What Should We Wear for Our Family Photo Shoot?

“What should we wear for our family photo shoot?” is one of the questions I’m asked most often, and it really can make a big difference to the finished photographs.

There aren’t any hard and fast rules. What works best will depend on your family, your personality, the style you like and the backgrounds we decide to use in the studio. But there are a few simple guidelines that make choosing your outfits much easier.

Start by thinking about the style you want

Before coming to the studio, have a think about the sort of look you would like from your photographs.

We have lots of different backgrounds available, from bright white through to darker and more dramatic backgrounds, as well as different colours and styles. Your clothing can either blend with the background or create a contrast.

For example, white clothing against a white background can give a really clean, bright and contemporary look. Equally, light clothing against a dark background can create a much stronger and more dramatic contrast. Neither is right or wrong – it really comes down to the style you prefer.

Coordinate rather than match

Probably the biggest piece of advice I can give families is to talk to each other before the photo shoot.

You don’t all need to wear identical clothes, but it helps enormously if everyone’s colours work together. Blue and white, for example, is a combination that nearly always photographs beautifully.

Think about choosing two or three colours and letting everyone select clothes within those shades. The larger the family group, the more important this becomes. If six people arrive wearing six completely different strong colours and patterns, your eye can be drawn towards the clothing rather than towards the people in the photograph.

The aim is for your family to be the most important part of the picture.

Keep patterns fairly simple

For group photographs, I generally recommend keeping patterns to a minimum. That doesn’t mean everyone has to wear plain clothes, but lots of different stripes, checks, logos and bold patterns together can make a photograph feel very busy.

Simple clothing tends to give photographs a cleaner and more timeless appearance.

For individual photographs of children and babies, however, we can have a little more fun. A patterned dress, colourful jumper or favourite outfit can work brilliantly when there is only one child in the photograph.

Don’t be afraid of colour

Colour can look fantastic in photographs. For children in particular, I often prefer stronger colours rather than lots of very pale, wishy-washy shades. A stronger colour against the right background can give an image much more impact.

It’s really about contrast. If we have a very light background, very light clothing and pale skin tones all together, the photograph can sometimes become a little flat. Put those same clothes against a darker background and suddenly they may look completely different.

This is one of the advantages of coming to a studio where we have several backgrounds to choose from.

Think about black-and-white photographs too

People sometimes assume that clothing colour doesn’t matter if they want black-and-white photographs. Surprisingly, it matters a lot.

Although the final photograph may be black and white, I still photograph everything in colour. When we convert the image afterwards, all those different colours become different shades of black, white and grey. Contrast therefore becomes very important.

A person wearing light clothes against a dark background can produce a very strong black-and-white portrait. Put someone in light clothing against a light background and the result may be much softer and have less contrast.

If you particularly love black-and-white photography, let me know and we can take that into consideration when choosing your outfits and backgrounds.

Bring more than one outfit

You don’t have to make the final decision before you arrive. In fact, I would much rather you bring a couple of options if you’re unsure.

We can have a look at everything together before we start photographing and decide which clothes are going to work best with the backgrounds we’re planning to use.

You can also change during the shoot. Perhaps we photograph the whole family in one coordinated set of clothes and then let the children change into something more colourful for their individual photographs. There is plenty of flexibility.

Sometimes the most important outfit isn’t the most fashionable one

This is something I think is particularly important when photographing children. Photographs are about memories, and sometimes an item of clothing means something to you that nobody else would understand.

I remember when my daughter was little, she had a knitted coat covered in different colours. She wore it for about two winters, when she was around two or three years old. Even now, when I think of her at that age, I picture her wearing that coat.

If I’d photographed her in it, the coat itself would be part of the memory.

Your child might have an outfit bought by a grandparent or great-grandparent, a favourite jumper they wear everywhere, or something they’ve almost grown out of. It might not be the outfit you’d choose because it looks the most stylish, but in ten or twenty years’ time it could be the one that means the most.

Pay attention to shoes

Shoes sound like a tiny detail, but they can have a surprisingly big effect on a photograph.

You don’t necessarily have to wear shoes at all. Lots of our family photographs work beautifully barefoot, particularly with younger children. But if you are going to wear shoes, please give them a clean beforehand.

I often find that smart, clean shoes can make relatively casual clothing look really good. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Beautifully pressed clothes combined with dirty or battered shoes can immediately make an otherwise polished photograph look untidy.

It’s a small detail that’s very easy to overlook when you’re getting everyone ready.

You don’t have to dress formally

Our style at the studio is generally relaxed and informal, so you certainly don’t have to arrive wearing your Sunday best.

For most families, I’d recommend wearing the sort of clothes you normally feel comfortable in. Jeans, simple tops, dresses, jumpers and casual clothing can all photograph beautifully.

However, if your family enjoys dressing formally, that’s absolutely fine too. The photographs should represent you rather than somebody else’s idea of what a family portrait should look like.

Celebrate your family’s heritage

Another lovely option is to bring clothing that represents your family’s cultural heritage. You might have traditional clothing that you wear at weddings, celebrations or special family occasions.

We can photograph both. I recently photographed a family with Punjabi heritage. We created some photographs in their everyday Western clothing and others in their traditional Punjabi clothing.

It gave them two completely different sets of photographs from the same session and, more importantly, created photographs that represented an important part of who they are as a family.

My simple checklist

• Coordinate colours rather than trying to make everyone match exactly.
• Avoid lots of competing patterns in large family groups.
• Think about whether you want your clothing to contrast with the background.
• Bring a couple of outfit choices if you’re unsure.
• Make sure clothing is clean and reasonably crease-free.
• Don’t forget to clean your shoes.
• Bring meaningful outfits for children if they help tell your family’s story.
• Most importantly, wear clothes that actually feel like you.

If you’re starting to panic about what everyone should wear, don’t. There really isn’t one perfect outfit for a family photo shoot.

My job is to work with what you bring, choose backgrounds that complement your clothes and create photographs that look great now but, more importantly, still mean something to you many years from now.