Photography & Styling
How To Easily Style A Flatlay Ingredients Image
Nov
Flatlays are one of the most popular food photography captures, but sometimes can be challenging and frustrating, especially if you are a beginner. In this post, you can find guidance about how you can style a simple flatlay image with ingredients and add some depth and motion too.
- The first thing to do it to start your composition by choosing your backdrop.
Now, this is an important step, since the surface that you will choose, will affect the overall mood of your photo and it will create a certain story. Consider the texture and shapes of the backdrop and the color of your ingredients and try to make them match with each other.
2. Place your image`s hero ingredient in the desired position and start building your image.
3. Add the supporting ingredients around your hero element and try to create lines and shapes. In this example, apples are kind of a round shape, so I choose to add also rounded shaped bowls to increase the dynamic of the flatlay.
4. Cut your basic ingredient and place utensils near it to create implied motion. If you compare the second and the third image below, you can see that the image with the knife hint that someone cut the apple, therefore the human element is involved even if you do not actually see it; motion.
5. Creating a flatlay, doesn`t mean that everything has to be flat. Create hight and depth.
In the third image, everything were looking at the same level, without much of interest for the final result. The story would be kind of week. I added a wooden cutting board that also matched the color of the other supporting props and created that depth the image needed.
6. You are almost there, do not forget that you aim for a simple flatlay composition, so you don`t want to add too many ingredients or props.
BUT, before you press “click” on your camera or phone, you need to check from the cameras point of view your up-to-now styling and reposition anything that is not within the lines or does not make much of sence for the final story you want to communicate.
So, reposition your elements, and spread some powdered spices, sugar, salt, whatever fits your theme and empower your food story (this final element also implies motion).
7. This is it!! You did it!!
Your ingredients shot flatlay is ready!! Edit as pleased and share your lovely work with us!!
Clicks & Smiles, Marianthi –the salty biscotti shop
