You are what you wear.  And you feel great in certain clothes.   So as long as they aren’t 20 year old sweats or old t-shirts with holes, you should wear them for your family portraits.  True?  Well, not exactly.

Here’s the one thing we know about family photos ….

Family photos = Stress.  Especially for Moms.

Dad would rather be playing golf, or having root canal.  Teenagers are on their phones texting or are worried about the recent pimples that appeared on their noses that morning.   Little kids know something is up, so they refuse to take a nap or else get a runny nose or refuse to cooperate and cry in the car on the way to the photo session.  Mom is stressed out beyond belief because darn it, this is the ONE time she asks the family to do anything and they haven’t had a decent family photos in ages, unless you count the hideous ones Uncle Marvin takes at Thanksgiving of the entire family or her lame efforts to line the kids up in front of the pretty tree in the backyard for a photo for their Holiday cards.  And Mom is having a bad hair day, and her toddler just spilled a cup of milk down his shirt five minutes before the family was supposed to leave to meet the photographer.  Mom is stressed to the breaking point.

The ONE thing Mom can feel really great about is clothing.  She’ll look at everyone in their nice clothes and just r e l a x.

Of course, getting the clothing is akin to running a marathon.  I know.  Because not only am I a photographer, but I am  THAT Mom.  You should see me get my own family ready for photos.  Hah!  They could tell you stories that would make you look like the sweetest Mom that ever lived.  I have dragged my family out every Fall for as long as I can remember for a great photo.  The photos are ultra important to me and they bring me such joy.  I want you to feel the same way about your family images.  I want you to hang them above your fireplace.  I want you to print them on your greeting cards.  I want you to give them to your relatives as holiday gifts.  I want you to put them on your desk in your office.  I want you to love the experience so much that you would want a fun album with lots of images from the session, from the posed shots to the ones of your kids giggling or you chasing your toddler.

Here’s what I recommend you do.

First, the plan.    You need a plan  and you need to make some basic decisions.

1.  Overall, what style do you want?   Traditional, Modern, Classic, Trendy.  Do you envision your family posed in front of your grand piano or on your front steps or sitting in grass in a park.  Or do you see them lounging in a green sofa in a Kansas field or laughing at each other with an urban street street in the background?

2.  Are you a jeans family or do you want more formal portraits in dressy pants, skirts etc.?

Choose your colors

If you want your images on the wall in color, then it’s a good idea to wear clothes that compliment the decor of the area where you are hanging your prints.  If you have Pottery Barn/Crate and Barrel taste, then you probably want more fun, casual clothes and your could pick neutral or bold colors.  If you have a very elegantly furnished room, then you will want to wear more formal clothing for your portrait.   If your room is painted deep orange, then you might want to wear blues or browns and not yellow and lime green.

In general, you want to choose 3 colors that coordinate well together and will look great with your home decor.   Now, put everyone in your family in clothes with those colors.  They don’t all have to have all three colors in each outfit but they shouldn’t wear any colors outside of those three colors.  The blue in blue jeans doesn’t count, nor does white or cream if they are as accents in a sweater or as shirts under sweaters.  Choose clothes that match style-wise.  No mixing a formal shirt with a casual dress.  Avoid really loud patterns or a big graphic logo shouting at you from across the front of the shirt.  Don’t put everyone in matching white polos and khaki’s or black shirts and jeans.   Try to keep your jeans in the same tone – no mixing faded with acid washed with dark blue.  This is important because often, Dad will want to wear his 10 year old pair of faded jeans and Mom will have a brand new pair with a darker wash.   Ideas for colors are brown, blue and orange, or green, blue and purple or yellow, blue and cream, or black, red and grey.  There are lots of choices.

If you have four people in your family and choose orange, green and brown, then Mom could wear a brown and green floral top with an orange accent scarf, Dad could wear a brown half zip sweater, child one could wear and orange and green dress and child two could wear a brown and green sweater.  Everyone has some type of combination of your 3 colors.  Just don’t throw a purple scarf or turquoise shirt into the mix.

