Clothing Guidelines
- Unless this is a family reunion portrait with a large number of people, you don’t need to match each other – i.e., you don’t need to wear the SAME colors unless they are different shades (e.g. light and dark). But DO wear complementary colors for your portrait photography session, NOT clashing colors.
- If you wish to wear a patterned outfit, then there should be only one pattern per group portrait. That is, if the portraits are with two to three people, only one person should wear patterns, because otherwise, the scene may look overly “busy.” And if they each wear different patterns, then the patterns will both clash and look “busy.” For a group of four or five people, two people could wear patterns, as long as they are the same pattern (can be different colors of the same pattern). You get the idea – if you’d like to wear patterns, then we’ll want to mix patterns with solids in your portraits.
- If you really, really want to, you can wear white. That said, I’m not a big fan of white for portrait photography sessions, because the eye gets drawn to the lightest color in the photograph, and if you’re wearing white, then the viewer’s eye is drawn to your clothing rather than to your faces. The exception is for a family reunion photograph with a large number of people. In this case, it’s a good idea to choose a “uniform” for all, and the easiest color top is white, as it’s something that almost everyone will already own. Or, with a large family reunion photograph, you could also pick two uniform colors as opposed to just once, for example, with half of the group wearing red and the other half black.
- If your portrait session is in the late fall or winter and includes young children, please make sure that you dress them warmly, so that we aren’t forced to cut your session short due to the cold.
- If your portrait session is a maternity session, I encourage you to select a more “form-fitting” top in order to show off your beautiful belly!!!
- Clothing changes: You are welcome to bring one or more changes of clothing to add more variety during your portrait session. That said, keep in mind that taking time to change clothes takes away from your portrait session time. For babies and young children who can be changed in public, clothing changes are easy and fast. For older children and adults, you will need to keep in mind distance to a changing area, depending on where your session is held. Also, if you’re bringing additional clothing, you will also be carrying it throughout the session! Given that, for older children and adults, I recommend a maximum of one clothing change per hour session, and that only if a private changing area will be only one or two minutes walk away. When a private changing area is not close/available, an easy way to still add diversity to your portraits is to bring a sweater/jacket that can simply be put on over your existing clothes, and to add accessories like hats and scarves (see below).
Accessories and Props
- Accessories – accessories can be nice and can add variety to your portrait photographs…for example a favorite hat…a decorative scarf or shawl if not too hot or formal for the rest of your outfit…we’ll create some photographs with the accessories and some without.
- Also think about what you enjoy doing. For example, if the portrait photography session theme is a walk in the woods, and you like to play guitar, you can bring your guitar as a prop.
- If your portraits involve a baby, please also bring a soft, thick blanket that can be laid on the grass in the case of outdoor, park settings. You can also bring props like stuffed animals, etc.
MakeUp
- You should treat this portrait photography session as a special occasion. If you normally wear makeup either on a daily basis or for special occasions, then I recommend you wear makeup for your portrait photography session. If you are a never-wear-makeup person, then that’s fine; there’s no need to change who you are for your portraits!
Other
- Please be sure to be on time (or better yet, early) for your session, so that you are able to enjoy the full length of time. If you have never been to the location where your session will take place, I recommend that you plan to arrive early in case you have trouble finding the place.
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