Flat Lay Photography

In this live photography workshop, now available to watch as a replay, Karl demonstrates how to take flat lay photographs using a 35mm camera and 50mm lens.

Flat lay photography is an eye catching way to get your product noticed amidst the chaos of the internet. In this class, Karl shows you how simple it is to take eye-catching images using just two studio lights.

Working through the shoot step-by-step, Karl explains his background and prop choices, his lighting setup and the best modifiers to use, as well as how you can accomplish total control over the depth of shadows.

He achieves a number of different results, with varying degrees of shadows – from totally shadowless light to strong, sharp shadows. At the end of the show, you’ll understand exactly how to achieve each result and have the confidence to try this simple setup yourself.

In this class:

  • Flat lay photography
  • Studio lighting setups for flat lay photography
  • How to compose a flat lay image
  • How to create soft light using a point light source
  • Using reflectors for product photography
  • How to photograph in small studios
  • How to reduce reflections in shiny objects
  • How to control shadows

Questions? Please post them in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. Hi Karl, any plan to teach us a flat lay product photography with shadowless pure white background?

    Cheers,
    Angelo

  2. Hi Karl,

    I found similar issues with lightroom. Frustrating! Then after forgetting my memory cards on a shoot, it worked perfectly when the card slot was empty! So I always take my cards out when shooting tethered and it’s never failed since. (Nikon z6/z7)

  3. Hi all/Karl! I realize this was done a few years back, but for those interested and may not be tracking, when tethered in Lightroom you can make all the adjustments–sans focusing–from the computer. From shutter and aperture to ISO and white balance. You can also trigger the live view on and off from the computer. I have yet to try Capture One but from what I have seen, they are very similar (except for the memory card item).

    Cheers!

    Cindy

  4. hi Karl. A great show as always and choc full of useful information. If anybody is shooting with a Sony mirrorless you can download their own tether programme ‘Imaging Edge’ You do still need a memory card but you have the option to shoot over wifi which makes for less wires if like me you are shooting in a small space and are prone to tripping over everything! It also has live view and a lots of other functionality that I am yet to discover.

  5. I wanted to share that you could also achieve a top down camera angle with a c-stand, an extra 1/4″ spigot, and a ball head mount. Additionally, you can add a counterweight depending on how heavy the camera weighs in order to avoid it toppling over.

  6. U R A GENIUS !!!!
    i have zero background of photography!! started this course after watching the intro free courses, u explain like no one else does!! great mentor !!

  7. Ciao Karl, super workshop as usual. Question: I see that you are shooting items from your employees and I can recognize some logos. Now, I am actually struggling when I took a picture of some products, because I am not sure I can use them on my website (because of the logo, without having any authorization). Is a photographer allowed to take pictures of other items and use the pictures to promote his work? If not possible, what would you suggest? Thanks in advance, regards. MRfotostudio.

  8. Thank you so much for this workshop. It was great to watch, I learned a lot of new stuff and it gave me much more confidence for my next flat lay shoot. I also appreciate how clear you talk Karl, so those non native English speakers can understand every word you say. And by the way I love your accent.
    Gonzalo Baró

  9. JDH44

    Absolutely love all of you videos, Karl. Always very informative and you’re always entertaining to watch!

  10. Hi Karl, what would you suggest we do if we want to shoot flatlays of open books with white pages. When we do this, using the lighting from above, the white pages reflect light back into the lense and create glare. Thanks!

    1. Hi Than, unless the pages are glossy it shouldn’t be a problem? If they are glossy try lowering the light angle a little and using a polariser.

  11. Hi Karl,
    Thanks for making such great video.
    So many small things to observe and learn from your work flow.
    I am already in love with knowledge I have started gaining from first day itself, of my subscription.

    One suggestion, it will be great if In these videos – light power value can be updated live and displayed on screen along with the video, it will surely help in correlating change in light power/nature to change visible in the image.

    Cheers!

    1. Hi, we don’t want to confuse people with too much information as the power of the light is relative to it’s distance and spread, or the type of modifier on it. If we move a light just a few inches then the power would need to be adjusted. Please see the section on flash units in the portrait section for more on power settings, in fact the first 15 chapters in that section should be useful to you.

  12. Hi Karl,
    Thank you for making all these videos to share your knowledge and experiences!
    I love to see you showing the effect and benefit of using high-end equipment like the live show for parabolic reflector, also I appreciate that you can use relative “cheaper” gears to achieve professional photos like this video. This is very helpful for beginner like me to utilize the knowledge I’ve learn much easier.

    I would ask one question. What do you use to adjust the height or angle of the objects like the glasses in this live show? Sorry, I just couldn’t catch the word you mentioned in video.

    Thanks,
    Xiaotong

  13. Hello Karl. I hope you are well. I have a question for you. I made a flat photo with some blouses, the issue is that I used a white board to place the blouse, in the camera, the white board looked white and the blouse looked with the right color, but at the moment that I opened the file RAW in Photoshop, the white board seemed a bit gray, but the blouse kept the correct color. What should I do to keep the white board and the blouse in the correct colour? What did I do wrong because I simply could not keep the whiteboard white ? please tell me how to correct that? Thank you my best wishes to you.

  14. Thanks for sharing the idea behind flat lay photography. I would like to see the postproduction and final result of this shoot

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