What to wear for family photos at home // Columbus Ohio Lifestyle Photographers
Deciding how to dress not just yourself but your entire family for an in-home photo session can feel overwhelming. I’m here to break it down in an easy-to-apply manner, tailored to suit your personal style and complement the setting of your images. What follows is a set of “rules” that will help you decide what to wear for authentic and beautiful images that are true to you.
A casual look that feels like a regular day at home, while using the denim to bring out the blue from the wall.
Be yourself
I talk about this all the time, but truly - don’t dress in a way that is not recognizably you. You don’t want to look back at your images ten years from now and feel that they were inauthentic in any way. What a bummer that would be! I promise you can pull something out of your closet or acquire it from a quick trip to Target that will look GREAT and reflect your personality. One caveat regarding the rules that follow: if they don’t feel like you, ditch ‘em.
The kids wanted to leave their pjs on for this laid-back morning jam session
2. Consider the colors already in your home.
The colors already present in a scene should be considered when deciding on outfits. For an example, if your home already has a lot of color and decorations throughout, you may want to opt to wear simple neutral colors in order not to clash or create an image that is too busy. Conversely if your home is neutral or all one color, you can use your outfits to sprinkle in pops of color.
Consider accent colors in your home as well - your couch, bedspread, throws, pillows and artwork can provide inspiration for your palette.
We took a series of photos in front of the painting in the background, which beautifully complements their outfits.
This family opted for neutral colors that don’t compete with their bedspread and the colorful walls that were in other areas of their home.
3. Know your color wheel
I’m not talking about an art-degree level of knowledge about the color wheel, rather a simple understanding of complementary colors and adjacent colors on the color wheel. Colors that are adjacent on the color wheel will look good together, like red/orange/yellow, yellow/green/blue, blue/purple/red (you get the idea). Complementary colors also work well together: reds + greens, oranges + blues, yellows + purples. Finally, if dressing in brighter colors isn’t your style, a blend of neutrals and muted colors create a timeless look that is beautiful in any setting. Consider ivories, tans, browns, mauve, sage for a more subdued look.
I love how mom’s red dress pops against the green background in this image.
The muted colors worn here look lovely against the earthy brown of this family’s couch and table.
4. Mix it up
Nobody wants to be matchy-matchy (unless you do - that can work too if you’re doing it with intention). Rather than dressing everyone in one color, mix it up for the best results. I’d recommend that Mom chooses her outfit first, considering that 99 percent of the time it is Mom coordinating the photos and getting the most meaning from them (at least initially - five years from now everyone will cherish them).
Select a color palette based on Mom’s outfit. You can work with the colors I’ve suggested above, but if it helps to have an image to work from you can find loads of inspiration on my in-home session Pinterest board. I’d also recommend mixing up your solids and patterns, as well as articles of clothing (example: you have two daughters - have one in a dress/skirt and the other in jeans, mix up long and short sleeves, and incorporate a variety of textures for a non-homogenous look).
The little girl’s bold pattern adds visual interest when paired with solid colors.
5. Consider the season
I think it’s important to establish a sense of time for your family photo session so that when you look back on you’re images you can more readily feel the season.
Is this a summer session that will be a mix of indoor and outdoor photos? Think summer outfits, flowy dresses, bare feet, babies running around in diapers.
For spring or fall: incorporate the colors of those seasons into your outfits.
Winter? Add textures, like denim, knits, chunky cardigans/sweaters, knee socks - the possibilities are endless.
Love the combination of textures in this image. It was taken in winter and it shows.
Also, the use of colors that are adjacent on the color wheel (yellow/orange/red) liven up the neutral walls throughout their home
But what about getting kids to cooperate?
I TOTALLY get it. Your kids may have their own ideas about what they want to wear. They also may not want to put on a brand new outfit they aren’t comfortable in. This is why I recommend shopping from your own closet, but if that’s not an option let them wear the new outfit once or twice (inside and not while eating) prior to the day of your photos. You can also give them some autonomy to encourage cooperation. Depending on their age you can approach this one of two ways.
for younger kids: present them with two outfits that YOU are comfortable with them wearing, and tell them they get to pick which one they want to wear.
for older kids: present them with the overall color palette, or with a single color, and tell them they can wear whatever they want as long as it matches the color. Remember, we want to capture their personality too!
