8 Genius Travel Flat Lay Tips For Creating Swoon-worthy Instagram Photos
If you’re anything like me, when you travel, you can never take enough pictures… but when you get home, you find most of your snapshots don’t quite do your trip justice. Details tend to fade away in group pictures, and a selfie can only say so much.
That’s where travel flat lays come in. They’re an on-trend, artsy way to highlight specific parts of your trip. They let you zero in on the little moments that make a trip shine so that you can remember every minute of your trip better than ever before – and share those perfect moments on Instagram, of course.
Choose a Theme
Trying to fit everything about your trip into one single shot is a losing battle. Unless you had a really boring trip (which I sincerely hope you didn’t), you’d find yourself cramming way too many unrelated items into a single frame. Your viewers won’t know what to focus on, and your travel flat lay won’t have a focal point.
Instead, focus on a specific part of your trip – a meal you ate, a great day at the beach, or a particularly fruitful shopping spree. It can even be as simple as a single outfit you wore on a night out. Think of it as telling a short story about a part of your trip.
Deciding on a theme will guide what you include in the picture, how you arrange the objects and even the tone you choose in your filter. After determining what items to include, play around with how they’re placed. That can do a lot to change what viewers notice first and how they take in the story you’re telling them. For instance, are items falling out of a bag haphazardly? Is everything in a neat little row? The same items can tell people completely different things based on how they’re arranged.
Stick to a Color Scheme
Pick 2 or 3 colors to focus on. If you’re stumped, take a look at a color wheel and choose a handful of colors that are either right next to each other or are complete opposites.
No matter what’s in your travel flat lay, sticking to a color scheme will make your final shot look more curated, polished, and upscale. This is especially true if you’re using bright statement colors. Too many vibrant colors can be hard on the eyes, and you want people to be able to admire your photos and drink in all the details!
Choose a Neutral Background
Most professional travel flat lays have a neutral background. This can be a neutral color (black, white, or gray), a classic, minimalist pattern (like polka dots or marble), or a solid color that goes well with your color scheme (something easy on the eyes like a pastel).
Sometimes, a neutral background can be a part of the picture itself. If you’re photographing a meal, use the plain table as your background. Are you taking a picture of beach day? Use the sand.
Use Natural Light
You’d be surprised how much lighting can do to make or break a photo. Artificial light can make your pictures look yellow and less vibrant, especially if you’re using your cell phone camera.
Good lighting is essential for travel flat lays, where the items in the picture tell the whole story. You want everything in your image to be easy to see. Use natural, even sunlight. Pick a spot free of harsh shadows – unless that’s part of the picture you’re trying to take, like the shadows cast by tree branches.
Bring in Wildlife
Travel flat lays are a form of still life photography, and still life has a long tradition of immortalizing ephemeral pieces, like plants and items from nature. Incorporating a taste of the outdoors can give your shot a sense of time and place. Don’t be afraid to pick up an interesting pebble, unusual plants or leaves, or a few seashells off the beach, and add them into your travel flat lays. They’ll add freshness to your shot.
Add Hands into the Frame
Traditionally, travel flat lays often don’t have any people in them. But rules are made to be broken! If you’re taking pictures of a specific meal you ate on your trip, ask a travel buddy to adjust a napkin or hold the cup in the frame. Showing hands interacting with the items in a flat lay instills a sense of life and movement to the otherwise-inanimate objects. It also gives the viewer a sense of scale, which can be helpful if you’re photographing something where size is an important detail – like a giant teddy bear you won at a fair or an adorably tiny pair of macarons.
If you’re traveling alone or can’t find a willing participant (or just want to show off a gorgeous vacay manicure), don’t worry – you’re not out of luck. Prop up your phone at the angle you want, set a timed shutter release (most smartphone cameras have this feature nowadays), and use your own hands.
Include Items of Your Wardrobe
Travel flat lays traditionally don’t include people. But obviously, part of the story you’re telling is about you. It’s your trip, after all! Even if clothing isn’t the focus of your picture, try incorporating relevant clothing items into the shot. This brings a bit of yourself into the photo without literally getting you into the shot.
Enjoying the sunshine? Toss in a pair of sunglasses or sandals. Did you get caught in the rain? Include your umbrella. If it’s still wet, even better, it’ll add visual texture. Spending the day at Disney? Pop in some mouse ears.
Highlight the Little Things
The best flat lays are a little slice of life, a snapshot of a recognizable moment in your trip. When people see your travel flat lay, you want them to think, “Oh, I know exactly what’s going on here!” It might even remind them of a specific day they’ve had traveling. And part of telling those tiny stories includes details.
Flat lays give you the chance to highlight details that generally go unnoticed in photos. A piece of sentimental jewelry, the shine on a juicy mango, a drip on an ice cream cone, a bus ticket, a few crumbs left over from a snack – they can all evoke something about your travels. Even mundane things like receipts can make a flat lay feel more authentic and relatable.
If you’re feeling stumped putting together a flat lay at the end of a long day, think of it as a page in a scrapbook. Half the charm of scrapbooks is finding old details you thought you’d discarded. Flat lays can be the same way.
There’s so much more to document your vacation than just selfies and group photos. Flat lays are a fantastic way to get a little artistic and creative while commemorating your trip. And creating an enviable travel flat lay is within reach, with just a few tips.
Are you a travel flat lay expert? Do you love seeing other people’s flat lays but are too nervous about posting your own? Tell us about your favorite vacay flat lays below!
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