9 Must Have Flat Lay Backdrops

In today’s post I’m going to talk about my favorite backdrops I use for my flat lays. The below items are what I found to be easy to find and incorporate into your photo.

A lot of the items on my list, you can probably find in your home already. They are affordable and you don’t need to go above and beyond to get them.

I love working on my flat lay photos as they bring a lot of creativity out of me. Whenever I want to make my photo simple but yet relatable to everyday life, I tend to use items around me to create backdrops for my flat lays.

The items I’m about to mention are the things I’m sure you can find in your home. You can work with them even if you have a small corner to work on your photos. I love everything on this list, and I hope you find them helpful in your upcoming flat lay photo session as well.

If you are ready let’s dive into it.

1. White Table Top

This is the basic and the one must have item for almost everyone who enjoys taking flat lay photos. It’s easy to incorporate, and won’t steal the scene of your main products.

2. Bedsheet

I love using white bedsheets for all kinds of flat lays. It doesn’t need to be covering your bed though but it can still replicate the “on my bed” mood.

3. Blanket

This might sound weird to say that I recommend you to use your blanket as a backdrop. But it’s not weird to me as I use it often in my photoshoots. It is a perfect item to use, if you’re planning to take a photo that needs a lot of empty space. It will also be good if you need a backdrop thats big enough to fit all of your props.

4. Magazine

I love using magazines as they already have pretty designs or pretty faces on them. This is a great backdrop for an effortless style.

5. Couch/ Chair

I took a picture on my couch and talked about flat lay tips on my previous post, “One Rule To Achieving A Prettier Flat Lay“. You can see here as well that I use my couch as a backdrop for different products I’m shooting. Give your couch or chair a try, as you will see that this furniture pice would do a great job as a flat lay backdrop.

6. Marble Top

I love marble but it’s very expensive to buy a big marble table if you don’t have one already. You can use contact paper with a marble design instead. It comes in a lot of patterns and colors. I found mine on Amazon.

7. Cutting Board

I love using cutting boards as my backdrop when I have to create content around food ingredients and nature focused photos. I got my cutting board from Bed Bath & Beyond.

8. Wrapping Paper

This is a good choice when it comes to the holiday season or DIY project photos. They come in many different designs which you can find the one that matches your overall photo theme.

9. Interesting Texture

Find interesting textures around you. For example, faux fur, fluffy sweaters, straw bags, lace fabrics, and more. They will help with the depth of the photo.

Share with mE:

What do you like to use as a backdrop for your flat lays?

If you are interested in learning more about how to plan your flat lay photo session, feel free to grab my step-by-step Flat Lay Planning Workbook.

Thank you for stopping by All About Good Vibes today.

See you soon for more #FlatLayFriday tips.

One Rule To Achieving A Prettier Flat Lay

Blogging Tips, Flat Lay Tips

Sharing with you today, the one rule I use all the time when it comes to taking flat lay photos. I call it “The Rule of Similarity”.

It’s a super easy rule that works like a charm every time. Enjoy the read and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

My favorite rule I use to achieve a prettier flat lay is “The Rule of Similarity”.

No, this is not a geometric rule about the two geometrical objects that both have the same shape, or one has the same shape as the mirror image of the other. But this is the rule I invented for my flat lay photography. It’s Molly’s Rule! Lol! ? But I’m happy to share how I use this rule with you today. Pretty much this Rule is to pick similar main objects and props to use in your photo.

This is the one rule I use all the time when it comes to taking flat lay photos. Either the similar pattern of objects, the similar colors, color schemes that create an aesthetic feeling to the photo, similar shape, feel, and many more. Nothing too complicated. If they look similar, that’s all that matters. For me personally, I’d normally pick and play with similar colors and similar patterns in my photoshoot session.

The Rule of Similarity

For example, this flat lay photo above, I took on my couch, using my iPhone to take it as the iPhone comes in handy with the camera grid tool that helps guide with spaces and straightening of the photo. As well as it’s very easy to use and control when working in a small space.

As for my photoshoot steps, I follow my flat lay planning process, (you can download it here), got the couch as my background, and picked pink and red as my main colors. The purpose of this flat lay is to share my current favorite items, bag, cami dress, slingback heels, hair clips, summer perfume, and my new couch.

I didn’t have a single main product I wanted to highlight so I gave all of them equal attention but still applied the rule of thirds to this photo, where my bigger objects are at the bottom of the photo.

As you can see that the majority of items in this photo are pink & red and are leopard prints. These are the rules of similarity I applied here.

The last step before the finished photo, I edited it with my Lightroom preset I created to help adjust the mood of the photo.

In conclusion, by using the rule of similarity to pick your objects and props will help make your photo look more interesting, prettier and can strongly showcase its character and story behind your flat lay photo.

Thank you for stopping by All About Good Vibes today. See you next week for more #FlatLayFriday tips.

Share with mE:

What is one tip you use to make your photos prettier?

3 Inspiration Sources for Flat Lay Photography

Blogging Tips, Flat Lay Tips

Hi love!

Happy Friday! In today’s post I’m going to talk about my 3 sources of inspiration for flat lay photography. #FlatLayFriday

For me personally, it’s so hard sometimes to come up with some fresh flat lay ideas especially when I’m working for my own blog or project. I found it a lot easier when working with brands because they will give me more details and let me know exactly what they want or are looking for.

