I just don't want to see any finger prints there.... yeah... that's pretty good. OK.
Ahoj! This is Zdenka. It's creative camera challenge time.
I know it's been a while since the last round so I am gonna take you on a journey today
because I have to take some photos of products in
a flat lay photography style. I am starting to realy enjoy it lately. So I am gonna throw
whole bunch of tips and tricks on how you can step
up your game when it comes to flat lay images. And again, I can't, I can't wait to see what
you guys gonna submit... finger prints! And for
the new faces, Ahoj. My name is Zdenka Darula. If you want to learn how to take better photos
and videos with the latest gear and possibly participate in creative camera challenges
like this one, consider subscribing. What is flat lay photography? or lay flat? Lay
flat usually happens after my 5K run. I usually lay straight, I
lay flat. So what is flat lay photography? Well, it is when you are looking from top
down. You take your images straight down. It is from birdsview
perspective. This photography is very popular on stock, it is also very popular on social
media, especially Instagram. There is lot of photos
like that. The hardest part when it comes to flat lay photography and is the longest,
time consuming part is to collect the items which are complimentary,
they will look great in the images, they will tell you the story. Actually not you, but
they will tell the story through the images. So what do I have here today? The product
shot I need to do is actually this action camera. Now by
the way this is not a sponsored video, anything like that. I will be reviewing some of those
products in the future so I am just taking the photos
ahead of the time so I can use it on my Instagram account. Now, if you look at my instagram
account, all the images are kind of with a green,
dark green theme for the end of the summer and now we are in a fall, actually it is little
bit too much of a green, so I need to transition into more fall look so I am gonna go for the
fall colors. When I am looking at the camera, I can see that it is all black and it has
red here. Now, the red is not deep red, it is going
to the orangy so it is good because I don't want to change the color of the product, I
want it to stay as it is. But I can nicely bland it in with
the fall look, with the rusty tones. Let's talk about background. Let's pick the right
background. For flat lay photography the best is to use
some sort of a background with a texture. Now you can go with completely white if you
are doing some bold colors, like a make up or food. For me
because I am doing photo of a dark product, I am gonna go little bit darker. And what
I can do here, I can use anything with wood so rusty looking.
I can go for these cooking sheets which are very old. Used, abused, but I don't want to
throw them out because they are amazing for background.
And they just give you rusty look so you can defenitely use this as a background. Another
great idea is to just use concrete floor. I actually
went to our garage the other day. I was taking photos there because there is this little
rusty spot on it. It just looks perfect in the images. Another
option here is actually an old chalk board. It's got, you know it's been used around and
there are little bit spots there. It's little bit bubbled
up from the water and all that. But I like it. It's great texture which I can also use
for flat lay images. What I am thinking of doing with the
action camera is because it's an action camera, so it symbolizes adventure and fun. So I've
got few options here. What I like to do, I like my
images kind of very simple, so the camera will be the center of the attention and I
can just do it in a fall theme with fall colors. Just the camera
itself. That would be the simple shot. The next option would be actually use the chalk
board and having the action camera as well as a main
focus, but then with the chalk, draw symbols such as skate board, sun, anything fun to
do. Swimming, which goes well with the action camera. The
third option is to find items which are way smaller then the camera because I don't want
those items to over power the camera. Which can symbolize
the action like a miniature skate board for example. Or I could use real large items like
a skate board but just place it somewhere in a corner
like the wheel sticking out little bit. So it is not overpowering the action camera because
the action camera still has to be the main focus of the
shot. Now that I know the background, now that I know the items, let's talk about lighting.
You can shoot it by window, use natural light. The
best shots are in the morning or in the afternoon when the light is super soft and little bit
golden. But you can always during the day place a
white sheet on the window to block, to soften the light. I am in the studio, I am just using
a softbox, which is little bit away further from me,
I can also little bit intentionally use the strong light to my adventage and create artificial
shadows which can be very interesting in the shot
as well. Some photographers love to use the overhead set up when they shoot lay flat photography.
I actually like it for video but when it comes to photography I still like the handheld look.
So that's what I am gonna be doing so I like to be
pretty much flexible and move around if I see something interesting. If you had your
camera on the over head set up, what you could do, you could
pair it with your phone via Wifi which Canon M50 can actually. I am gonna be shooting with
that camera and then just take the photos on the phone
as you are re-aranging the items for the shot. Since I mentioned camera, I am gonna be shooting
with Canon M50, Viltrox speedbooster and 50mm lens.
Very simple set up. I can also shoot it with smartphone, any camera goes, no excuses there.
How do we arrange the items? Well, there should be
a balance. So nicely balanced photo is always the best. What you can do, you can use the
rule of thirds and where the points are crossing, that's
where you place your items. You can also place the items on the S curve, or diagonal. Lot
of options are there obviously. And I am gonna be
shooting through those leaves, I am gonna be putting it close to the lens to shoot through
that color to add some extra color. What I am thinking of
also doing is to add water drops to put extra texture. The beauty of having the table on
the wheels, I can turn it actually and I can work with
light. So if I don't like the light in certain direction, I am just gonna turn it around,
get different light and that way I have completely different look. Once you have all your images
in place, once you take all the photos, that would be only the half of the job. The other
half of the job would be going to Lightroom or Photoshop
and making those images pop. So bring the saturation up little bit, play with the colors.
You can change the colors individually to match it
up. If you have some items which don't have the same color you would really want in the
images, don't worry because you can always tweak it. I like
to also add some texture even further in the post to make sure that the image really stands
out. Don't be afraid to crop the image litte bit
further if you think it would be better.. chop, chop, chop. Do it because you never
know when you gonna come up with something. It can be minimalistic.
It can be very powerful, it can add lot of items. Mix it up. Now it's your turn. You
have until October 31st 2020 to submit your images
and you can either upload them on Instagram and please use #zdflatlays or you can upload
them to Facebook group ZD camera challenge facebook
group. The link is by the way in the video description just below the video. Hit the
thumbs up if you liked today's video and subscribe to future
videos like these. I am so looking forward to seeing your work. If you have any questions,
comments, simply want to say Hi, you know what to do.
You can always leave it below the video in a comment section. And I'll see you my friends
in the next one, Cau... Ahoj...