THE FAMOUS DAZEY FLAY LAY

I've always loved flat lays, but they are often overused and look the same. They are a great way to show product details, so I knew From the beginning I needed to make Dazey's lays special. I began to arrange flowers around the tees for photos and people loved the posts! Now it's something I try to do every few weeks to keep things fresh and cohesive in my Instagram feed. It may seem like a simple thing to do, but there is a method to the arrangement and taking of the photos! Follow along below to see how I do it :)

SHOP THE TOPS HERE

SETP 1) FIND THE FLOWERS

Doing flat lays like this can be costly, so I go to the wholesale flower district in Downtown Los Angeles. This is where the florists get all their flowers and crazy low prices!

WHAT TO CHOOSE?

I like to find a green of some sort to add volume and color to the background. There are some examples above of some awesome green leaves perfect for accenting your florals. I went with a green with small white flowers throughout.

Then your going to need your main flower, I chose to use this bright yellow because it matches my logo and will really stand out! Sometimes I add a second color that matches like a red or pink, but this time I decided succulents would add a nice touch! 

STEP 2) PLACE BACKGROUND GREENS

Find an area with lots of natural light to take the photo. Pick a simple or natural background like wood or plain white paper. First off lay down whatever it is your shooting nice and straight. You'll be surprised at how many wrinkles the camera can pick up. If you can't get it totally perfect that is ok, I'll show you a quick photoshop trick to edit out lines at the end.

Then start to place the greens. I like to do a half or full circle to really frame the tee. Otherwise it looks a little awkward just on the sides. Layer the pieces on top of each other and make it as lush as possible, no naked areas! Make sure it is as even as possible on both sides.

STEP 3) ADD MAIN FLOWER

Now you add the main flower. I usually start with a 2 bunches on each side. I place them in the middle and top of the crest. I made them nice and even again.

Keep them grouped if they are and cut off the bottom of the stems where it's sparse. Then you tuck the bottom stems inside the background green so they don't show! The bottom photo shows what it should look like after this step is done.

STEP 4) FILL IT IN

At this point there are still parts missing the main flower. I go in and cut the entire stem off of the flower and place them face up throughout. This way you can see the flower really nicely and put it wherever it's missing color. I also cover up some of the ugly stems still showing with the little flowers.

I also added my accent succulents. I staggered them for a more asymmetric natural look. You don't have to place the flowers as even as the last two steps either. This is where you go in making it fun and different! Add as many as you have, the more epic the arrangement the better!

STEP 5) TAKING THE PHOTO

Now here comes the fun part! Time to take the photo. I always stand on a chair or directly above the flat lay to get an areal angle. You can very easily take this on your phone, in fact I prefer to over my SLR camera since it's easier to see the screen. I like to center the image as much as possible using the grid feature.

Take a ton, you never know which ones are going to be blurry or off center. Check them in-between and see how the arrangement is looking, I often shift things around while I shoot. I also try and get a few angles after I get the main shot so I have a few options to post.

STEP 6) EDIT OUT WRINKLES

I use the pattern stamp tool on Adobe photoshop to edit out the wrinkles. You can see a screen shot below and arrow pointing to the tool. What this tool does is select and area when you click alt over it and then will move that area over to where ever you click next. I go back and forth from picking up area with "alt" and then putting them over the wrinkles. 

Another trick is to use paint brush and paint dropper a color and on a low opacity and just brush over the wrinkles. Make sure to be subtle with this trick because it can look fake really fast. Adding a grain at the end will also help it look more natural. 

FIN! 

And there you have it, how to make a Dazey flatlay! I know it might seem a little self explaintory, but hope this was helpful in some way. If you do any flay lays inspired by this tutorial please use the hashtag #dazeyflatlay. We would love to check it out :)

Also you can see some more flat lay fun by checking #dazeyflatlay