New Advanced Video: My Flatlay (Looking Down)
Technique Light Painting Video

Hello friends!

I have just released a new Light Painting The Still Life Advanced Video… This video is focused on the techniques that we must use when shooting a "Flatlay" image, or one where the camera is looking straight down onto the still life set. If you are interested in working in this way, and you are a student of my Foundation Course, you may want to consider this advanced mini-course.

 The challenges in this kind of composition are different than what we experience with a typical still life.

Still Life with Blood Oranges by Harold Ross

I love this method of shooting. Aesthetically speaking, we are looking at a completely different way of presenting the subject. When looking straight down, things become (as the name might suggest) rather flat. The subject, therefore, becomes much more about two-dimensional shape and negative space when viewed from above. But here's the wonderful thing…light painting allows us to use light to create incredible depth, even in a relatively flat subject. My Grandfather's Pipes is a great example of the Flatlay technique.

Japanese Brush #2 by Harold Ross

There are several considerations that we must take into account: the set-up, the shooting sequence, the lighting, and the editing.

This 37+ minute-long video goes through all of these considerations, as well as how shooting the subject directly on a background surface affects many aspects of the workflow. The video is based around this image of some beautiful vintage spoons:

Vintage Spoons by Harold Ross

In other news, we have now added Closed Captioning in multiple languages to the Advanced Courses (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish)

 If you haven’t already purchased the Light Painting Foundation Course and you would like to join me on this wonderful Light Painting Journey, then I encourage you to watch my introductory video, which explains more about my self-guided and comprehensive Light Painting the Still Life Video Course.