TongRo-How-to : Top View Photography – Stylish Expression from Above the Surface
- TongRo Images
- Jul 2
- 4 min read
‘Top View’ is a shooting technique frequently used on social media feeds and stock images. By positioning the camera directly above the subject at a 90-degree angle, this method maximizes visual immersion and clarity of information, making it highly versatile across various fields. In stock photography, top view is widely utilized in flat lays with props, drone aerial shots of cityscapes and natural landscapes, and even dramatic portrait compositions. This session of Tongro Academy introduces various styles and techniques of top-view photography.
Why Top View?
Top view offers a perspective that diverges from our everyday line of sight by looking straight down on the subject, adding a sense of structural order. This overhead viewpoint emphasizes the uniformity and patterns of objects laid out on a surface, delivering a refined sense of beauty and visual balance. Thanks to these qualities, top view has become a prominent style known for its strong compositional aesthetics.
1. Flat Lay – Turning Everyday Items into Art
Flat lay photography involves creatively arranging objects to communicate ideas clearly while adding an emotional or aesthetic touch—making it highly effective for storytelling. This style is especially popular in SNS content and magazines.
▣ Arranging Props Based on Theme
Business Concept: Use essential tools like laptops, tablets, notebooks, pens, and smartphones, and complement them with diaries, coffee mugs, potted plants, and briefcases to create a business desk feel. For more specific themes like finance, economy, or real estate, include props like financial newspapers, charts, or architectural miniatures.
Beauty/Cosmetics Concept: Neatly arrange seasonal color cosmetics like lipsticks, blushers, and eye shadows. Add accessories such as makeup bags, eyelash curlers, compact mirrors, and jewelry for a natural layout, like the moment of opening a handbag. This style is frequently used in seasonal editorial shoots or lifestyle social media posts.
Food Concept: Combine basic tableware (plates, cups, cutlery) with prepared food, ingredients with strong textures, and spices to achieve a natural and stylish layout. Use tone-on-tone props to maintain visual harmony, and arrange ingredients in circular shapes or easy-to-view formats for effective recipe expression. Ingredients reflecting seasonal moods or brunch/home café styles are especially popular.
Including a human touch—like a hand gesture reaching into the frame—can add a sense of realism and liveliness to the scene. Also, minimizing height differences between props creates a clean, minimalist impression that enhances image quality.
▣ Color and Texture
Color harmony and consistency are crucial in flat lay photography. For example, use pastel tones in spring or brown and orange tones in autumn. Stick to tone-on-tone color matching within the same hue family to avoid excessive contrast and maintain a soft, cohesive look.
Given that flat lay emphasizes texture, it’s also important to choose backgrounds that align with the concept—such as leather, fabric, wood, or marble—to elevate the visual quality and mood of the image.
▣ Composition and Framing Techniques
Since flat lay layouts are seen all at once, it’s important to eliminate unnecessary elements and maintain clean arrangement. Square frames are especially popular for feeds and thumbnails across platforms.
• Symmetrical Layout: Offers balance and a classic feel, ideal for posters or thumbnails.
• Asymmetrical Layout: Creates a sense of flow and energy, using negative space to guide the viewer’s eye naturally.
• Use of Negative Space: Filling only 60–70% of the frame and leaving space open is great for stock images where text or logos need to be inserted later.
▣ Lighting and Equipment Setup
The ideal lighting is soft and shadow-free. Use diffused light from a softbox to reduce tonal differences. For natural light, morning window light provides the best results.
Use a tripod with an overhead arm to fix the camera vertically above the subject. Lenses between 50mm and 80mm, with aperture settings from f/5.6 to f/8, are recommended for sharp, distortion-free images.
2. Aerial Drone View – Turning Cityscapes and Nature into Art
Drone photography captures overhead perspectives that dramatically showcase the symmetry and rhythm of both natural and man-made landscapes. Fields, city blocks, coastlines, and road networks reveal their full beauty through this bird’s-eye viewpoint.
▣ Seasonal Color Harmony
• Spring: Green fields, blooming gardens, fresh mountain ridges
• Summer: Colorful parasols on beaches, clear coastlines
• Autumn: Fiery foliage, golden harvest fields
• Winter: Snow-covered forests and gray roads cutting through them
▣ Shooting Tips
• Shoot during golden hour (early morning or just before sunset) for soft contrast and dramatic effects.
• Use natural shadows to emphasize depth and structure.
• Activate the drone’s True Vertical Mode to maintain an undistorted and aligned perspective.
• Check Google Maps or Street View in advance to find locations with strong visual patterns.
3. Top View Portraits – Finding New Angles in the Everyday
Top view can also be applied creatively in portrait photography. It allows for unique visual storytelling by combining the subject’s gestures with the environment in a flat, structured composition. In these shots, gestures and body posture are more important than facial expressions. The space around the subject also invites viewers to imagine a deeper story.
▣ Background and Styling
• Choose backgrounds with simple and consistent textures such as wood, concrete, artificial turf, marble, or tile.
• Avoid cluttered backgrounds to maintain focus on the subject. Harmonize clothing and props with the background tones for visual unity.
▣ Creative Tips
• Encourage wide gestures like jumping or stretching out arms to add energy and dynamic movement.
• When shooting a subject lying down, detailed pre-directing is essential since posture becomes the focal point.
• Capture dramatic moments like hair flying or clothing spreading mid-motion to add vividness.
▣ Use Case Examples
• A person lying relaxed on a beach or poolside at a summer villa
• A runner captured from a 45° downward angle along the coast
• Crowds forming unique patterns
• Dynamic actions like dance or jumping on a flat surface used as a canvas
Top view photography is not just about looking down—it’s about reorganizing subjects and reinterpreting composition from a fresh angle. It redefines the relationship between objects and draws emotion from structure. With its ever-evolving charm, this technique opens new doors for visual expression.
Even familiar scenes can tell entirely new stories with a change in perspective.
Bring the art of flat surfaces to life—through your unique creative lens.
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