So, you have booked your portrait session and now are feeling stressed about picking your family's outfits.
Don't worry. I have a few tips that should help you out.
Let's start with the DO NOTs.
Please stay away from the following:
-Text on clothing or large distracting graphics.
-Too much dark clothing.
When everyone is wearing black, the subjects in the portrait turn into black blobs that melt into each other.
-Too much dark, heavy eye makeup.
While very dark eye makeup may look great in person, I always advise my clients away from it for photos. The heavy makeup can sometimes make the eyes look like dark holes in the face, because the light is having a harder time reflecting off the eyes. If you tend to wear lots of eye makeup, try toning it down for a more natural look.
Here are some DOs:
-Pick a color pallet.
See above. A pallet of 3-4 colors is ideal. Don't worry about being matchy-matchy. Variety in colors is always nice.
- Light colors.
This is a personal preference, but I find that subdued colors like light blues, grays, pinks, beiges, etc. look beautiful in portraits and they all go well together.
- Choose Mom's outfit first.
Look at the color pallet of Mom's outfit and use those colors to base everyone else's outfits off of.
- Be YOU.
These are all suggestions based on my preferences and expertise. However, the purpose of a portrait is to capture the essence of you. So if you always wear bold colors and a mix of patterns then that's exactly what you should wear.
