Today, I want to talk to you about lay flat photography prop hunting. You can make some props yourself and I have done that too - I made something for my product photos as you’ll learn below, but you can also find great props for the lay flat photography or lifestyle shots that you want to put together on the high street too!
Of course, with some clients’ products, I need to take lifestyle shots and I need to give people a visual representation of what the product would be like if they had it in their life. In order to achieve this I came up with a list of items that I wanted to use for my shots, and I made a little board that I could use as the base for my lay flat photography projects This board is amazing and it literally only cost me ten pounds to make.
It was a marble board, which serves as a good base for a lot of lay flat photography shoots – but in addition to this good base you also need lots of little accessories and things that you can use. Without these supporting props your lay flat photography looks really bland and barren. You need these items to accentuate and give some contrast to your lay flat photography project. Whenever you're making or picking out accessories or props to go into a lay flat photography piece you have to bear in mind whatever it is that you want the focal point of that lay flat photography piece to be - make that the main thing, and then find supporting items that compliment or contrast with it.
I’ve been shooting a lot of makeup products lately, and I’ve gotten into a style where I’m using a lot of shimmering effects in my lay flat photography sets, with the products often in the golden hues, but I also have some silver products to work with too. The caps for the various containers I’m working with tend to be white as well – so in order to work with that in my lay flat photography shoots I have different props that are different colours, but most of them are muted or pastel shades so that the product still stands out as the centrepiece of my lay flat photography image.
How did I find and put together this catalogue of props and accent pieces for my lay flat photography projects? Well, I decided to go to my local arts and crafts store and just see what they had there that I might be able to use with my lay flat photography projects. I ended up coming away with some great coffee table books, a notebook, even some synthetic plants!
The plants actually turned out to be one of the best finds – stores like these often have plant displays that are already put together or designed to be a set, however, they also have smaller plants that are sold individually – and these are the ones that come in handy for lay flat photography, as these individual items are often on sale. That being the case, if you like to use flowers in your lay flat photography projects and you want flowers that will look great all year round – now you know where to go!
Another great source of lay flat photography props can be Goodwill, or other charity shops. Again, it’s just one of those places where you never know what you might find. I’d never go into a Goodwill looking to fill a specific need or to find a specific item that I knew I wanted for a lay flat photography project, but they’re always worth checking out as they usually have some really cool trinkets and other small items, of all types, shapes, and sizes. The kind of thing you never knew you needed to add to your prop collection until you spot it. Of course, if you are going to go this route then you have the added bonus of knowing that you’re helping some really good causes with your purchases too!