Scrolling around on Instagram you’ve seen beautifully curated images featuring a Sunday brunch or someone’s inspiring workspace. Have you found yourself wondering how can you make your product photos have that same personal yet graphic touch? I have a few insider tips and tricks to share with you on how to create your perfect flay lay!

Best Backdrop:

 First things first; you’ll want to pick out your background! This is going to help set the mood of your photo. Typically, I try to pick out a neutral background that won’t distract from the hero piece. A background surface can be anything from a wood table, fur rug, or a piece of fabric. If you want that pop of color using a piece of wall paper or gift wrap can add a fun pop of color and design!

Choosing the Hero Piece:

When choosing the hero piece, it should be the one or two items the photo is going to focus on. The item will vary depending on what you’re “selling” or sharing. It could be jewelry, a piece of clothing, home decoration, etc. The list goes on! Once you choose what your hero piece will be then you can build from there!

Laying out Items to Please the Eye:

This is when you can put your design skills to work! Much like a painting, you want to create an image that keeps your eye moving around the image. First off, choose a color scheme and stick with it. This will keep the viewer from only focusing on one item. It’s important to lie out your hero piece and build around that with related accessories. To create a more dimension, stack and skew items on top of each other! Stacking items on top of each other will make your mind wonder what’s underneath! Keep in mind, it’s best to arrange your flay lay so you can capture a birds eye view.  It’s imporant to let your viewer know exactly what you’re focusing on.  We’ve all taken pictures with our smartphones and questioned why the camera pulled focus on something totally in the background!  A few weeks back I shared my secrects on the blog about keeping the focus on your smartphone!

Adding props that make sense:

Let’s say your hero piece is a new watch you purchased or happen to be selling. You would want to choose props that make sense to that item. Did you design the watch? Props that would make sense would be sketchbooks, pencils, small tools; probably all on a wood background. This would give you the feeling you’re in the workshop with the designer. Whatever your hero piece may be, think of what makes that item special and what you’d typically envision it sitting next to!

With these few tips you’re ready to take your Instagram feed by storm or add a new dynamic to your Etsy shop! Have a story in mind you’d like your image to tell and build from there!  Still looking for some more tips and tricks?  Head over to my YouTube channelt and I share a few extra ideas to perfect your flat lay!

Stay Inspired,

Jana