Families

One of the first questions a photographer is always asked when talking to a client about a photo shoot is what should we wear.  In the past it was simple photographers would just tell everyone to match and wear white shirts.  Luckily those days are long gone, and we live in a colorful world now.  There are still some good general guidelines to follow when you are deciding what to wear for your family session.

• Your colors do not have to match, but they should be complementary. Pick a couple colors and wear clothes that keep in that general color scheme.  You don’t want anyone standing out with an outrageous color. It will distract anyone looking at the image and only allow viewers to focus on that individual.
• One important factor to consider when deciding on colors is to look at the décor in your home. You may want to hang a print up in your living room for everyone to enjoy, but if your living room is all earth tones and everyone in the photo has bring oranges or yellows on it could be too distracting to have to look at every day.
• Limit your patters on cloths. Try to avoid stripes, plaids, or t-shirts with big logos, words and graphics.  All of these tend to be distracting in photos.  Stick with solid colors and it will help keep the attention on you.
• Plan ahead. Don’t wait until the day of the photo session to finally decide what you want to wear.  You may find it extremely difficult to get everyone coordinated if you try and put the outfits together at the last minute.
• Try to avoid all white or all black clothing. Depending on the sun conditions it may end up either blowing out the whites or clipping the blacks in the image, either way you will lose a lot of detail in the cloths.
• Consider the location you will taking the images at. If we have a great nature session planned on a path in the middle of a grove of trees, high heels and a mini skirt may not be the right choice for that location.
• Think classic. You will most likely want these images hanging in your home for many, many years.  Wearing clothes that are loud and the latest trend does not always work out.  They tend to date the photo and people pull them down because the feel embraced.  A nice classic look will stand the test of time.