A flat lay is a photograph setup the place an object or objects are laid on a background and shot from a fowl’s eye view, utilizing a flat or tender mild in order that any sturdy or distracting shadows are averted.
A flat lay might be created with something – the one factor you must keep in mind is the scale of your objects and the way they are going to sit in your background. A flat lay can characteristic something you select – right here, we used attention-grabbing kinds of vegetation and seaweed that had washed up on the seashore.
For our background, we used a big piece of white card so we had loads of area to mess around with. You don’t have to make use of white card – your background might be no matter coloration you need it to be. If you’re going to use coloration, make it possible for it enhances your topic. Should you’re uncertain, white or gray are impartial and simple to work with as they received’t conflict.
One closing be aware: at Digital Digital camera World we’re acutely aware of doing the suitable factor. We consider you need to return any pure objects again to the place you discovered them as quickly as you’re completed (the identical day, ideally) – consider it like a library mortgage and maintain them whereas in your possession. Don’t choose seaweed that’s hooked up to a rock and, if an animal is utilizing one thing, depart it alone.
1) Accumulate your objects
For this photoshoot, we headed to the seashore to see what we might discover. Ultimately, we had two separate luggage. One was stuffed with pure objects (like seaweed, shells, a mermaid’s purse and driftwood) and the opposite bag was the trash we collected from the seashore on the identical time. It’s nice when you need to use your pictures to assist nature, too! For hygiene causes, take gloves or use a litter picker when choosing up trash.
2) Digital camera and lighting settings
To shoot our flat lay, we positioned our giant piece of white card (594 x 841mm / 23.4 x 33.1in) subsequent to some double doorways. As we had loads of pure mild to shoot with, we determined to hand-hold our digital camera. We set the aperture to f/4, though wherever between f/4 and f/8 ought to be sufficient to make sure that all of the objects within the scene are sharp. The ISO was set to round 400 to make sure we had a quick sufficient shutter velocity. We additionally positioned a reflector on the left to bounce some mild again into the facet of the body that’s furthest from the sunshine supply.
3) Arranging the objects
That is the a part of the venture that you must pay essentially the most consideration to – the association of your objects. Experiment by searching for completely different shapes and the way they’ll sit subsequent to one another within the body. It’s an experimental course of and you might not get it proper the primary time, so hold attempting till you create a winner. It’s additionally price noting that we used a wide-angle 16-35mm f/4 lens to take our photographs, with the focal size predominantly at 35mm (full-frame).
4) Clear it up
To make your picture look clear and tidy requires somewhat modifying in post-production. First, you wish to tone and magnificence your picture to your liking and make sure the publicity and distinction are right. Keep in mind, you desire a impartial impact and tender mild so the objects stand out by themselves. Among the seaweed and garbage left marks on the cardboard, so we cleaned these up in Photoshop utilizing the Take away device. A number of small stray stones additionally made it into the ultimate photos so, once more, we eliminated them in Photoshop with the identical device.
5) Flip trash into artwork
As talked about earlier, we additionally collected a bag of garbage from the seashore and so determined to show this into artwork. Once more, take into consideration how the objects work together with one another – place the bigger objects within the body first after which dot the smaller items round. Additionally, take into consideration shapes and colours in your picture and the way they work collectively.
Try the greatest wide-angle lenses, check out the greatest photograph modifying software program, and while you’re down on the seashore, ensure to take one of many greatest waterproof cameras.