Clothing Suggestions for Family Photos

Choosing clothing for your photo session can be tricky!

Let me break down how to decide what to wear...

Most importantly, you want your clothes to fit you well and be flattering to your body shape. Second to that is being coordinated to the others in your group.

So how do you do this? Here are some tips!

Wear mostly solid coloured clothing so that we see all of your faces and no one stands out from the others. Big prints or patterns will make you stand out from the rest of your family, as do bright colours.
Choose similar tones (all dark tones or all light tones) for everyone.  Darks and lights together create contrast and distract from the important things, your faces!
Choose 1-3 colours for your group portrait. Pick a few colours (with similar tones, see above point!) that go nicely together and have everyone work within that colour palette. Don’t worry about “matching” each other… just think “looks nice together”.  We want to see the people first and not your clothing.
Consider your location/background when you choose your colours. Are you getting portraits done on the beach (blue tones) or out in nature with green/browns behind you? In the city? At night?
Textures are good, use bright colors only for accents.  Sweaters or scarves and other textured clothing is great. Use bright colors for small accents (if you wish to use them at all) but not for whole outfits.
Bare skin attracts the eye. To reduce attention to arms and legs, cover them to the elbow/knee with clothing. (*Tops with sleeves, skirts to the knee or below). This is not super important, but can be helpful for those who are a little self conscious of their arms or legs.  It also makes it easier for ladies to sit in various positions if not worrying about a short skirt.
Choose dark socks and shoes (unless it’s a barefoot photo on the beach) because white draws attention to it and your socks shouldn’t be the focus of your portrait!
Do your hair the way you’d normally do it while wearing these clothes – no fancy up dos with jeans, no pony tails with evening gowns, etc. The best portraits will reflect who you are and bring out your best… You’ll like the photos better if they look like you.