Today is my day! I have friends sharing tips on all the other days, but I really wanted to cover this day. For those that are visiting for the first time, I’m Kristen, and I run this joint. I simply LOVE planning out clothing to wear in our family pictures. It’s a challenge…that I enjoy. Here is my family below in our turquoise, yellow, and navy clothing family pictures last summer in California:
{Image taken by my awesome friend Shari Hanson in Huntington Beach, CA}
I have so much to say about planning family portrait clothing, so listen up!
Trying to figure out what you are going to wear for family portraits can be stressful. It used to be that everyone wore white shirts and khaki’s and that was that–simple. Sadly, that doesn’t say WOW in family portraits, it doesn’t show a whole lot of personality, and everyone has done it (ok, almost everyone). Besides that, white washes people out, so I generally suggest staying away from white for anyone in portraits, unless used as an accent, or placing colorful accessories over a white top. Here are my top 10 tips:
1. Decide on a Color Scheme
The first thing I ask when someone seeks advice on colors to wear, I ask where they plan to hang the portraits in their home, and what colors are in that room. For some people, this doesn’t make a difference. But for others, if they plan to hang the prints in their family room that is painted red and black, and you plan to wear orange and brown, it won’t work very well. If your room is neutral (like mine) and you’d like some color pop from the portraits, and you just need help deciding on colors, here are a few thoughts.
Design Seeds is a site full of fabulous eye candy. The artist finds beautiful images, and pics a color palette out of those images that you might not otherwise notice. It can be applied to home decor or clothing, I think of it when picking out color schemes for portraits. It helps your eye to see color patterns that go together.
{Image source for all three}
You can do a search by color palettes or themes (spring, fall, ocean, edible), and you can sit there for hours drooling over the beautiful photography, but find an image/colors that resonate with you, and go with that! My home is fairly neutral in nature with lots of color accents. I also have our family portraits taken once or twice a year, so I’ve gone through lots of color schemes. I really need to look through these to decide on our upcoming family portrait colors!
2. Select one focal piece
If you have a color palette in mind, or even if you don’t…shop around to find one patterned piece that you love. It can be a little girls floral dress or a boys plaid shirt, but if you find one central piece, it helps to plan everything around that. Since us moms like our kids to be the focal point, I’d suggest this focus piece to be on one of the children (not an adult). That doesn’t mean that they will stand out the most, after accessorizing (my next point) it will all flow together.
3. Pick 3
It’s a good idea to pick 3 colors to work with as your main colors, then consider grays, whites, blacks, or browns as freebie’s. Not necessarily all of them together, but one or two that work with the 3 colors you chose.
4. Layers & Accessories
Cardigan, necklace, headband, scarf, button up shirt, tights, hats, ties. Layers & accessories add dimension, pizazz, fun, texture and therefore richness to the overall look. In the past, I have had the problem of purchasing all of these in my color palette (while keeping the receipts very close by) and once I have the clothing planned out, start throwing in accessories to see what works. If I have 2 girls, they don’t both get yellow headbands, but one yellow and one blue to spread out the colors. If you notice on my boys in the image above, they both have undershirts to provide another layer. Boys have fever options when it comes to layers (and seem more difficult to dress). I often try to put my 2 boys in two types of shirts and layer them differently. One a button up with t-shirt underneath, the other a polo type with T underneath and maybe sleeves rolled up into each other. Below, I found a vest that fit.
{Image by my friend Caroline}
5. Mom’s, don’t give yourself the leftovers
You know how some moms will go around the dinner table and make sure everyone has all of their food situated before they sit down, and then their food is cold? Don’t be that mom when it comes to clothing for your family portraits. Don’t pick everyone else’s out, then just grab something from your closet that only looks “ok” on you, but matches the color scheme. You need to feel AWESOME in your family pictures! If anything, I’d pick something that you think looks fabulous on you, then plan around THAT! It’s tough enough to get mothers IN pictures, so when you are in them, you want to feel and look good! My friend Reachel has great ideas on dressing for your body type on the sidebar of her blog, Cardigan Empire.
