PLAN AHEAD

Once you book your session, start thinking of the clothes right away. You may think certain clothes will fit your kids or that one dress is clean. If you wait until the day of or day before you may run into an issue of clothes not fitting, being dirty or need to be dry cleaned. 

Make sure to get haircuts about 2 weeks before the session. This seems like so early! But, just in case you need time to practice how to do your new style, this gives you some wiggle room for that. Also, this gives you time to grow out anything that you weren’t a big fan of! Fresh haircuts rarely look their best the same or next day. Ladies need time to practice working it; men need it to grow out just a little. Allow some time to live with your new look before your portrait session. Do your hair the way you’d normally do it while wearing these clothes. 

PLAN FOR THE WEATHER

Nothing is worse than being miserably uncomfortable in a perfect outfit. If you’re planning an outdoor session in November, think about dressing in textures and layers. You can wear nice coats that can be added into the photo. In the summer, you can still dress in layers (if you want) that you can easily take off if you get too hot.

TRY ON YOUR CLOTHES WELL IN ADVANCE!

Check your outfits from all possible angles in the mirror, not just the angle you like best. Try sitting, squatting, leaning forward, etc. If you don’t feel comfortable in many of these positions then it might not be the outfit for you. You don’t want to feel self-conscious in certain positions the whole time. I want you to feel confident and carefree as much as possible. The kids’ clothes should work well in motion so that we can play during your session (think flying, tickling, and hanging upside down).

LET THE KIDS HAVE INPUT

If your daughter hates wearing dresses, don’t force her to wear one for picture day. Instead try for a skirt or something a little more classic than pants. If your son thinks that bowtie is uncomfortable, ditch it. Happy kids make for happy photos!

If kids get to help pick out their outfits, then they are more likely to wear nicer clothes for the session. Of course this has to be within reason. Try giving them a few choices to choose from. Then they feel like they made the decision.

COMFORT

Above all, if you feel good, you will look good! Choose clothing that gives you freedom of movement, keeps you warm/cool, and won’t require a lot of maintenance throughout your session. We don’t want anyone tugging at his or her clothes the whole time or picking wedgies! Those are not fun!! 

TEXTURE

Add some visual interest to your images with unique fabrics. Some examples: lace, cable knits (not too thick though), chambray, tweed, herringbone, faux fur and wool are just a few ideas.

PATTERNS

Don’t be scared of patterns and prints! They can work great in moderation. Try one statement piece (for instance, a colorful floral dress for mom) and one subtle pattern (maybe tiny polka dots for baby girl), and then keep the rest of the family simpler.

LAYERS AND ACCESSORIES

These are the quickest ways to take your outfits from average to amazing! Think scarves, blazers, cardigans, belts and jewelry. Layers can be great along with textures from a scarf or cardigan. These can also hide the midsection when you are self conscious about that area.

FITTED CLOTHING

We don’t want your clothing to be too baggy or too tight. Properly fitted clothing looks put together and will show your shape. For women, your upper half and lower half should be balanced: so for instance, blousy shirt + tighter fitting skirt, or tight shirt + flowing skirt. Flowy dresses look great on women and are timeless and classic looking.

BRIGHT WHITE

If you love white! Sometimes an off-white or ivory will look even better! So try to go for those colors instead. Light clothing can look beautifully fresh. If you are worried about not appearing slender then it is safer to avoid white. However, white shirts and/or blouses under a dark jacket are perfect.  You don’t have to stay clear of white!

NEON COLORS

These create skin tone/color cast issues. Colors to avoid can be a little tricky as well. I would say try to avoid bright colors. When you choose a bright yellow, green, red and so on, you will have those colors reflect off of your clothes onto your face. It will give you that color hue on your skin. We don’t want that. We want your skin tone to look natural! If your house is bright colors, that is great! But let’s use those bright colors for more of accents then big items that might change our skin tones. Side note: bright colors, especially reds, oranges, and yellows can also make you appear larger.

