It’s fall portrait session time, and I’ve been getting a lot of questions about what to wear and how to prepare for your fall portrait session.
If you book a Luxury Session with Maggie, our wardrobe stylist will create a personal style board with outfit suggestions for your whole family to take a lot of the stress out of preparing for your portrait session.
If you book a Signature or Mini session, I’ve put together some some advice for choosing your family’s wardrobe, and a couple looks for this holiday season! If you’d like some help, we can always add wardrobe styling to any session. Just let us know!
1. Make sure that your outfits don’t distract from your faces. Choose tops that are either solid or have a small pattern. Large prints and patterns can be distracting in photos, even when they look great in person. If you love prints and patterns, keep them small or below the waist. A cute patterned skirt looks fantastic with a solid top. Instead of patterns, you can mix items with details and texture like lace, velvet, ruffles, ruching, pleating, and knits.
2. Don’t wear the exact same outfits. In the 90s the “white shirts and khakis or black shirts and jeans” look became very popular. You saw it in everyone’s family portraits. But it’s 2015 and you can do better than that! You can still go well together without matching exactly.
3. Complement each other without being identical. Choose three to four complementary colors and then wear different combinations of those colors, with each person wearing at least two of the colors to tie them in with the rest of the group. For the holiday season I love deep jewel tones. They go well with any skin tone and hair color and look great in outdoor settings.
4. Reflect your personal style. Don’t go out and buy outfits that you would never otherwise wear. Match your outfits with the style and personality of your family. You want your portraits to reflect who you really are as a family, not who you think you should be.
5. Keep in mind the location of your session. As you plan your wardrobe, consider what location will be the backdrop for your session. You want the clothing choices and the photo setting to complement each other. Imagine a little girl with a vintage cotton dress, sporting pigtails and holding a handful of flowers. This would look great in field but might not work as well in an urban setting.
You also want to make sure that the colors and patterns you choose fit well in the environment you’ve selected. If a subject’s clothing is the same color as the background, she or he may blend in (i.e. avoid wearing green in a garden or park setting).
6. Don’t forget about yourself Mom! If you’re not great at styling your own hair and makeup, have both done just before your session. If you book a Luxury Session with Maggie, professional hair & makeup is included, and we will send our hair & makeup artist to your home before your session. If you book a Signature Session or a Mini Session, and you’d still like to book one of our hair & makeup artists for your session, please email us for their rates and availability. And if you color your hair, remember to have it touched up. You don’t want to have to ask us to retouch your roots on all of your images! You may also want to have your nails done in case we shoot some close-ups of you holding your little one’s hand, or something similar.
7. Lastly, think about where you will hang your portaits. As you plan out a photo shoot, remember to think about where your portraits will be displayed in your home. If your home is very modern in style, a rustic portrait location might not match as well with your decor as an urban setting would. If your home is filled with soft, neutral colors, bright primary colored outfits might look out of place with your decor.
We can’t wait to see all of our holiday session clients! This is our favorite time of the year and I always have a great time meeting new clients and seeing old. Remember that having your photo taken should be fun! So, please don’t stress too much. Do your best to get everyone ready and then be ready to have some fun with us!
And if you haven’t booked a session with us yet, our Full Session and Mini Session dates are filling up quickly so get in touch now!
