Chances are you have never heard of a “flat lay” but you have seen them - they are the birds-eye views we see every day of food, fashion and countless consumer items. Commercial and advertising photographers have been shooting flat lay for decades but soon after the internet became a shop, almost every web-store and home blogger began making use of the idea too.
Despite the commercial applications, a flat lay can also be a wonderful technique for describing personal stories, be it fun photos of trinkets gathered while on a holiday, or a more meaningful image of