 LOGOS & TEXT

Words will draw attention away from your faces. You might love Old Navy but keep in mind that when your shirt says Old Navy straight across your shirt, it will make your eyes go straight to that instead of your beautiful faces. Even though your kids are obsessed with Paw Patrol, try to have them not wear their favorite Paw Patrol shirt and matching shorts to the session. Try to get them to wear them after the session instead so that your images continue to look timeless. Not that Paw Patrol isn’t great but you know what I mean. Haha!

TRANSITION LENSES/GLASSES

If you wear glasses every day, please wear them in your session! However, lens glare and shaded lenses will keep your eyes from being seen. You can have anti-reflective coating added to your lenses or wear just the frames. You can even go to the Dollar Store and get some glasses that have a similar shape to the ones that you wear daily and pop the lenses out. Easy fix! Haha.

SHORT-SLEEVED T-SHIRTS

Button-down or structured shirts generally look better in photos. If you have your heart set on a t-shirt, try layering a blazer on top. This can be for men and women. 

TINY PLAID & COMPLICATED PATTERNS

These don’t always translate well in-camera. It can make the pattern on your clothes become a little distorted. If possible try to avoid those. Patterns are good in moderation. The above picture has a bigger plaid pattern which is better than small plaid.

 MAKE-UP, HAIR AND NAILS

Hairstyles should be SIMPLE and MUST be off the face. Hair falling down onto the sides of the face creates distracting shadows. Bangs that come down too low onto the face will keep light from getting into the subject’s eyes – the very most important part of the face. It is always a great idea to have your makeup and hair professionally applied for your photography session. It will make a huge difference in how you look and feel. But don’t feel like that is a necessity. Just make sure to practice your hair and makeup before the session so that you have confidence on the day of the session. When you feel and look fabulous it will come out in the portrait session as you exude confidence. Make sure you allow enough time to have your hair and make up finished before your scheduled session with time to spare. Please enquire about booking in a stylist well before your session. Your nails should be manicured. No chipped nail polish. 

COLORS TO AVOID/CHOOSE

You can shop at stores that have coordinating colors throughout all of the ages so that you know the colors will all match instead of having the colors seem off.

Softer neutral colors with a pop of color here and there is desired.

It is great to have color in your portraits. But we don’t want too many colors.  It can distract from the final image.

This can get a little tricky! You want to go with colors that are similar to your decor. This will make that nice easy flow in your home and give you that timeless feel/look. If you have a lot of white/blush colors, I would for sure go for those colors. They look amazing! If you have navy and white, I would for sure go for those colors.

You want to make sure that your clothes are all in the same color scheme but not all identical. Coordinate but don’t be matchy matchy. Give some variety and textures. Lace looks amazing on females.

PASTEL COLORS ARE GREAT!

They don’t reflect a lot of that color onto our skin tones. This also helps YOU stand out in the picture instead of the bright colored shirts. Blush color is my FAVORITE! Find your favorite color and start there. 

Stick to 3 colors for your portrait session. Lets say you know you want navy and off-white incorporated. Then lets choose one more color to add. You could go with an accent color. And that color could be your accessories color. You want to have the least amount of distractions as possible. Choose 1-3 colors for your group portrait, ones with similar tones that go nicely together and have everyone work within that color palette. For example: dark green, navy, and burgundy – all dark tones. Tan, a lighter olive green, and denims – all lighter, softer tones.  So that we see the people first and your portrait looks stunning. Wedding group photos look so good because they’re all wearing the same colors and the people stand out!

With all this being said, Mom’s outfit is most important. Mom, find something that you LOVE and makes you feel FABULOUS! Once you do that then you will be able to coordinate everyone’s outfits a lot more smoothly. Make sure you don’t just pick out outfits randomly from their closets (the clothes that you feel look the best on each of them) and then hope that it all coordinates and comes together nicely. Start with you! Get your gorgeous on!!!! Some examples are below!