Dressing yourself and family can be the trickiest parts of planning your photoshoot.

As a family photographer, I often hear the question, “What should I/we wear for our session together?”, so I’ve put together some tips for how to dress everyone for their photoshoot..

Choosing Colors

Solid colors paired with a pattern or stripes are wonderful but stick to large patterns. Small prints and stripes don’t always look good in photos.  

If you want that dreamy look, you will want to dress in pastel colors, off-whites and soft prints. If you’re going for a more dramatic look, choose colors that are bright and more vibrant. Think BOLD.  Mixing colors and patterns is a must for this look. 

Accessories

If you want the focus to be on your attire, minimize the accessories you wear. Accessories can take the spotlight away from any outfit. On the other hand, if you want your accessories to make a statement, wearing solid colored clothing helps to make those items pop. 

Children

When dressing a child for a photoshoot, I recommend outfits with a lot of visual interest.You want to find clothing with lots of texture, like ruffles, layers, skirts, dresses, jeans, or leggings. Don't forget to make it fun for your child and dress them to fit their personality. When dressing siblings, you do not want to match colors. Instead, try to coordinate colors. 

Accessories can be tricky for children, so you want to try and coordinate them equally.  

Some fun accessories for girls are hats, hairpieces, necklaces, bracelets, belts, and scarves.

For boys, I suggest hats, beanies, leather cuffs, watches, suspenders, belts, and scarves.

Shoes

Bare feet photos are wonderful, especially on the beach. If you prefer to wear shoes, I recommend that you look for closed toe shoes, with lots of details, colors, and bling. Sandals and boots are also appropriate and can be fun, depending on the season and location. 

Dressing Groups

When trying to dress a group of people, remember - less is more. You want to try to choose one or two color pallets for coordinating. Jeans are ideal for large groups. Accessories can hand a nice touch but are always tricky, so you want to try and keep it balanced.

Outdoor Attire 

You also want to dress for your environment. For beach pictures, I recommend choosing loose clothing that can flow with the breeze. It is often very windy at the beach, or any outdoor location and hair can be blown around. I suggest women bring hair pins and ties to pull their hair back and hold it in place. 

If you would like some inspiration, click here I have put together some Pinterest boards to help.

You are also welcome to send me pictures of your outfit ideas and I am happy to give you my recommendations. 

Click here if you are interest in hiring me to be your professional photographer. It would be my joy and honor.