Choosing Outfits for Your Family Photos
What to wear, and what NOT to wear! Anyone else love that show? My mom and I spent many an afternoons watching Stacy and Clinton style people to look like their best selves. The amount of hours I spent consuming fashion advice, you’d think I’d be a bit more fashionable. I am by no means a fashionista, and you won’t get a wardrobe rental from me. If you want your photographer to style your family to look like an Anthropologie ad, I’m not your girl, but know a few photogs to recommend.
I want to take pictures of YOU. If you spend 90% of your life in Birkenstocks, grubby t-shirts and leggings with pockets (my style 100%), I want to photograph you in Birkenstocks, a nice t-shirt and jeans. Yes, I suggest you step up your style slightly for photos, but just like you are going out to dinner with your partner, not like you are walking the runway. When you look back in 20 years, I want you to remember your family as they were, not as you asked (or bribed) them to be. I will capture the most joy and connection when you are comfortable. If you haven’t worn high heels in 5 years, our photo session is not a great place to start.
5 Tips for Styling Your Family Portraits:
Dress the most difficult person first
In my family, that’s me. Not because I am picky, but because I have the least amount of clothes of anyone in our household. I just have the fewest options to choose from, so I go first. Also, IF I have to buy something new, which I try not to, buying something for my husband or kids is easy and generally cheaper. If I need something new to match what I have picked for the kids, that could be hours of shopping and trying stuff on. Bleh. No thanks.
Don’t make the clothing a fight
For my most recent family photos, I dressed myself first, as I am the most difficult. My second most difficult, Cora, was having a fit because she’s in a “I don’t wear jeans” phase. The mom in me said “Tough cookie kid! This is an adorable outfit!” but the photographer in me realized it wasn’t worth it. I’d much rather have a great picture of my happy kid in an outfit I like vs an okay picture of a grouchy kid because she’s uncomfortable.
Do a jumping jack
I’m not telling you to workout before a session. No way. Just do the motions of ONE jumping jack. If you can do that in your outfit comfortably, you will likely be able to do everything I’ll ask of you during our shoot. We will be MOVING during our session. Sitting, standing, walking, maybe hiking depending on your location choice. If you have a toddler like mine, you’ll also likely running after them. If you are breastfeeding, whether or not you want photos of you doing so, wear something with easy milk access without getting totally undressed. One session, a mom totally didn’t think about how she’d have to lift her dress all the way up to nurse her fussy baby in a public park. Her family just had to create a wall around her so she didn’t moon everyone else in the park. It was a funny moment, but it would have been easier if she remembered to LAYER, which is my next tip.
Layer
We are in the Bay Area. When you are getting ready for your session that morning, projected temps could be 60, but when you get to your location, it might be rise 70, or drop 50. Being in Livermore, at my favorite location Del Valle, it can also be very windy changing the temp drastically. The last thing you want is sweaty grouchy hot family members, or blue lipped grouchy freezing family members. Don’t just bring a jacket to keep warm on the walk, make it something you are 100% okay with kids wearing during photos. Again, the goal is to make this as easy as possible for everyone.
Practicality wins
For shoes especially. But if you really want to wear heels, please bring extra shoes. You might love to wear heels (more power to you), but I doubt you love to hike in them. My poor aunt was the one who made me realize I needed to add this to the list, after I made her hike 10 minutes in 4.5 inch wedges. I mean, her legs looked awesome, but man do I wish I would have sent her that text before the night before instead of right before the session so she didn’t miss it. Oops. Sorry, Victoria. ALSO, wear wedges or chunky heels if you do choose this shoe option. Stilettos will sink most anywhere but pavement. When I’m photographing outside we are rarely on pavement.
This is a perfect example of coordinating outfits that are true to their personal style. Mama told me she let her daughter pick her dress first and worked around that. I also know this is totally their everyday style, since I’ve seen them wear it all before! Proof you don’t need new to look great.
Hard and fast rules like “No Hats” mean I could have missed out on this cuteness! Father and son trucker hats are a normal everyday look and it worked perfect for their session on their family farm! That’s why my most important piece of advice is to look like YOU!
Black is often a “no no” in traditional portrait rules. I for one love black and wear it often. So does this family, so of course it made sense for this mama and me outfit choice!
Bonus Tip: YOUR DO NOT NEED TO BUY ANYTHING!
Image by @drelowry
Of course, a nice new outfit for yourself could be a treat, and your family photos might be the perfect excuse to treat yourself. That being said, you should never shy away from photos because you have “nothing to wear”. I am lucky to have family photos taken fairly often so I will use myself as an example in 3 different sessions.
In this first session, I bought a new outfit, and I still LOVE it. I bought it for photos and it’s one of the only items that survived my multiple KonMari purges. It brings me so much joy. I honestly wish I would have worn it in the second photo session.
Image by @jlynnphoto_
In this second session, I was so stressed. My mom wanted blue and beach-y colors . . . in September. Honestly, I have a hard time shopping for clothes that are IN SEASON, due to my budget and bust size, let alone ones that are out of season. This was a late night target sale rack purchase and I completely regret it. I will likely never wear it again. It doesn’t fit well, I had to button the sweater to keep it from falling off my shoulders, which wasn’t figure flattering, and I fell the day before giving me a huge bruise which this dress definitely didn’t cover up.
Image by @lisetteloeraphotography
Image by @lisetteloeraphotography
Image by @lisetteloeraphotography
These last images are my most recent. If you have seen me out and about in Livermore in the past 3 months, you have seen me wear this sweater multiple times. You’ve also likely seen my kids and husband in these outfits. This shoot was last minute planning for me and I decided I would just follow my own advice and go down the list of my 5 steps in the blog. I dressed me first. This was basically one of 3 options for weather appropriate outfits that weren’t sweatpants. I dressed my daughter second. I had originally chosen jeans and a similar color sweater for her for a “mommy & me” look, but she didn’t want to. She also insisted on the purple bow, again, not my first choice but, oh well. I did a jumping jack, then had my kids do jumping jacks, just for fun. In this instance our warm choices were already on, since we knew it would be cold. The undershirt I put my son in was just an after thought, since I thought he’d be wearing a jacket. Well as soon as he started running full speed chasing cows, he insisted it come off. I’ll say it again, ALL LAYERS need to be acceptable outfit choices. It was fine, just not as nice as the color of the sweater. Clothing was all practical. We were walking up Del Valle in Livermore. Brown boots are my go to if its too cold for Birkenstocks so the choice was fairly easy for me. Kids got to choose their own shoes, and my stubborn husband literally only has one pair. He won’t buy a new one until the current has holes, AND he refuses to wear shoes with laces (eye roll). . . irrelevant husband rant over.
One last thing, wear what YOU love. My mother likes my outfit in session number 2. If it was a client of mine, showing me those outfits, I’d say they looked great. But I KNOW that I was uncomfortable. You are the one who looks at your wall every day. Focus on what you will love looking back at, not what Pinterest says you should wear.