhaps the lighting illuminates one area of the room better than another area?

You also have to ask yourself what kind of effect you are looking to achieve. Harsh light will create heavy contrasts between light and shadow. Soft light however will soften the image and take the shine off any metallic or glass objects. Think also of how light changes throughout the day. A sunset or sunrise will give your photos a warm glow, whilst midday will offer a cool light.

Darren emphasizes that you should never take flat lay photos in direct sunlight, and ideally the light should be coming in at a 90° angle.

2. Composition

Now for the composition. This requires a certain level of knowhow, and Darren gives you some great tips in the video. Firstly, place your objects on a plain surface. Doing this will mean that the viewer’s attention is drawn to the objects, rather than the background. If your background is complex or highly colorful, the focus may be confused.

It’s also a good idea to have a theme for your flat lay. In this video, Darren selects objects from the box that have an “office” or “work-from-home” theme, by placing a laptop, magazines, earphones, and glasses in the composition.

You will find that your flat lay compositions appear much more visually satisfying when they are well balanced. This doesn’t mean an image that is perfectly even, but, for instance, if you place an object in the left-hand corner, it’s a good idea to place an object in the opposite corner. A great way to achieve balance is to follow the rule of thirds. You can read more about the rule of thirds here.

It is just as important to think about where you are placing the objects as to think about the negative space between them. The empty space can also serve to highlight the items you want to draw attention to.

Finally, your image should have a clear focal point. In Darren’s case, it is clear that the laptop - the largest object in the photograph - is the principal focal point. The remaining, smaller objects are placed around that focal point, and should draw the viewers’ eye to the laptop.

3. Final adjustments

Your composition may now look perfect to the naked eye, but perhaps when you look through your camera lense, it could do with a few tweaks. Adjust everything as you need, until you reach what you think will be compositionally great photos. Keep taking photos and adjusting, so later you can choose the best one.

Sometimes it can be a good idea to add some movement, or “life” to your flat lay. Darren does this by inserting his hand into the picture.

A great tip when taking flat lay photos with your smartphone, is to make sure that the crosses in the centre of your screen line up - this means your camera is directly above and you have a perfect, birdseye view of the composition.

Once you’ve finished, you can edit your photos in Lightroom. Darren shows you how to do this - as well as more flat lay compositional tricks and techniques - in his course Flat Lay Lifestyle Photography: From Your Phone to Instagram.

You may also like:

-How do You Create a Portfolio on Instagram?
-What is Food Styling? 6 Tips for Taking Delicious Photos
-Color Theory in Photography, a course by Yaopey Yong
-Content Creation and Editing for Instagram Stories, a course by Mina Barrio