5 | PHOTOSHOOT
Make creative scenes using items from nature, a piece of white card and a reflector. Claire Gillo explains how
A flat lay is a photo setup where an object or objects is laid on a background and shot from a bird’s eye view, using a flat or soft light so any strong or distracting shadows are avoided.
Aflat lay can be created with anything –the only thing you need to take into account is the size of your objects and how they will sit on your background. For our background, we used a piece of white A1 card so we had plenty of space to play around with. You don’t have to use white card –your background can be whatever colour you want it to be. If you are going to use colour, make sure it complements your subject. If you’re unsure, white or grey are neutral and easy to work with as they won’t clash.
One final note: at DigitalCamerawe are conscious of doing the right thing. We believe you should return any natural items back to where you found them as soon as you are finished (the same day, ideally) –think of it like a library loan and take care of them while in your possession. Do not pick seaweed that is attached to a rock and, if an animal is using something, leave it alone.
A flat lay can feature anything you choose – here, we used interesting types of plants and seaweed that had washed up on the beach. However, our rule is to leave seaweed that’s attached to rocks alone.
1 Collect your items
For this photoshoot, we headed to the beach to see what we could find. In the end, we had two separate bags. One was full of natural items (like seaweed, shells, a mermaid’s purse and driftwood) and the other bag was the rubbish we collected from the beach at the same time. It’s great when you can use your photography to help nature, too! For hygiene reasons, take gloves or use a litter picker when picking up rubbish.
2 Camera and lighting settings
To shoot our flat lay, we positioned our piece of white A1 card (594 x 841mm or 23.4 x 33.1in) next to some double doors. As we had plenty of natural light to shoot with, we decided to hand-hold our camera. We set the aperture to f/4, although anywhere between f/4 and f/8 should be enough to ensure that all the objects in the scene are sharp. The ISO was set to around 400 to ensure we had a fast enough shutter speed
