Tips for Picking Out Clothes for Your Family Pictures

Picking out clothes for a family photo session is the worst?  Am I right?!  This is always one of the biggest pain points for people when booking family photo session.  In fact, some moms will put off booking a session just because they don’t want to deal with selecting the clothes for everyone.  Of coarse you want to look nice and have wonderful pictures and I think that social media has created a unneeded stress and expectation for picture perfect clothes and pictures.  Choosing clothes for a photo session does not have to be so stressful that you don’t enjoy the session at all.  The following are some tips I’ve learned from others as well as what I’ve picked up from the several years of taking family pictures.

Tip 1 – Choose your outfit first.  Now I’m talking to the mom’s because let’s face it, typically mom is one in charge of family pictures and clothes.  So mom, choose your outfit first.  Choose something you love and that you feel amazing in.  When you feel and look good that confidence will really show in your pictures.

Tip 2 – Then you are going to shopping the closets of all the other members of the family.  Find neutrals or colors that coordinate with mom’s outfit.

Tip 3 – A couple small patterns and different textures are great as long as they aren’t too bold.

Tip 4 – If you need to go to the store for a couple of pieces of clothing that you need then take pictures of everyone else’s clothes so you have something to reference.

Tip 5 – Everyone needs to feel comfortable in their outfit.  Again, like mom, you want them to feel comfortable.

So I’ll walk you through when I did my family pictures last.  I went through my shirts and my daughter’s shirts.  Picked out a couple that would all work.  I settled on the printed shirt for me and then the light brown sweater that had texture for her. 

Then went to my oldest son’s closet as well as my husbands and second son’s closets.  I didn’t really care for any of the shirts they had, so that is when I went shopping.

Choosing a dark blue polo with a print for my husband, then a green for my one son and a light colored polo for my other son.  Pants weren’t a big deal because I knew that we either had good jeans or dark pants that would be fine.

And if you want to up the game a bit . . .

Tip 6 – Accessories can really add a nice touch to your wardrobe for pictures.  Hats, jewelry, scarves, vests, jackets, etc.

You may look at our picture and feel like it’s just average and just ok.  I’m ok with that.  I pulled it together in a short moments notice and got the pictures done when my special needs son felt good.  Don’t over think family pictures to where you don’t do them.  Just get them done.  I love my family and love looking at the pictures.

Another resource to get ideas is Pinterest.  I’ve built a clothing board for my clients to look at and get ideas.  You do want to consider the location of your pictures and what colors would look good for that location.  Here is a link to my Pinterest board.