Family Style Guide

Thank you for trusting me to capture your family’s precious memories! Choosing outfits for family photos can sometimes be a point of stress, but I want to help as much as possible! Below you will find a few tips I have put together from my experience. If you need any further guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out! I am more than happy to help with selecting outfits or answering specific questions.

- Alyssa

Choosing Clothing

  • Choose something you feel confident in. You will be walking, sitting, standing, squatting, kneeling, and playing during the session. Wear something that you know you like and that will not require lots of “readjusting.”

  • Wear something a notch up from your everyday clothes. You are already making an investment by having your portraits taken, so make the most of it by dressing up for the occasion! Consider dresses or skirts for women, and dress shirts or jackets for men. Pay attention to your footwear too, as it will be visible in some of the photos. Avoid athletic shoes and flip flops.

  • Choose colors that coordinate and harmonize, but don’t be too matchy-matchy by dressing everyone in the exact same color shirt. Instead, choose colors and outfits that compliment but in varying shades. Light and neutral colors are very flattering to most skin tones.

  • Use patterns sparingly— no more than one or two small patterns for a family group.

  • Remember to accessorize! Jewelry, watches, scarves, hair bows, etc can pull the entire look together!

Things to Avoid

  • AVOID clothing with wording, graphics/logos, or characters.

  • AVOID very small plaids or stripes; these can cause something called a moire effect to show up in pictures. See the example to the right.

  • AVOID very bright or neon shirts; these can reflect onto your skin in certain lighting situations.

  • AVOID poorly fitting or brightly colored undergarments.

  • AVOID ball caps and sunglasses.

  • AVOID anything that makes you feel self-conscious. When you feel your best, you look your best!

  • AVOID glasses that have transition lenses if at all possible. If you normally wear these, you have a few options. You can go without glasses, wear an older pair/frames, or I can create a composite image that will include your frames without the dark lenses. If you go with this last option, you will need to request this in advance, and it will be an additional editing fee per image. Ultimately this choice is up to you, but I want you to be informed so that you don’t have dark lenses in your photos if you don’t want that look!

Color Palette Inspiration

If you need a little inspiration to get you started, I’ve got you covered!