As a busy product business owner you know having a set of styled, high quality images will help attract more lovely customers. But styling your flat lay photographs and working out where to place your products is difficult and time consuming. To help take away the overwhelm, here’s my top five things to consider when styling your product flat lays:

1. Your hero product  

How do you place your hero product in your styled flat lay?

Rule of Thirds

When creating your styled flat you could try the Rule of Thirds. This simply means splitting the camera screen into two thirds both horizontally and vertically. With your hero product placed where the two lines intersect:

Blushberry Original Vegan Lip Butter on tan and grey stone with small purple flower showing rule of Thirds. Susan Truseler©

You could also try isolating your product within the image by using a shallow depth of field (blurry background/large aperture). This keeps the overall look of the photograph quite soft and gentle as well as giving you the option to focus on one product:

Made by Coopers Sleepy Head Pillow Spray and packaging on top og beige pillow case divided into rule of Thirds. Susan Truseler©

And try different positions of your product. By leaving space at the top of the image your customers will feel like your product is right in front of them. It’s also really handy to leave some space in the image to add text to describe your product or add a logo.

2. Composition Rules

To ensure your hero product stands out, try using props or secondary objects in different colours and sizes. You could also try other composition rules:

Leading lines

When you’re creating your styled flat lay photograph use the lines of your products or secondary props to lead your customer’s eye towards the hero product. A centred or symmetrical composition works well:

Pink notebook, pink pencil, grey velvet ribbon, pink satin ribbon, grey notebook and pink post it notes. Susan Truseler©

The Golden Ratio

Differing from the Rule of Thirds, The Golden Ratio draws the customer’s eye into the centre of your flat lay photo and includes more secondary props, textures or colour rather than space:

Yellow thread spool, yellow parcel tag and string, light yellow petal, orange pencils, dark yellow hard-backed book, yellow pencil sharpener, yellow paper clip, yellow drawing pin, post it notes and yellow dressmaker’s tape measure. Susan Truseler©

Diagonals

Using diagonal lines helps to create movement in your flat lay photography even when your products don’t move!

Greetings and occasion variety card flat lay photograph featuring products by Pretty Post with pink and orange pencils, gold sharpener, small gold ruler and black Gardener’s twine. Susan Truseler©

Fill the Frame

You could also try getting up close to your products and have them fill the frame for your flat lay photos:

Black and gold flat lay photograph with gold disposable camera, gold protractor, gold sharpener, gold ribbon, gold shiny patterned parcel tape, gold ruler, glitter pen, gold picture wire, gold sequins and gold pinking shears on black background. Sus…

3. Colour and backgrounds

Coloured backgrounds are versatile and can really help your styled flat lays make an impact. Delicate pastel shades will create a soft, dreamy effect for your styled flat lay photography: