# Flat lay

> Objects laid on a flat surface and photographed from directly above: an outfit with boots and a watch, a laptop with coffee and flowers, make-up, stationery, or tools knolled into parallel rows. The table becomes a flat plan, sharp in one plane, lit softly from a window to one side on white board, marble, pale wood or coloured paper, with empty space around a hero object and props cut by the edges. Grown from the knolling habit and the Things Organized Neatly blog, it became the stock look of Instagram lifestyle and brand feeds.

- Period: 2010–present
- Kind: Digital & social
- Also called: Flatlay, Photo à plat
- Page: https://lumogeny.com/styles/flat-lay/

## How the look is made

- Shoot straight down at 90 degrees with the sensor parallel to the surface (a tripod with a horizontal arm, a copy stand, or a phone held level from a step stool), and straighten any leftover tilt so edges stay parallel to the frame.
- Build the picture on the table: choose one hero object, add a few props that tell its story (coffee, flowers, a notebook, sunglasses, a hand reaching in), and leave empty space around them.
- Decide on one order per picture: knoll everything parallel or at right angles in a clean grid, or scatter it on diagonals that overlap and run off the edges.
- Light from one side with a large window softened by a sheer curtain or an overcast sky, never from directly overhead, and fill the opposite side with a white board so shadows stay short and soft.
- Lay everything on a pale, plain or lightly textured ground (white board, marble, painted wood, linen or a single colour of paper) and keep the props to one colour scheme.
- Stop down to about f/5.6 to f/8 so the whole plane is sharp, crop square or 4:5, and grade every post alike so the feed reads as one set.

## How it is lit

- A large window to one side of the table (not directly above it), softened by a sheer curtain, tracing paper or an overcast sky, with a white foam board opposite to fill the shadows.
- Soft, even daylight on a pale floor, bed or board for outfit and clothing layouts, the camera held level from a step stool.
- When the window light falls short, light-coloured V-flat boards stood around the set and a flash bounced off them; for shadowless product shots on solid-colour paper, two matched lights at equal angles.

### The rendered set-up

Seen straight down, a large window to one side softened by a sheer, a white foam board opposite filling the shadows. Rendered in Blender Cycles on a synthetic clay figure or still life, with the lights exactly where the plan on the page puts them.

### A light plan from its choices (schematic)

- Key: the open sky, all around and above, soft.
- Reflector: a white card or reflector, about 55° to the camera’s right, soft.

## Camera settings

28–80 mm · f/5.6–f/11 · 1/125–1 s · ISO 100–400 (on full-frame), documented. Format and Phototrend advise 35–50 mm equivalent, f/5.6–f/8 and ISO 100–400 on a tripod or copy stand; phones shoot at about 28 mm and their fixed f/1.8–2.4 still gives deep focus. Specimen EXIF: 47–80 mm eq., f/8–11, 1/60–0.8 s.

## Directing people

People rarely appear; when they do, it is a hand reaching in to hold a cup, write or move a prop, or feet and shoes seen from above, cropped at the wrist or ankle.

## Styling

Everything is placed by hand: one hero object with a few props that tell its story (coffee, flowers, a notebook, sunglasses) on white board, marble, pale wood, linen or one colour of paper, kept to one colour scheme, knolled square in rows or scattered on diagonals with space around.

## Before you shoot it

Flat lays are a staple of influencer and brand advertising: label sponsored and generated pictures as such, use the real product (never a generated stand-in) where a shop listing shows it, keep real brands' logos and trademarks out of generated images, and do not copy the arrangements of a named artist or account. 'What's in my bag' and everyday-carry layouts are real people's belongings: leave out or blur ID cards, passports, boarding passes, bank cards and keys, which can be read or copied from a photograph.

## Photographs

- NordWood Themes, Clothing flatlay, 2016. CC0, via Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons. Shown on the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clothing_flatlay_(Unsplash).jpg
- Jazmin Quaynor, Stationery and flowers flatlay, 2016. CC0, via Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons. Shown on the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stationery_and_flowers_flatlay_(Unsplash).jpg
- Angelina Litvin, untitled flat lay, 2015. CC0, via Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons. Shown on the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angelina_Litvin_2015-08-31_(Unsplash_YL7Y9uZ5O98).jpg
- Stefan Bookblock, Flat Lay Clapham Studios, 2016. CC0, via Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons. Shown on the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flat_Lay_Clapham_Studios_(Unsplash).jpg
- Katie Smith, Chopping Ingredients, 2016. CC0, via Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons. Shown on the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chopping_Ingredients_(Unsplash).jpg
- Chive Cream Cheese, RisoArrangement, 2023. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Shown on the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RisoArrangement.jpg
- geehairimages, Make Up Flat Lay for Background, 2021 (https://www.geehair.com). CC BY 2.0, via Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. Shown on the page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Make_Up_Flat_Lay_for_Background.jpg

