How to Take the Perfect Shelfie
You’ve mastered the art of the selfie, but what about a shelfie?
Shelfies — elegant pics of beauty products, lined up on a shelf or otherwise cutely arranged — are popping up everywhere, from beauty blogs to Instagram and even magazines. Taking a good shelfie isn’t as easy as it seems, so here are some tips to help you achieve perfection.
First you’ll need to figure out a few things…
1. A theme
A theme can be helpful especially if you’re planning on using your shelfie to portray something specific. This may be skincare, makeup or hair products. For example, if you are writing a blog post on skincare products that you use, a shelfie of your products are appropriate to really focus in on the topic.
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2. A color scheme
Just like you see in paintings, a color scheme should be established. The above pic sticks mostly to green, yellow, and white. Choosing a few colors to stick with will help you later on when you’re choosing which products to use in your shelfie. Using black and white with a few pops of color is always a good idea!
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3. Remove your fuglier products
Using the color scheme of your choice, pick out a few products that fit. This may be the most important part of setting up your shelfie so don’t be afraid to be picky! Try to keep in mind size ratio and choose products that vary in height and width. The best shelfies don’t consist of totally uniform product sizes.
Now here comes the harder part…
4. Arrange them in a “casual” way
When positioning your products you want to make your shelfie look pleasing to the eye. This means adding movement throughout your shelfie by stacking, overlapping and using angles. You may choose to place the tallest product in the middle to create a focal point for the eye.
But you also don’t want your shelfie to look too posed. Make sure the products look like they’ve just been casually placed in this gorgeous, aesthetically pleasing way by tilting a few forward and backward or making sure they’re not in size order.
5. Play around with angles
Decide if you want the straightforward shelfie or the more natural shelfie. Angling your products is like the equivalent of a candid photo. Positioning your products to all face the same direction gives off a more serious and structured feel. But as mentioned above, keeping them a little less uniform will make it look more casual and realistic.
6. Finally, don’t be boring!
A boring shelfie is like a selfie with no emotion, no pose and nothing eye catching. A shelfie is meant to provide some sort of aesthetic through objects, in this case beauty products. Add some fun finishing touches to the empty spaces in your shelfie. Plants, flowers, candles and product packagings are a great way to fill empty space.
Now you’ve learned about the art of the shelfie and it’s your turn to master it!
