How to shoot 'flat lay' still life images at home

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Flat lay is trendy right now, and you’ll see a lot of it on Instagram.It’s popular in many photography genres, including food. It’s not quite proper for classic still life compositions where you want depth, but it clearly lets us define the shapes of objects. You can use it to better show the beauty of many dishes, as well as utensils and tools.

It will take 5 to 60 minutes if everything that you need for shooting is ready. For the picture with the vintage cutlery (right), takes 20 minutes for scene set up.

Camera and Lenses

Camera and lenses use in this project is Canon 700D with Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM and Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 lenses. Some people like to use a tripod for these kinds of shots, but if shooting with studio lights there’s no need - the flash will freeze any camera movement and gives wonderful crisp details. There is differences either you use flash or not.If you prefer the freedom of shooting handheld - there is some advantage - it’s easier to make small adjustments, and using Live View makes composition easier.

Object/Image composition

Harmony is important. There is similar situation when composing any sort of image, except with still life there’s more control of the objects and their position, of the textures, and of the light. Spend a lot of time to exercising moving the objects around until the balance is the composition feels right. Lack of harmony will give bad result.

Light

Similar with the physical composition, the light should use properly or the picture will lack harmony. Simply, use one-light setup either with or without a reflector, depending on how much you want to fill the shadows. Maybe you can use two flashes, especially if there is a need to imitate the look of sunshine, or create a high-key, low-contrast look. Soften the light is important, so there’s not too much contrast or distracting highlights and shadows.

Exposure

It's all about sharpness in flat lay images, you have to accomodate enough depth-of-field to keep everything in focus, from the closest details of the objects to the texture of the background. Don’t think about bokeh here, because all of the object must be clear. Use an aperture of f/7.1 to f/14. Since using flash for  lighting, keep the ISO setting low. This provides the best quality and minimal noise (which could affect sharpness or hide the fine details).

Tips

Not all objects will suit the flat lay image style, choose it carefully. Often need to have clear shapes and not be too high, which can make the composition uneasy. Pay attention with reflections, lack of it also helps the overall harmony. The background quality and texture, that you use, is also really important for this kind of photography – it has to suit the subjects either by complementing or contrasting with them. Start shoot out with just a few simple objects before you move onto more complex compositions.


Inspiration/Rewrite from Practical Photography magazine by NATASHA BREEN with title Shoot perfect ‘flat lay’ still life images at home.

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