Blogging Series Part 2

Happy 20plenty everyone. I know this Blogging Series Part 2, was supposed to be published last year, but you know life happens. And I have to say it was actually so good to take a break from blogging. I probably should have mentioned this before, but never ever let blogging interfere with your family time. Over and above all my family is more important to me, and I do not want to loose any time with them. That being said, let’s get into it. This post is about upping your flat lay skills.

When I first started blogging my photos looked like this:

Guys, this is a cheap plastic table cloth that I bought at PEP and a plastic furn that I found at home and dusted off. Now, there is so much wrong with this photo. Everything is off, it’s not eye catching, and personally if I saw this photo pop up on my feed I would probably not hit that like button. The plastic table cloth was just not working out, so I upgraded to a white table cloth.

Guys again, there is nothing special about this photo at all. The clothes are cute, yes- but it needs more. Then, I moved on to Hudson’s compactum. I kid you not. I basically climbed onto it and took photos while trying not to fall off and break my back. It’s all about being committed.

Here are some of the photos I took while balancing on the compactum.

You’ll see the progression in these photos. I added a few props like flowers, blocks, but never over did it with the props. Remember you want the product to stand out, you do not want it to look cluttered or a mess. People want what they see, and thats what you need to keep in mind always when taking photos of products. Lighting is also probably the number one rule to taking photos. Natural light is always best to shoot in. I usually take photos early in the mornings, because I find the light to be less harsh, especially in Summer time. Back to props, it became tiresome looking for props to make my photo stand out. Until I started using Flatlay boards from Backdrop and Flatlay Boards .

Before using the Flatlay Board

After using the Flatlay Board

Here are some of my favorite snaps using the Flatlay Boards

Always remember you cant just take one shot and get it perfectly right. For one photo, I probably take between 10-15 photos until I am happy. I take shots from different angles, and most of my photos are shot in portrait mode. I also take my photos with my phone and edit it on my phone as well. It’s so much quicker. For editing I use an app called VSCO. Some of the features are free, but others you have to pay a fee for. I just use what they have and play around, until I am happy with the image.