What to Wear for your Family Photo Session
“What should we wear?!”
This is the most common question I get from parents as they prepare for their family photo session! Here are a few tips I share whenever I’m chatting with a mom or dad about how to style their family session.
Pick a color scheme
Giving your family members the option to choose between a few different colors ensures that no one is clashing. This also gives everyone the freedom to wear something that feels like themselves, rather than being to matchy-matchy with the rest of the family.
The colors your family wears for your session can depend on the time of year, as well as the location of the session.
Winter & Early Spring
During the winter and early spring months, lighter colors (such as pastels or neutrals) tend to compliment the surrounding environment.
Summer
Neutrals and blues tend to work best during summer, because there are so many other vibrant colors (green grass, golden sun, bright flowers). In my opinion, neutral colors (a mix of browns, tans and blues) are perfect no matter what the season!
Late Summer & Fall
Late summer and fall give way to more golden tones outside, which allows for warmer, deeper colors such as burgundy and gold.
Late Fall & Early Winter
If you’re planning on using your photos for holiday cards, you can’t go wrong with classic holiday colors like red, green and white! One of my favorite color schemes from this past holiday card season had bright jewel tones, like turquoise, red and yellow.
Vary clothing styles
Mixing up clothing styles creates a diverse, yet, coordinated look. For example, rather than putting everyone in jeans, consider varying the lengths and fabrics of the bottoms with jeans, khakis, shorts and/or dresses. Adding prints and patterns into the mix can also add depth to your photos, as long as they are not competing for attention. If you’re struggling to figure out which patterns to use, consider having one bold pattern with all the other outfits either being solid colors or a minimal pattern that compliments the bold one.
Need an example? Take a look at Claire’s family below:
Claire’s dress is the primary focal point with a bold floral pattern. The rest of the family has a similar color palette, but they’re not in identical clothing. There is enough of a mix between Claire’s pattern, the different shades of blue and tan, and the knitted pattern of her daughter’s dresses to create a beautiful, coordinated look.
You set the tone
comfort = happiness
Do your best to choose fabrics and shoes that are comfortable to wear, otherwise, your family will be more concerned about their clothes than having fun.
As a general rule of thumb, I suggest folks dress up one level nicer than they would on a daily basis. While you might feel most comfortable in yoga pants and your favorite t-shirt, this level of comfort doesn’t translate as well through the camera. Wear something you’ll love seeing yourself in ten years from now!
When in doubt, keep it simple.
The focus of your photo session shouldn’t be how cute your clothes were, but rather how happy you all are spending time together. No matter what you end up wearing, the most important thing is that you are with the people you love!
