Ever feel that instagram block? I sometimes have a love/hate relationship with instagram…I love that it makes me think creatively but I hate when I feel the absurd pressure (from who????) to share a photo when I haven’t in the last 24 hours!
Recently, when walking through our local Tesco, I did what I always do and had a wee root around in the bargain bucket of the flower stand! I found this gorgeous bunch of roses and freesia reduced to £1.50 so I grabbed it and brought it home. That £1.50 got my juices going and I thought I’d share with you the images I got with this cheap but fabulous little bunch of flowers.
// Coffee – I love combining the things I find with my cups of coffee. Especially in my white coffee cup. If you scroll through my feed you’ll find this white coffee cup by local ceramicist Derek Wilson in a whole range of different photos. I picked off a couple of the rose heads and arranged them around the cup. I used the concrete (unfinished, rather than planned) floor of our downstairs cloak as a background!
// A simple backdrop. The focus is the flowers and the background is a simple white. Your hand gives a sense of you being involved – I’m not a big selfie fan so these little glimpses of you remind the viewer that there is a person behind the photos, even if you’re not comfy posing for the camera!!
// Rustic and wrapped up in some brown paper. I used some of my own as I didn’t buy them this way! Combine with afore-mentioned coffee cup and on our old table with some books and you have a totally different photo.
// Change the background. I placed these on our kitchen work surface for a brighter photo. Try with the coffee cup and without. Position the cup in a variety of places and take a photo until you are happy with the set up.
// Same wooden table as a background but a completely different focus. Here the key visual is the flowers with the secateurs indicating the work of pruning about to be done! Again, experiment with positioning and cropping. I usually take a few different angles and positions before I settle on one.
// Move away from the flatlay! Don’t get me wrong, I love a flatlay with the best of them but it is good to mix up your photos and get a sense of your space. I love the combinations of textures and contrasts of materials – the flowers, the basket, the old wooden ladder and the grey kitchen units. I’ve kept the focus the flowers and the pink really stands out against all the natural tones.
// Photoboards. My hubby made me this photoboard for my birthday a couple of years ago and I love using it as a backdrop to my photos. I lifted the basket from the ladder in the previous photo and laid it on the board. Stand right above the focus point (the flowers in this photo) to get the best angle. Find a background you love, it doesn’t have to be made – my old table is a favourite and the concrete flower of the first photo in this post, is another recently discovered gem!
// Arrange. Spend a little time arranging the flowers. A bit like the first photo the next few are thought through and properly arranged. I added some blossom for a little detail too. Don’t be afraid to take a photo and completely rearrange a few times over…I rarely find it is my first photo that I like best.
// Same content, same background, different layout. Keep changing – you might just stumble upon something completely unique!
// Setting. This is one of my favourites and again it combines textures. The wood of the table and rocking chair contrasting the sheepskin, the coffee and the colour of the flowers. The same layout as the previous picture – I have just changed the setting, you get more of a sense of the space and my home. I often find people like a glimpse!
// Combine with lettering. I love doodling and writing quotes. I had written this quote out a while ago and thought it would look good against the flower heads and blossom. Again, some arranging required until you are happy with your layout!
// Think outside your box! I ended up doing this for my in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary and we printed it onto magnetic photo paper and used it as our gift tag. It was such a different way to wrap their gift and it wouldn’t have occurred to me before so it never hurts to try something completely different to what you normally do and see if it sparks your imagination in a different way!
So these simple little flowers created a whole series of instagram photos for me. I’d love to hear from you…come find me on Instagram or leave me a wee comment below. Do you struggle to think creatively for instagram or do you just go with the flow…I’d love to hear!
Lovely ideas and completely different looks, definitely something I will try and have a go at as I tend to stick to the same ideas! Cx
Yes Chloe so do I at times…taking time to potter and experiment is definitely a lovely way to think outside the box! Just read you instagram post, looking forward to visiting you new wee ‘home’ now!
Jx