Start with Mom’s clothes

The first outfit you want to find with your colors is Mom’s.   Let’s face it, Mom deserves to look great in the photos… after all, she’s the one going to all of the work to pull this off.   Mom’s outfit will be the most challenging to find.  You may be lucky enough to find something in your closet, but family photos are special and not something you do everyday, so you’ll probably find yourself headed out shopping.  We recommend Nordstroms, Banana Republic, J Crew, Ann Taylor, Anthroplogie,  or AnnTaylor Loft for ideas.  They have clothes that are stylish, yet classic.

Choose an outfit that you feel great wearing.  If you are uncomfortable or you have to constantly rearrange your necklace or scarf, then it isn’t the right outfit for you.  Accessories make a photo special.  A great way to pull in a third color is with a scarf.  Don’t forget about your shoes unless you are taking photos barefoot.  Boots look awesome in photos.  Bottom line, you should love what you see in the mirror when you try on your portrait outfit.  If you aren’t crazy about it in the mirror, then you won’t be crazy about your portraits and we want you to be absolutely over-the-top, teary eyed crazy about your family portrait.

Now look for your daughter’s clothes

If you have girls, then the next step is to find them clothes.  If they are teens, then they know where to go and will have a very strong opinion about what they want to wear.    We recommend buying two options for your girls and then returning what you don’t use.

Now look for your husband and son’s clothes

Finding clothes for the guys is the easiest.  You can find soild or subtle-striped or argyle sweaters at almost every store.  You can buy them a crew neck or a v-neck or a half zip or a sweater vest.

We recommend  Nordstroms,  Banana Republic,  J Crew,  Old Navy ,  Gap or  Gymboree.  Steer clear of the teen stores such as American Eagle and Aeropostale unless you can find something that doesn’t have their logo plastered all over it.

Lay everything out on your bed

That’s right, lay everything out as if the person was laying right on the bed (or the floor if you have large family like me).  If you know your two year old will definitely be next to you, then lay their clothes next to yours.  Step back and see if everything works together.  This should be easy.   You’ll know if it doesn’t work and you need to swap out an item or two.  This is where it helps to have more than one outfit for the girls and even for the guys.

Some extra things to think about

Unless you want your family in a formal pose or standing for every shot, you may be sitting down for some of the shots on a bench, a couch or even the ground.  So, you would all be more comfortable in clothes that you can move in and feel relaxed.  We often ask family members to tickle one another or swing a small child between them.

A picture is worth a thousand words …… Some examples

Purple and Grey

This is my family …. I’m starting with mine first to show you how I dress my own family for portraits.   I chose this color scheme because we were going to be sitting on a green couch.  I wanted to make sure the colors complemented one another.  I deviated from the three color rule because I was using a green couch knew I would have orange leaves in the background.  However, you can look at the photo and see that we could have added some green or yellow into our clothing and it would have worked.

Green, Orange and Brown

This is last year’s portrait.  See how these colors make us look cohesive?  It would have been even better if my husband or youngest daughter had on some orange or green.

Grey, Blue/Black and Red

Here are two very different families using this color scheme.

Grey, green and PINK!

See how well this family coordinated using these colors?  Given that they have three young girls, having pink in their clothes was perfect for them.

Grey, Navy blue and turquoise

An Urban Look

This family wanted a very urban location, so they chose clothes that would work great in a grungy downtown area.  We knew we would be taking photos in front of a bright red door, so that also dictated their color choices.

Some other ideas and breaking the rules

Really, the clothing choices you make should express who you are and if you need to bend the rules, by all means go for it.  The families below chose colors and outfit that truly expressed who they were and as a result, they were relaxed and their images speak volumes about who they are.  Which is exactly what you want for your family portrait.

And finally, if you need help, call us!  We want to help.

© Heather England Photography.  This may be used by other photographers if they credit Heather England Photography and include a website  link to www.heatherengland.com.