What to wear to your family portrait session
There are a number of aspects which are important to a good family portrait. Proper
lighting, cropping, posing, and facial expressions are all keys. One item sometimes
forgotten about is proper clothing. In order to create a photograph that is pleasing
to the viewer is to make certain that the clothing of everyone in the photograph
is wearing clothing that either matches or accents the clothing of the others in
the family or group. Wearing clothing that is made from solid colors helps even
further by making sure that there are no patterns to clash or patterns which are
too small to appear clearly in smaller prints such as wallet sized prints.
High key photography is a favorite of our photographic studio simply because it
takes a little attention away from the clothing and adds that attention to the faces
in the photography. High key photography simply means everyone is wearing light
(normally pure white) clothing and the background and surroundings of the photograph
are light and / or white as well. High key photography is most often associated
with a studio setting because the lighting can be exactly controlled and a pure
white background can be used. A version of high key lighting can be achieved in
beach photography provided a suitable sandy background can be located. High key
photographs make for dramatic large prints on either luster paper or printed and
on stretched canvas.
Another popular type of clothing to wear for your family photographs is simply to
wear bright and vibrant colored pants and shirts. Like mentioned above, we always
recommend wearing solid colors. Many times, clients wear the same colored shirts
(be certain to make sure the shirts are from the same manufacturer to assure consistency).
Often clients prefer to wear bright, vibrant and solid colors which do not match
one another but rather colors that complement each other. This is typically the
easiest type of clothing choice to arrange as most families already have clothing
in their closet ready to go without much thought. To take multi colored clothing
to a more advanced level, you may consider doing a Google search for “artist color
wheel and color theory”. Certain colors invoke special meanings and moods and combinations
of certain colors can make for very exciting family portraits.
A final check the day before your photo session to make certain all shirts, pants,
belts, socks and shoes are freshly cleaned, perfectly pressed and checked for missing
buttons, etc. is equally important.
“Timely, polite and professional. A perfect finish to our wedding.”
"We loved our wedding photography! We can't say enough how amazing it was to work
with Brad.
His images were simply amazing and he made our special day even more special. Thank
you so much!"
Susan & Jeff D.