## Sources

- Knolling, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knolling (term first used in 1987 by Andrew Kromelow, a janitor in Frank Gehry's furniture shop, which was then designing chairs for Knoll; Tom Sachs's 2009 studio manual 10 Bullets with 'Always be Knolling'; Instagram users call a similar, looser and less formal style 'flatlay'; Gap and Sephora have used knolling in advertising)
- Kat Bauman, Knoll Thy Enemy: Combatting Chaos with Carefully Arrayed Items, Core77, 10 January 2014: https://www.core77.com/posts/26237/Knoll-Thy-Enemy-Combatting-Chaos-with-Carefully-Arrayed-Items (knolling spreading into 'infographics, advertising, fashion blogs, cookbooks, whole dedicated tumblrs, merchandising, photography collections' and Pinterest; 'straight-on shots of objects in neat lines'; tools '90-degreed at the end of the day'; a link to Things Organized Neatly; the 'What's In My Bag' tag; Tom Sachs's 10 Bullets)
- Kathy Schwartz, A Neat Life, CityBeat (Cincinnati), 9 March 2016: https://www.citybeat.com/arts/a-neat-life-12178274/ (Austin Radcliffe started the Tumblr Things Organized Neatly in April 2010 as a student at Herron School of Art and Design; Webby Winner and People's Voice for Best Personal Blog in 2015; mostly curated and submitted photographs; the book; knolling and Tom Sachs's 'Always be knolling')
- Things Organised Neatly, AnOther Magazine, 23 September 2013: https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/3026/things-organised-neatly (images from the Tumblr created by Austin Radcliffe)
- Things organized neatly, Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780789331137 (Austin Radcliffe, 2016)
- Damien Roué, Mercredi Pratique #168: la tendance photo produit flat lay, Phototrend, 9 March 2016: https://phototrend.fr/2016/03/mp-168-tendance-photo-produit-flat-lay (objects arranged on a surface and shot from above, 'photo à plat'; knolling from Kromelow in 1987 and Tom Sachs; more than 690,000 #flatlay posts on Instagram; camera directly above; diffused daylight and a white card to fill; props, empty space, a hand or foot in the frame; a smartphone is enough; 35–50 mm equivalent; tripod; the SKRWT perspective app)
- Sara Spruch-Feiner, Glossy Pop newsletter: the flat lay is back, Glossy, 31 May 2024: https://www.glossy.co/pop/glossy-pop-newsletter-the-flat-lay-is-back/ (Allure's 2016 story 'Flat lay your collection: the makeup trend blowing up on Reddit'; Dash Hudson data showing flat lays at about double the engagement of other beauty-brand posts in 2024; product-only flat lays on white used in ads)
- Rebecca Farley, Reddit Challenges You: Can You Fit All Your Makeup In One Photo?, Refinery29, 24 October 2016: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/10/127345/reddit-makeup-flat-lay (a thread on Reddit's MakeupAddiction prompted 'Flat-lay your collection!'; 'A good flat lay of your makeup is the best sort of beauty Instagram')
- Format Team, Flat Lay Photography Tips: Styling and Composition Guide, Format Magazine, 9 June 2026: https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/flat-lay-photography-guide (flat lay 'is sometimes called “bird's eye” or “overhead” photography'; a true 90-degree overhead angle; a large window to one side, not directly overhead; diffusion on sunny days; white foam board opposite; harsh shadows distract; two matched light sources at equal angles for shadowless product shots; tripod with a horizontal arm or copy stand; 35–50 mm equivalent at f/5.6–f/8, ISO 100–400; marble, wood, slate, linen and solid-colour paper ('graphic, bold, brand-aligned') grounds; a hero object; negative space for text overlays in marketing, social media or editorial layouts; how the image will appear in a grid)
- Ana Linares, Tips for Flat Lay Photography, Adorama Learning Center, 3 November 2022: https://www.adorama.com/alc/flat-lay-photography-tips/ (a collection of objects around a theme such as a hobby, a lifestyle or a single colour; natural light, set up by a window; when natural light falls short, light-coloured V-flat boards stood around the composition 'and use a flash to light the setup'; a tripod that tilts the camera straight down; a simple single-colour background; 'nice, clean angles' or 'a messy, overlapping look')
- Format Team, Flat Lay Photography Tips: Styling and Composition Guide, Format Magazine, 9 June 2026: https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/flat-lay-photography-guide ('A focal length between 35mm and 50mm (full-frame equivalent)'; 'f/5.6 to f/8 for edge-to-edge sharpness'; ISO 'As low as possible (100 to 400)'; tripod and remote trigger for slower shutter speeds in natural light; tripod with a horizontal arm or a copy stand; most smartphones handle flat lays well)
- Damien Roué, Mercredi Pratique #168: la tendance photo produit flat lay, Phototrend, 9 March 2016: https://phototrend.fr/2016/03/mp-168-tendance-photo-produit-flat-lay ('focales équivalentes à 35mm ou 50mm en 24×36' to limit distortion; a tripod helps; many Instagram flat lays made with smartphones)
- Clothing flatlay (NordWood Themes), Angelina Litvin 2015-08-31, Flat Lay Clapham Studios and Chopping Ingredients (Katie Smith), Wikimedia Commons from Unsplash (EXIF): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flat_Lay_Clapham_Studios_(Unsplash).jpg (Canon 5D Mark III at 58 mm f/11, 0.8 s, ISO 100; Canon 600D 50 mm, 80 mm eq., f/1.4, 1/100 s, ISO 200; Canon 700D 135 mm, 216 mm eq., f/8, 1/60 s, ISO 400; iPhone 4S, 47 mm eq., f/2.4, 1/30 s, ISO 50)
- Format Team, Flat Lay Photography Tips: Styling and Composition Guide, Format Magazine, 9 June 2026: https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/flat-lay-photography-guide ('Ensure your whites are neutral, especially if you are shooting on a white background'; 'Mixing natural light with overhead room lights creates color casts and competing shadow directions'; 'Stick to one light source')

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From Lumogeny (https://lumogeny.com/), a service of Van Riel Online Services. The shoot sheet for your own camera, lenses and lights is on the page: https://lumogeny.com/styles/flat-lay/#sheet