You did it, you contacted the photographer and booked your shoot. Now, what to wear? My number one question that I get as the photographer.
Where do I send my clients for great ideas of clothing and color choice is dependent on a lot of factors. Are we shooting indoors? Will we be outdoors? What will the season be? Will there be a lot of color in the background or will we keep it neutral? What are the personalities of my clients?
Above all, what makes my family or client look, well, like themselves.
The top three tips I can share to help clients pick their “perfectly you” outfit:
#1 Keep it Simple: I typically recommend, pick one color and work within that palette. This means if you pick a blue, work within many blues, think in terms of paint chips. When you select the perfect Benjamin Moore colors, they will select the offset in both lighter and darker color schemes. Stay within one color scheme and pop your color. Neutrals fall within this as well. If you select a neutral color scheme, consider mixing the neutrals, greys, tans. If we’ll be outside against a lot of fall colors, keep your colors scheme muted, neutral and do not blend in with the trees, leaves, backdrop. If we are against a more solid (all grass or studio) backdrop, you can play with your colors brightness a bit more.
#2 Layers: Textures and layers make for great photos. This does not mean you need to make your husband or child wear a fuzzy vest (but it does help!). Think of popping colors and textures with scarves, jackets, jewelry, shoes. Sometimes to stay within the simple one colors scheme, someone can pop that color in a tie alone. Textures bring depth to photos, add layers to the image as opposed to staying solid with colors which look a bit more serious. Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish-layers add a little more life to the image.
#3 Don’t Reinvent The Wheel: When I went into teaching, I was introduced the wonderful Harry Wong, whom if you’re a teacher you know well. As he says, “Don’t reinvent the wheel, borrow, borrow, borrow!” Look at other family pictures, what do you like, don’t like. Would your family or self feel comfortable in an outfit in an image. What makes you or your family YOU! Pinterest has been a great tool for many reasons. Not only can you simply input “fall family photography shoots” and get 100 ideas, you can also look for the clothing options and now click and buy the outfit. Clients enjoy H&M as well, because they will give you ideas of what you have in your shopping cart, what other clothing items will compliment your selection. Great for multiple family member shoots~and oh so affordable. Like it, link to it, love it! Simple.
And when in doubt….call me!