Since it’s quite hard to get my thoughts put together I found myself ending up in these 3 places I’m about to tell you.

If you are ready, let’s dive into our topic today “3 Inspiration Sources for Flat Lay Photography“.

#1 Source: Pinterest

As of now, you might already knew that Pinterest works like a search engine just like google. But the different between them is that Pinterest is the place where you can find all kinds of beautiful pictures once you search on their search bar. Instead of the name of the article thats pops up, you will see either the photos that are included in the article or you will see the photo with the topic of the article coming up. It’s a super convenient source for all kinds of topics.

I used to use Pinterest for wedding inspirations, food and interior design. Now I am using Pinterest for everything that you can think of, especially gathering flat lay ideas for new projects.

How I use Pinterest are explained in the below tips:

One:

Using search bar and search words like “Flat Lay“, FlatLay, FlatLay Ideas“, “FlatLay Inspo” and etc.. For this, you will see a lot of flat lay photos popping up.

If you want to be more specific on what you’re looking for, you can put the niche word in front of the word flat lay. For example, travel flatlay, beauty flatlay, fashion flatlay and many more.

You can now search using hashtags as well.

Two:

Follow people who have FlatLay boards. I have one here that you can follow and get some new ideas from.

To search for boards, you have to use the search bar, type in the same keyword “FlatLay” once you press enter, you will see the options of the search types next to the search bar. Now you can then change from “all pins” to “board” or “people”. Then follow the ones that inspired you the most.

Now every time you visit your Pinterest homepage, all of the new pins from people and boards you are following will show up to inspire you.

Three:

Create your own Flat Lay board and start collecting your own pins. This way you will be able to go back and see what types and feels of flat lay photos you like. I even created my own Flat Lay Guide board to collect online article tips from other people.

Pinterest definitely my number one go to source for Flat Lay inspiration.

#2 Source: Books and Magazines

Books and magazines are my number two source when it comes to flat lay photography, not only do they show beautiful photography but also provide details in them.

For magazines, I mostly look for color palettes and items that will go well as props in my photos.

For books, there are many of them on the market now that will teach you about how to style your flat lay photos. I have 4 books that I like and there are parts of them that teach you about flat lay photography.

“InstaStyle: Curate Your Life, Create Stunning Photos, and Elevate Your Instagram Influence” by Tessa Barton

“Styling for Instagram: What to Style and How to Style It” by Leela Cyd

“Capture Your Style: Transform Your Instagram Photos, Showcase Your Life, and Build the Ultimate Platform” by Aimee Song

“Read This If You Want to Be Instagram Famous” by Henry Carroll

#3 Source: Instagram

As much as I don’t use Instagram stalking people like how I use Facebook (LOL), I LOVE using Instagram as my inspiration source, connecting with all cool people and of course sharing my stories with you. It’s my third place to take a look when I’m running out of ideas.

Because instagram has so many people who’re sharing their passion through pictures, that would be a no brainer not to take a look around on this platform.

Here’s how I would recommend you to do.

#hashtag search

This is kind of similar to Pinterest, you can search #flatlay photos through hashtags like, #flatlay, #flatlays, #flatlaystyle, #flatlayforever, #flatlaytoday, #flatlayoftheday, #flatlaylove, #flatlaythenation and more.

I created a list of Flat Lay Hashtags and you can download it below.

Follow accounts and hashtags

After you are done searching for beautiful photo using #flatlay keywords, you should find some interesting accounts to follow now. I only follow people who truly inspire me. I recommend you to do the same. 🙂

You now have a choice to follow hashtags as well so take advantage of it and follow the hashtags you find that interests you most.

Share with me in the comments:

What do you struggle with most when it comes to Flat Lay?

I hope you enjoyed this post and got a few ideas on where to find your next source of inspiration before taking your new flat lay photos.

Before we say good bye today, don’t forget to leave your comment below this blog post and answer some fun questions on my Instagram posts for a chance to win a $25 Starbucks gift card and one surprise gift from me.

This is a part of our #GOODVIBESGIFTING series I’m carrying on from last year. All winners will be announced at the end of the month, January 31st, 2019, here on allaboutgoodvibes.com. For more details on how to enter the giveaway, visit this blog post.

Thank you for stopping by All About Good Vibes today. I will be sharing tons of flat lay tips and tricks here in my future posts. Hope to see you again soon.

If you need a flat lay planner, feel free to grab your free copy below.

“Vibe high and the magic around you will unfold.” ― Akilnathan Logeswaran

9 Must Have Flat Lay Backdrops

1.

White Table Top

2.

Bedsheet

3.

Blanket

4.

Magazine

5.

Couch/ Chair

6.

Marble Top

7.

Cutting Board

8.

Wrapping Paper

9.

Interesting Texture

Share with mE:

What do you like to use as a backdrop for your flat lays?

One Rule To Achieving A Prettier Flat Lay

The Rule of Similarity

Share with mE:

What is one tip you use to make your photos prettier?

3 Inspiration Sources for Flat Lay Photography

#1 Source: Pinterest

One:

Two:

Three:

#2 Source: Books and Magazines

#3 Source: Instagram

#hashtag search

50 Flat Lay Hashtags

Follow accounts and hashtags

Where I SHOP

Pin It on Pinterest