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.