A few days before a family photo session, I’m often asked the same question: What should we wear?
It’s a great question, especially when there are a couple of parents, a couple of a kids, the occasional pet… yeah, fair question. You want to look your best, but what does that even mean?
I have two pieces of advice worthy of a blog post.
- Wear whatever is comfortable. If you aren’t comfortable, it will show on your face. This means don’t squeeze into something too small, and don’t buy a new outfit for photos without trying it on first – which involves walking around in the outfit, sitting down in the outfit, etc. DO wear clothes that give you confidence.
- Choose colors that complement each other. And by complement I do not mean match. It’s at this point where I refer clients to Design Seeds, my favorite artistic interpretation of color.
Design Seeds was created in 2009 by Jessica Colaluca, an artist and color aficionado who uses original and submitted photographs to create palettes of complementary colors. As soon as I send clients to Design Seeds, they get it. You can start with one color and build a palette from there, or simply scroll through palettes until you find one you like.
Last week I photographed a family of four and they totally rocked the complementary color challenge!
This was the palette of choice:
And here’s the result:
Peach, lavender, aquamarine…
Their outfits complement one another and no one is wearing the same shade…
Though no one is wearing a pattern, it’s totally fine to mix and match as long as colors complement one another and there are a few solid shades to break up the noise.
Here’s an example from last holiday season where the family mixed burnt orange with blues – and a couple of plaids – to create a harmonious color palette.
Though this isn’t the palette they pulled from, they very well could have!
You’re welcome! – xoxo