6. Split up the colors
If I’ve got 6 people in my family, and have selected 3 main colors, I don’t want all of those colors on top, nor to the people that are close in age–I want to split them up. I want to weigh some color towards the bottom in one or two of them as well. I do this with shoes, skirts, and pants. There are so many more options now with those fun colorful jeans. I did also purchase a pair of red converse for my son for our pictures last December that hasn’t been worn much since–but darn-it they looked awesome in the picture! You aren’t just investing in a photographer, but in the clothing to enhance your awesome family (see red shoes below).
{Images by my friends Heather and Tricia}
7. Use Polyvore to create a style board
You’ve seen the fashion/clothing boards on Pinterest (I’ve made my own “what to wear in family portraits” pinterest board here).
{source}
They’re great, but don’t always have the perfect configuration for your family, and you may not care for some of the pieces. Have you wondered how to make them? Well I did just that using Polyvore, but the details may need to be a post for another day. I created my own “set” and typed in the beginning basics of color/clothing item I wanted, and was able to drag them around the board. It searches from a database, you can even type in from the stores you shop from. I was trying to arrange our clothing for the above family pictures. I knew I wanted red, green, and navy as our main colors, and I made this style board last year:
Originally, I wanted to wear a red hat. I even found one, and decided I didn’t like the way it looked on me. Since I had planned to have a bold red accent piece, I switched out the hat for the scarf. I had also originally planned to have a little yellow in the mix, then decided I had too many colors and wanted to simplify. I also couldn’t decide if I wanted the stripes and the vest on my son or husband, so kept them as alternatives while I figured it out. I had 4 people set as to how they were going to dress, but wasn’t sure about the other two. I kept this image on my phone and referred to it while I was shopping, to remember what I already had. With my youngest daughters vest, I turned a boys t-shirt inside out and cut it down the middle, no one was the wiser!
8. Lay it on the floor
Once you have gathered items in the colors you’ve picked, I try to find a spot in my home that I can keep it all out. I like to lay the pieces on the floor, and look at it from afar, take a picture of it.
{Image taken with my tripod–and I ran}
9. Split up the pairs
If you have natural pairs in the family: mom and dad, Brothers, sisters, Mom and baby, try to split up the colors, as they will often be standing near each other. When I have babies, I know I will want to be holding them (helps me look thinner) so I see my baby as my “pair” and aim to not dress us alike. My husband is my obvious other pair, and as the two tallest, I have to make sure he and I are also not “matchy-matchy.” This part can get complicated, so do your best, then let it go! Hopefully the photographer will notice this and split everyone according to the colors. But ultimately, the natural/candid shots that I like to take won’t be so planned out.
10. Plan ahead
Make sure you start this planning when you book your session (hopefully a few weeks before it takes place). Be thinking of it, look around in your home/closets, shop well in advance so you aren’t stressing at the last minute.
There you have my top 10 tips to think about when planning what to wear in family portraits! Come back tomorrow to figure out how to choose a location for your family portraits that will reflect your style and personality. Make sense? Any questions???
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Kristen Duke
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Hi Kristen. Thanks SO much for this post. It has been a big help. I will definitely be using this post for my family portraits in the future. Thank you for sharing your knowledge
Glad it’s helpful, Jessima!
Amazing! I am seriously loving these. Do you mind if I link back to you on my blog in the future? This gives me a lot of great dressing ideas for the family pictures we need to take, lol!
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Thank you, and That would be great to link back!
Wow-this was so insightful! I always end up with pictures too matchy-matchy, even when it’s just my two girls. This is a lot to think about-thank you so much!
It is a lot to think about, I agree, but so worth it plan it out!
I have identical twin girls. We dress them alike a lot! (it cuts down on the fighting over clothes). When you say to break up pairs, should I have them wear different things? I was kind of planning on having them wear the same outfit…
It’s totally up to you. If you regularly dress them alike, then it fits to do that for pictures. I’ve seen a changing trend with twins that I know where they don’t necessarily dress them the same, but coordinating–same shirt in different colors, different styles/same color. That’s what I like to individualize them some while still coordinating with their life buddy. I like to see that, but again, if you normally dress them alike, then do that for the pictures! Here is a link to two sisters that I have photographed a few times. They are very close in age, so not twins, but their mom does a great job of coordinating with colors while giving them their own personal touch. http://kristendukephotography.com/sistersaustin-family-photographer/ Hope that helps!
