Apparel product photography in flat lay style. Features, benefits, and increasing site conversion
Flat lay accomplishes more than a still photo. It’s more than clothes laid beautifully over a surface and a photo taken from above. The essence of photography in flat lay style is in conveying useful information with style. It tells a story with a uniquely visual voice and is the convenient format for apparel product photography. It allows compositions with several items at once, suggesting how best to combine the clothing in your store.
You can also include anything a buyer might want beyond the clothes. For example, if you sell ski sweaters, then your ideal flat lay might include a sweater with goggles and gloves. The end result, not only shows off your clothes in the best possible light, but guides the buyer in wearing the clothes and picking accessories.
How does apparel product photography in flat lay style increase website conversion?
It doesn’t matter your what type of business or marketing strategy you use– the power of visual communication is the critical success factor. Therefore, the modern marketer employs visual content first and foremost. It’s an absolute necessity when a main channel to online stores is the Instagram network. Apparel product photography in flat lay style will, not only bring the customers in, but drive up your site’s conversion rates through the eye-catching style.
Photography in flat lay style evokes positive emotions from the buyer, and this potent reminder of the customer’s best feelings give your conversion rates the wings to soar.
How can you make your photography in flat lay style stand out from the crowd?
To stand out in a vast forest of competitors, you must speak to customers’ emotions. When they look at a photo, you need them to feel joy. You need that photo to remind them of something very pleasant. Photography in flat lay style plays an important role.
A good photo contains a visual story. You can’t just scatter what you have on hand and shoot. The subjects in the frame should fit a theme, look natural together, and hint at something more. If you want an attractive photo of a branded skirt, you might put shoes and a handbag nearby. Aim for the content that says “stylish women’s look.” Likewise, if you want an attractive photo of a man’s dress shirt, your story might be “stylish look for the office.” Add in a tie and some accessories from around the office (perhaps a watch, a notebook with a pen or a stylish diary). Children’s apparel product photography is no different. With a beautiful children’s party dress, you could include ballet flats, a princess crown and a magic wand. Every flat lay should be carefully thought out. When creating such a photo, you need to ask yourself some questions. What objects in the photo would I pay attention to? Would the emotions they create compel me to follow the link and buy these products?
How do you to take flat lay photos? Choosing the right background
This style of photography is extremely popular, cherished by everyone from bloggers to the marketers of apparel online stores. Naturally, many articles have been written on just one topic: “How to take flat lay photos?” These articles typically focus on the compositional construction of a photo (we also covered this topic), but little attention is paid to backgrounds. Though often forgotten, this nuance is important. It’s primarily responsible for the feelings of joy and warmth we want to achieve. These are the feelings that attract potential buyers.
The background is the canvas of the future flat lay. It should be matched to the theme of flat lay and the objects within it. The background will vary. It should never be uniform. For example, plain bedding is a great backdrop for lingerie, whereas a wooden table is a great option for a knitted Christmas sweater. You can use Photoshop to create and select the most suitable background. Another great option (especially for a studio) is a photo background.
Here are some tips from our photography studio to help:
How to choose a colour. Refer to the colours of your product. If these are mainly light shades, the photo background should be dark and vice versa. That said, please note it’s difficult to work with bright backgrounds. They often sap attention from the products themselves. So, buy bright backgrounds for pre-planned shots. If flat lay items contain multiple colours, use a background with natural wood shades. These are considered universal, and the only important point is choosing the right tone.
Choosing the right texture. If you’re an inexperienced photographer, use matte backgrounds. Glare on glossy backgrounds can ruin the entire photo. The more expressive the texture, the more interesting the empty areas in the frame look. Textures for brick, concrete, lace or woollen knit are specifically popular.
Choosing background size. The choice of photographic background size depends on the size of the objects you shoot. If the clothes in your photos are typically medium-sized (for example, for children), then a 70x70 cm photo-phone will suit you best. If it’s difficult to decide or your photogrophy subjects vary, consider a universal large background of around 100x100 cm.
Choosing the right material. There are two types of photography backgrounds – vinyl and wood. Vinyl backgrounds are our recommendation. They’re moisture resistant, making them easy to clean. You can wipe with a damp sponge and soap whenever one gets dirty. As a bonus, you can smear it on something for the sake of composition. This background type can be stored rolled up, which saves precious space in your photo studio. Vinyl backdrops are easily attached to other surfaces with tape, and just as easily removed after a photo session. The final plus of such a background is the price tag – they are inexpensive compared to wooden backdrops. Wooden products are more expensive, get wet, and are difficult to carry out onto the street due to their size.
How do you prepare and fold clothes for photography in flat lay style?
There are rules on folding your clothes correctly for photography in Flat Lay style. Folding shirts neatly is a must, and doing so requires a flat piece of cardboard. Cut a rectangle of the required size from thick cardboard and lay it on the back of the shirt. The liner will keep the correct shape longer. Pay attention to the parallelism of the lines so that the folded shirt does not turn out skewed. Beware, there should be no narrowing towards the bottom.
Some fabrics will have to be tinkered with and may need to be thoroughly steamed before shooting. Clothing always has areas that are extremely difficult to lay out in horizontal projection, so FlatLay photographers employ tricks learned from experience to cope with this problem. Here’s a few for your own use:
The groin area of a set of trousers usually goes unseen in the photo. Therefore, such clothes present in the frame are often partially folded, as in the example below.
With sweaters, it sometimes happens that the armpits form an ugly fold when placed in the usual layout. Therefore, the armpit area can either be draped or hidden behind the sleeves.
On a side note, the easiest way is to remove things from fabrics with a rigid texture (jeans, tight sweatshirts, cotton shirts, shirts, jackets, etc.) or bulky one (hats, knitted socks, mittens, etc.).
Photo shoot for website and Instagram account of your online store in our Toronto Photo-studio
In our Toronto photo studio, we conduct amazing photo shoots for websites, as well as for Instagram accounts. Our photographers are well versed in flat lay photography fashion and will take absolutely stunning photos to increase the conversions in your online store.
Our photo studio also allows you to rent a unique photo machine for flat lay photography. The specialized horizontal machine is an excellent solution for flat lay photography, as every setting is already set up for you. The peerless convenience includes automatic background removal and touch controlled lighting. With this machine, you can take a truly enormous volume of photos and still process them immediately. Best of all, however, you can send them to the online catalogue of your store or to your Instagram account in just a few seconds.
Flat lay photography for different products: clothing, sport goods, crockery, jewelry, etc.
In our photo studio, we make flat lay photography for different products: clothing, sporting goods, crockery, jewelry, and others These products differ in size, texture, materials, and (most importantly) in the ideas and themes you’ll want to express with them. The photographers at our studio in Toronto have invaluable experience in creating such images with any product. They understand perfectly that you require a certain atmosphere, a certain emotion. So, if you need outstanding photos that will increase your sales, then contact us and we will take the photos you need in a timely manner. For more detailed information, write to us in the chat or call the support service.