Tuesday Tip! Flat Lay Photos for Instagram

Each time you create a piece of content and push it out to social media that content needs to "fit" the social media channel it is on. You cannot just replicate content and use the same imagery for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

One type of imagery that works extremely well on Instagram is called the flat lay. Flat lay photography is the idea of placing objects flat on a surface (like a table or the floor), and then taking a photograph of your objects from above, as a bird's eye view.

For an attractive, quality flat lay:

focus object - Choose a focal object that you want to showcase. This could be a product if you are doing the flat lay to help promote a product or a blog post about a product.

complimentary objects - Choose other objects to compliment and place with the focus object. Many bloggers and photographers use similar products, accessories, flowers, cute objects, tchotchkes or trinkets.

simple background - Let the objects be the focus by avoiding busy backgrounds. Keep the background simple, bright and allow the objects to pop. A white background is ideal, but if you want to mix it up, keep the background texture simple and the colors light. (I like to use light colored, simply designed scrapbook paper.)

good lighting - Anytime you take photographs, lighting is key. Your ideal light is natural (filtered and not too bright) sunlight. Using lighting fixtures can get you the light you need, too. Play around with lighting to try to get your arrangement well lit without shadows. Avoid using the flash on your camera or your phone.

thoughtful arrangement - The composition may be the most challenging part of flat lay photography. Setting up the arrangement can be time consuming and nerve wracking. Take photos every time you change the position, because you may end up liking a composition and can't recreate it again. To get things to stick in place, use poster putty. Take advantage of the principles of good composition: position, orientation, balance and harmony. A thoughtful arrangement should look appealing and artistic to you. If it seems too cluttered, boring or unbalanced, it probably is. Rearrange!

common theme - Build thematic arrangements. Pick a color scheme (such as all blue, or blue and yellow), choose similar shapes (all round shapes, for example), or use all the same object type (like all lipsticks). For pop, make your focus object "off theme" but complimentary in another way. For example, have the focus object be black and all of your complimentary objects white.

Inspiration! Google Image Search for Flat Lay Photographs