Love this! I will have to keep this post in mind for my next fam pictures!! Thanks for your nice comment on mandis blog! Gotta love all the trolls, right?!
Thanks for the great information! We are planning an extended family picture with 18 – includes small children and 2 new babies. I was not happy with the positioning of our family members last time around. Do you have any thoughts for us?
Posing for big groups is tough…do you smoosh ‘em all together or seperate by family? I try to do a little of both. Here are some tips for dressing for the big group http://kristendukephotography.com/family-reunion-clothing-ideas/
Thank you so much for this post! Totally pinning it and sharing it on my page! Such valuable info!
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Love ALL your different colour schemes. How fun! I keep buying clothes that coordinate for my family to have a shoot – but Just gotta convince the husband again.
- I have a folder on pinterest too for “what 2 wear – photoshoot”. Hope u don’t mind me pinning this too. Well written and beautiful examples of your lovely family
My husband doesn’t get super thrilled about it, but he knows how much it means to me, so he trys to be happy! It’s fun to think of a new color scheme, but I’ve done so many, need to figure out what for this year!
This is the best what to wear post with many examples that I’ve read. You have the cutest family!
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Thanks, Emily! So glad you found this helpful! It can be a tricky task to dress the family for portraits;)
Kristen,
I love this post! I found you through Pinterest. And would LOVE your help on getting my colors coordinated! I’m bad at visualizing what it would look like. We are getting our family pictures taken in a couple weeks and I cannot decide on what I want to do. I do really like your yellow/orange scheme. Here are the details I have and maybe you can help me out with the rest? I have 3 kids. 1 girl (age 7), 2 sons, (ages 4 and 2). I know for myself, I am wearing white skirt with white top, brown belt, brown cowgirl boots, and a dark blue denim jacket (which is a crop jacket – if that’s a word.) We are taking them in a field with large grass and we may take some by a wood fence. I do like the orange/yellow colors. It goes with fall – I just don’t know where to put the colors and on who. Make sense? Could ya help me?
Also – your name sounds soo familiar. It’s driving me crazy. We have some mutual friends, I see. Amanda Towery and Alisa Vasquez. I am also from Austin. Our paths have to have had to cross at some point or another, right?
Hi Shara! I know Amanda through the school she works at. Alisa…through church friends.
With the outfit you plan to wear, I’d do yellow or orange in an accent with a necklace or scarf. For your daughter, it’d be fun to have her in a dress with flowers or pattern in blue/white/orange/yellow or even a solid yellow or orange. With the boys: I like to have my two boys one in a plaid or stripe, the other in a solid (depending on what sister wears). If one wears a polo, the other wears a button up. Maybe as a “jacket” not buttoned. I like a bit different in styles.
I love this article so much! I love the photos, I love all the ideas shared, and I love everything in it! Thank you so much for sharing this perfectly wonderful article.
You are so welcome! Thank you for letting me know!
Awesome tips for family photos!
Suggestions for a family photo shoot welcoming home a US Marine soldier.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated!
I actually have a good friend who documented her soldier’s homecoming here: http://www.squeezescharmans.blogspot.com/2010/08/happiest-day-everand-long-time-coming.html
I love her red, white, and black or you could do navy.
these are great – thanks
My daughter birthday is July 4th and we are going to take a family portrait, what would you recommend for the 4 of us to wear? I have a red, white and blue striped dress for my little girl, but not sure what I should do for my husband, daughter or myself.
see if you can find a subtle plaid for your husband. A red dress/’skirt with blue necklace or vise versa is cute for you, maybe look at florals or another solid color for other daughter.
Hey there, my name’s Valeria and sometimes I write about the same thing on my blog. I actually do have some questions for you if you do not mind. Could it just be me or does it seem as if many of the replies appear they are coming from a bunch of idiots?
And, if you’re writing on other social sites
such as web 2.0 site list, I would like to keep up to date with you.
Perhaps you could post some links to a few of them?
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