5 Wardrobe Rules For Flawless Sumer Family Photos
Here in New Jersey, we are having the most gorgeous spring of our lives. In recent history I can’t recall a spring with more warmth, bold colors, and sunshine. NJ is really hit or miss in terms of our rain to sunshine forecast, but this Spring has been tremendous! This has lead in an uptick in family photography bookings- everyone wanting to take advantage of the sunshine and warmth, before fall and winter find their way back to us.
The question I receive the most is, what should we wear? What colors should we wear as a family so that years from now these images still look classic and not dated. I have so much to say on the subject so please read on…
For most families, family photos are a once per year thing. Most of the time it can be hard to convince every member of your family to get dressed up, head out to a park or the studio, fight the sun, hold the kids, chase the kids, not break a sweat and smile at the camera. Luckily my family photo sessions are very different than that. I believe if you want to love your family photos they have to look and feel like your family. Are you normally all dressed up and laughing manically during the magic hour? Nope! You sure aren’t, but I’m there to capture the very best of you- and that starts with everyone being comfortable.
Here are my rules for a flawless family photo shoot wardrobe:
- Be comfortable. If you aren’t a heels and dress type of human, please don’t be for your photos. Jeans, t-shirts, shorts and skirts work! I do shoot some wide angled shots but never enough to justify wearing heels for hours. My suggestion is that you bring flip flops, change into heels for a few pics, and move on to bare feet. If you are uncomfortable that is all you will see in your photos so please, just look and feel like yourself. Especially in the summer time- if you can be barefoot and chasing babies, isn’t that a better image than you sinking into the ground in heels and limping through a park?
2.Choose a color family or a family color. Gone are the days of everyone wearing matching outfits. I say choose 3 colors and stick to those. Blue, cream, and red- lovely! Green, yellows, and white- perfect! Pink, baby blue, and gray- perfect. Whatever colors you choose, choose a color family and stick with it. You can do variations of any color blue doesn’t have to mean everyone in navy. A few folks in navy, a few in pastel blue, and a few in turquoise will give the effect of matching without a full on matching situation. A color family will give you the flexiblity to find something that you love yourself in and make it easier to coordinate the rest of your families outfits.
3. Choose Your Outfit First. This is my favorite subject. So often Mom is not in the picture- do you know why? Because we are always taking the pictures. You may not think of it but you really are your own families historian. Choose an outfit that makes you feel beautiful and an outfit that you want your kids to look back on and think, my Mom was radiant. That doesn’t mean it has to be fancy, but this is your time to document yourself and so pick for you first. Once that is out of the way, choose their outfits to match you. You are the center of your family, let everyone else be an accessory to you!
4. Shades of Blue, Gray, Khaki , Coral and Cream remain classic colors. For summer time photos I love a little color, but blue, gray, khaki, and cream are timeless in terms of how outdated your photos might look in 10 years. These colors are neutrals, and neutrals are a great base color that are never in or out of fashion. My suggestion is choose one of these base colors and build color around it in accessories. A pink bow in your daughters hair, green socks on your son, a well placed hanker-chief in your husbands lapel, some bracelets on you full of rainbow colors. You can fit “pops” of color in to give your images some personality.
5. Don’t wear bright white int he summer. A gentle off white or cream is best. ( see pic above for reference) I beg of you, do not wear all white. White is a reflective color- it adds so much light to the face and with the sun coming in strong that light will make you look like a highlighter. I always prefer a soft cream to white. Just avoid white as best you can. It’s completely fine to wear white pants and a gray top- but all white, on everyone, looks extremely bright in the summer sun. White is better used for winter photos where the scenery around us is more gray and there is more cloud cover.
There you have it, rules for gorgeous summer family photos. Contact me using our contact form to book your summer session!
xo,
Stephanie
