Canterbury & Otago Wedding Photo & Film

 

What to Wear to your Family Session

 

 

The clothing you choose to wear to your family portrait session can really change the overall look of your final photos. The trifecta for beautiful images are : clothing, session location, and time-of-day. These three factors can completely change the look of an image.

  • Try to avoid bold, bright colors during your session.
  • Try to pick outfits and accessories that coordinate instead of matching. Instead, you want them to coordinate colors.
  •  When deciding what to wear for photos, pick a palette of 3-4 colors. Let this be your starting place. Think in terms of tones: blue tones, earth
    tones, neutrals, pastels, etc. Everyone in the family can express their own sense of style within the chosen color palette, and the whole group
    will coordinate beautifully.

T

The clothing you choose to wear to your family portrait session can really change the overall look of your final photos. The trifecta for beautiful images are : clothing, session location, and time-of-day. These three factors can completely change the look of an image. By keeping these consistent in all sessions, you are guaranteed beautiful images.

 

 

  • Empty your pockets! Literally.  You don’t want to have key chains or phones showing through your pockets. (Especially guys!)
  • Make sure you’re comfortable in what you’re wearing.
  • Be aware of any tan lines and how they look with your chosen outfits
  • Opt for timeless over trendy

  • Strive for colors and textures that are going to complement our location.

  • Colors to avoid : bright reds, neons, bright oranges (they reflect color onto skin and can be difficult to edit!)
  • Avoid patterns smaller than a quarter :  Tiny patterns causesomething called “Chromatic Abberation” in digital images. Men’s checkered shirts are fine if the “checks” are on the larger side.
  • Avoid bold stripes, florals or polka dots, big statement graphics, logos and slogans
  • Alternate Heaviness: If one of you is wearing very dark jeans, theother may want to wear lighter pants. If one of you is wearing a  navy top, the other shouldn’t wear a dark/heavy colored top.  To a certain degree, alternating the “heaviness” of your  outfits can make your images look more balanced.
  • Avoid one of you being casual while  the other is more dressy:  This can look a bit awkward in photos. If one of you is dressed up and the other is casual, it can look a little odd in your images. 
  • Other things to avoid:  Tennis shoes, Graphic tees,  Bold logos on shirts, Sunglasses &  Baseball Hats

 

    Accessories

    Accessories can make a outfit more formal or casual. Utilize jewelry, necklaces, earrings, rings, hair accessories, belts, shoes, hats, etc. I also encourage you

     to bring along a jacket (weather depending) or something that you can easily throw on to add variety to your photos without having to completely change clothes.

    Consider bringing special things like blankets.

    For more info on what to wear, let Pinterest inspire you!

    https://www.pinterest.nz/search/pins/?q=what%20to%20wear%20family%20session&rs=typed

     

    Additional notes for Extended Family Sessions


    For an extended family shoot, I suggest the following

    • Choose your family’s favorite color palette. Do you have a family that trends towards neutrals? Blues? All the colors of the rainbow? If you have a large group with lots of smaller families, this might be a tricky question. That leads me to…
    • What color will look good in Mom’s/Grandma’s house? Moms and grandmas are much more likely to get prints and display them in their house. What color will look good on the wall in your mom’s living room?
    • Start with the person with the strongest opinion, and go from there. Does your mom have an outfit she’s been dying to wear? Start with her outfit and build the rest of the family around it.

    If you really can’t figure it out, pick two main colors (one of which should be a neutral), with a pop of color. Maybe blue and gray with gold? Green and cream with orange? Neutrals are always a safe bet – cream, tan, gray, white. If in doubt, get in touch and I’m happy to help you decide!

    For more info on what to wear, let Pinterest inspire you!

    https://www.pinterest.nz/search/pins/?q=what%20to%20wear%20family%20session&rs=typed