A common question I get is what to wear when getting professional pictures taken. To get a truly complete and proper portrait, every single detail must be addressed and that includes your clothing. In this brief blog post, I will share my thoughts on what to wear to your photo session.
First, pick clothing that reflects what you want to accomplish. Coordinating, or not coordinating, with your photo environment. What that means is, do you want to have more casual pictures? Do you want them to be more formal? Or better yet, contrasting your apparel with that of your environment (i.e. dressing to the 9’s in an abandoned warehouse or, conversely, casual dress in an extremely refined environment). So that, after your photo session, you will end up with images like you envisioned.
Secondly, dress your body type. Do an honest assessment of yourself and pick clothing that will compliment your particular build. I do not have the body of a 20 year old lifeguard so you won’t see me in skinny jeans 🙂 . Be honest with yourself and dress appropriately.
Next, once you’ve picked out what type of clothes you want to wear, coordinate colors. That does not mean wear the exact same thing. As matter of fact, I strongly advise against this. Just coordinate the colors. If you want to wear red, have your partner wear a shade of red or a complimentary color. The biggest thing that you want to avoid is stripes and patterns. Generally, stripes and patterns will follow every line on your body. No one wants that. In general, earth tones are best with black being ideal for best concealment. With that said, I do suggest that whatever you pick, have it reflect who you are and/or who your two are as a couple.
Additionally, pick appropriate footwear. If you are doing a photo session with me, chances are , we will be doing some walking. So, even if you want pictures in your awesome Jimmy Choo‘s, bring another pair of shoes so that we can get to where we are going first. This is especially important in the winter or with pictures in the rain. We definitely want to be stylish but we also want to be comfortable. Plus, in the winter, in only makes sense if you are standing in snow that you are wearing winter footwear. If it’s a rainy day, wet feet are the worst. Again, the images will reflect the reality of the surroundings and, frankly, keep things real. It also gives you more variety.
And that leads me to my last point. Have a couple outfits with you. Most photographers won’t have a problem with you having multiple outfits for your photos (if they do, find a different one). It will allow you to coordinate to your environment like I’ve already mentioned. With my style, we just never know where we will end up. We could be walking down the street and duck into a swanky bar, or down a nasty alley. It all depends on where the light leads us. My past clients can tell you that much. The more variety you have the better chances of having a lot of favorite pictures. And that’s the point, isn’t it?
