What To Wear Guide

Family Portraits

Here are a few helpful tips and hints to make sure you look and feel the very best during your portraits. This guide will help walk you through movement, colors, patterns,  props, and lastly hair and makeup.

We want you to be yourselves and nobody else. We want to give you just some guidelines on how to go about using clothing, colors, movement to create wonderful photographs that have color harmony.

Wear what you are comfortable in &

what makes sense for the session.

We want you to wear clothing that will help make you comfortable and relaxed.  Always, always bring options, that way if you get there and you’re not feeling it or we aren’t liking the way the colors are turning out, we can change if need be, but really plan on one outfit for the entirety of the session! You don't need to bring the entire wardrobe that you have in your closet.

We also want you to be aware of the location and dress accordingly. If we go up into the mountains, we wouldn't suggest wearing high heels, unless we are on very stable ground,  or if it's winter, bundle up with coats, scarfs etc, if it's hot, wear less layers and looser clothing. We usually end up walking and or hiking for most sessions, so be prepared to walk a little bit . Bring good shoes with good grip. If it's going to be hot bring clothes that can wick sweat out from you!  Your wedding dress will probably get a little dirty even if we do our best to protect it, it's just the nature of the beast.

But we promise the images will be worth it! 

Please bring accessories, like hats, scarfs, extra layers, different shoes, etc. We just don't like big watches as they can be distracting in the photographs. 

If you want to HIDE anything that you don't like about your body, tummy, hips, legs, etc, wear DARK COLORS, NOT BRIGHT or WHITE, as this will only draw your eye to the specific points you might not like. We really only suggest wearing white or even off white if you feel confident in the way you look.

We don't do any major bodily retouching, taking 10lbs off, changing legs, changing facial features etc.  other than taking out the occasional flyaway hair,  maybe move around faces with extended family portraits, or taking out a scar you just got. If you're looking for someone who does heavy photoshop work, we'd be happy to refer you to someone else, because we just won’t and don’t do it.

 We like to photograph who you are in that moment. 

Movement

Whatever you wear, make sure you can move around in it. It would be distracting to you and us if we needed to constantly fix something that was too tight, you'll want to bring clothes that are broken in and that you'll be able to move, walk, dance, possibly light jog in.

We love when people bring clothing or accessories that catch the air with the wind or move with you while you move! It pulls you into the photograph a little more and shows a little more emotion and energy. 

Colors

We typically recommend  wearing colors that will blend well with the background that we will be in. This means they either match or are complementary on the color wheel. 

(Check with us if you have questions)

We suggest neutrals and earthy tones as these look the best for most situations.

Neutrals are not just gray and beige, there are neutrals in every color, (yellows, greens, navy, burnt orange, off white, etc.) We like you to stay away from bright or fluorescent clothing or colors as they can be very distracting and cast the color onto your skin.  This is the same case for very bright pink, bright orange, or bright red.  

Patterns

Patterns are awesome.

We LOVE plaids, and flannels as that's pretty much what we wear just about any day of the week! Patterns if too chunky or bold can distract from your faces. So we suggest to wear patterns that are light or small and won't distract from who you are as couple. 

You definitely can mix patterns regardless of what the fashion police say! We just say if you're going to mix patterns that each pattern must have at least one of the same colors in them. So if one shirt is black and red plaid, the other can be black and green checker.  Make sense?

Hair & Makeup

We have a lot of people ask us if we suggest getting hair and makeup done by a professional.

We say if it's going to make you feel beautiful and confidant, then yes, do it. If you don't usually have a professional do your hair and makeup then just do it yourself. 

You'll like it a lot more and it'll show through in the photographs.

We do suggest if you have breakouts or bad acne and want it covered up to ask a professional to do so. We do sometimes edit and retouch skin and take out the occasional flyaway and will take out anything we feel is distracting, if we don't feel it's distracting we won't take it out.  EX: if it's a windy during the session we're not going to edit all your hair out, but will pose you in a way that movement and wind looks natural as possible.

Other Advice

We like families to have at least 3 colors, as it will look the best in the images. 

Wear complementary colors  or colors within the same tones.

We also like your family to all wear just one outfit for the entirety of the session, this way it becomes less complicated for you and for us, unless it’s a lifestyle session or a vacation session.

If you'd like your pets to come, make sure they are under control and respond to commands and bring treats for them as an incentive. We can't promise good images if the animal doesn't behave.  

If you have little children under the age of 10, we strongly suggest bringing some sort of incentive, candy, favorite toy etc, that will grab their attention for us. If you have newborns, we suggest bringing blankets and anything that will keep them calm and relaxed.  We suggest bringing water and or snacks for when we're taking other group or individual images. 

Questions? 

If you're still struggling after reading this guide, please get in touch with us! Send us pictures of your outfits and we will help you out. We can even create a Pinterest board of inspiration for your session.

If you'd like to see some inspiration, please visit our galleries or  click here for our Pinterest  boards.