The Do’s and don’ts for choosing outfits for your session can be very overwhelming. I am going to try and simplify them here. There are just a few things that I tell my clients when we talk about what to wear. Once armed with the information they never disappoint. So read along and see if this blog post can help you be less stressed about your session.
Let’s say that you have your family session coming up soon and you still don’t know what to wear. Panic starts to set in and the stress of the day is feeling very real. Well, I am going to need you to not panic. The principals are very easy. Everyone can do this! Trust me.
The Do’s of choosing your outfits.
If your whole family was going to a party you guys would not show up with matching polo shirts and jeans, right? Well it’s the same concept for your session. Pretend that you guys are going to the same party. It can be a formal party or a casual one. Let’s pretend that you are going to do casual photos. Well everyone in the family should be equally as casual. It would not look great if everyone is wearing shorts and jeans and one person is wearing an evening gown. Remember you are all going to be together.
Once you have the type of “party” you will be attending come up with a color scheme. Think about where you will display your photos when you print them. Look around and see what colors are in that room. Then you can pick something that would coordinate with where the photos will be on display. If you have cooler colors in that room then you would pick cool colors. Maybe gray, blue, white, and brown. For warmer colors you could do maroon, orange, brown. Basically fall colors. Those are always popular this time of year.
The easiest way to pick what colors everyone should wear is to look at one of the garments that has the most colors and pull colors out of it for the other outfits. You don’t even need to buy anything. Shopping your own closets is the best way to find what to wear. Usually dads will have a plaid shirt and out of that plaid you can pull several colors.
The Don’ts of choosing what to wear
There are a few don’ts. One big don’t is to not wear very small stripes or very small patterns. When you look at them on the computer or phone it will look like it’s almost moving or out of focus. They print well but they don’t display well on the computer screen.
I know we all want to look our best and that we don’t want to look fat in the photos. So sometimes we think wearing big, baggie, clothes will hide out defects. Big, baggy clothes make us look bigger in photos. They are not very flattering and they are not hiding you. Step away from that big dress and pick something that you feel like a million bucks. If you feel good you will look good.
We also talked a little about the biggest don’t. Let’s not recreate the 80’s please. No matching polo shirt and matching jeans. We want to show everyone’s style and personality. The 80’s were great and we all had fun but let’s not bring that back! LOL. Let that trend end!!
Old Navy is a great resource for family photos. They make coordinating things from baby to mom and dad. It is super easy to shop there for your family session!
Now that we have talked about the do’s and don’ts for choosing outfits for your session you are ready to go. If you need some inspiration check out Pinterest. They have the great visuals for all kinds of photography sessions. Or contact me and I can help you too!
