How to photograph women's underwear flat lay
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to professionally style and photograph women's lingerie.
In addition to providing a clear look at the product, choosing flat lay photography for women’s underwear also gives opportunities to be creative when styling elements like the straps. We’ve compiled a few useful techniques to make it look neat and tidy.
To learn how to photograph and style women’s underwear, read on. But first, let’s run through the essential tools you’ll need to get prepared:
The equipment you need:
- Camera - Any camera will suffice but a Canon EOS 5D Mk III is recommended as a standard for professional product photography
- Studio lighting - Continuous cool LED lamps are recommended to ensure exposure, shadows and contrast are kept consistent
- Your set of women’s underwear (bra and bottom)
- A tabletop - A white tabletop surface is recommended, although you can always superimpose a background in post-production or get creative with your choice of surface
- Double-sided tape - A few pieces of double-sided tape can be very useful in keeping the underwear in place.
Styling your lingerie
1. Lay the underwear out on the table top
Center the two pieces on the table top. When placing them, it’s essential to maintain a realistic distance between the bra and bottom, just as it might appear on a human body.
2. Secure underwear to the table for straight, even lines
You may find it beneficial to use small amounts of double-sided tape to hold the pieces in place and to ensure that all lines are straight and both top and bottoms are symmetrical. This is especially useful when balancing the exposed fabric on either side of the bra cups and managing bottoms that have scrunchy elastic.
3. Arrange and secure bra straps
Once you’ve anchored the base of bra, you can begin to style the straps. We recommend first taping the back of the straps to the table so that they’re parallel and pointing straight up. Then, cross the top straps over and inward, making a simple loop, and tape them down.
4. Conceal labels
Underwear often has large labels that can be difficult for retouchers to remove. This is especially true of many bottoms. If possible, roll up the tag tightly and secure it with a pin. Be sure the back and the front of the bottoms line up evenly, using pins if necessary.
And shoot...
