What Is A Flatlay?

Hello you lovely lot. As a blogger, you may know me for many different things: talks gibberish on her Stories, loves skincare, plays with make up all day long. But, I think that there is one main thing that I am known for by as LoveRosiee – flatlays!
When I first started my journey with this blog channel, I loved flatlay photography and knew that this style in particular was my goal and my ideal branding. Now, after five years of LoveRosiee, it’s kind of hard to take photos any other way!
I want to reach more of you and share with you how easy it is to create flatlays for your brands and, well, show you what a flatlay is!

A flatlay is a style of photography used by brands, bloggers, restaurants and everyone in between. It involves laying out the items of focus for the photograph and snapping them from above.

Ideally, a flatlay will look natural, with limited shadows or darkness. They will usually be as bright as possible. You will recognise flatlays in recipe books, online clothing brands and make up brands.

When I create a flatlay, I try to make the items of focus the focal point, I want them to look organised but not always clinicial.

Are there different types of flatlays?

For the content I created for LoveRosiee, I have a few rules of thumb:
– make sure the lighting is natural
– make sure the correct products are focused in the right way
– make sure the backdrop is plain or, at least, doesn’t steal focus for the wrong reasons
– use apps to lighten or reduce shadows if needed

Flatlays are not a one and done business. There are loads of different types that can be seen across many industries.
You can have:
– fashion flatlays – these include laying out clothing or an entire outfit including accessories etc.
– foodie flatlays – these usually include some of the ingredients used as well as the finished product with sides
– beauty flatlays – I use these to strategically position my beauty bits, be that make up, brushes, lashes etc. These flatlays are created to show off particular beauty items as well as showing the stages of building a face – for example, base, foundation, concealer, blush, bronze, eyes etc.
– skincare flatlays – I use these a lot to show off the textures of a particular brand. Skincare flatlays can be tricky because, often, skincare items do not come in flat packages!

Are there any flatlay tips and tricks?

I’ve been creating flatlay content for myself and for others for a few years, so I have some easy tips that can help you boss the flatlay!

Make sure you have as plain a backdrop as possible. I used to make my own and I like to use light, distressed wood as it is really versatile for all different types of products
If you need to secure an item to make it look good, blue tack is your winner! Loads of items will need to be secured so that labels look the best so get your blue tack out. You can always edit them in post-photo apps or hide them as best as possible
Play around! A flatlay is never perfect in my opinion and the ones that I create are always leaving me unhappy. but the idea with a flatlay is to play with i, it doesn’t have to be formal or perfect – as long as you show the focus point in the best possible light, you’re golden!
Use flatlay hashtags when sharing them on social media – we are a huge community and we love to celebrate what other creators are doing. The hashtags I like to use are
#flatlayoftheday #flatlaystyle #flatlayphotography #flatlayjournal
Enjoy it! Flatlay photography goes in and out of fashion with bloggers and brands but if you keep your content relevant, you will be successful! It’s a fun and unique way to capture amazing products and the brands that I work with love it!