Here it is—our most popular blog post ever!
Our top wardrobe tips for choosing a coordinated look when planning your family portrait. Schedule a session before April 1st, and with your order, we’ll give you one free 8x 10. Now for our tips:
Generally speaking, you want to choose clothes that reflect your personality and lifestyle.
This can be a challenge when planning a group portrait since a variety of ages and personalities are involved. While everyone doesn’t have to wear the same color, it’s important that the colors are congruent. Different shades of white/off-white, khaki, tans, ecru, or beige work well together. Shades of blue are generally pleasing.
If you’re going for a “cleaner, more contemporary” look in the home, darker colors work well. For an outdoor portrait, avoid very light colored fabrics as they tend to compete with skin tones and will dominate the portrait. Solids are less distracting than bold patterns or stripes. However, a subtly patterned garment will photograph well as long as it coordinates with the rest of the family’s clothing.
This family’s choice of dark clothing was a great choice for this outdoor portrait.
Some families decide to “dress for the occasion.” Whether the portrait is being taken to send with a Christmas card or to hang over the fireplace, choosing your wardrobe around a favorite hobby, sport or pastime instantly conveys your family’s style and personality.
Enjoy boating? Plan the portrait on the deck of your boat with everyone dressed for an outing.
Love to bike, ride horses or hunt? Arranging with your photographer to have your portrait made in clothes suitable for the occasion will result in a work of art that will inspire memories for years to come.
Unless you wear sneakers or plan to go barefoot, check to be sure that your shoes or boots are clean and that your socks match. Both are likely to show up in the portrait and you don’t want to draw attention to them for the wrong reason.