I'm excited to bring to you today this guest post from Maura Gaughan, the founder and lead stylist at the Wandering Parisian, on how to select and leverage color when picking outfits for your next professional family photography session!
In my 14 years as a professional family photographer, I have found that figuring out what to wear is one of the stressors that can often lead to busy moms putting off professional family photography for what can quickly become a 10-year gap in family memories. So check out Maura's super helpful how-tos, and feel free to consult with either of us about what to wear for your next professional family photography session!
SELECTING AND LEVERAGING COLOR IN YOUR FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY
By Maura Gaughan of the Wandering Parisian
Family photography brings out the fun, joy, and loving bond you and your family share. Creating that desired family photography requires family members to wear clothes that are not only flattering but bring out their personality. Long gone are the days every family member is wearing a white button-down shirt and jeans posing on the beach or in a woodsy backdrop.
When looking for tips on, ‘what to wear for family photos’ Google provides several websites that give a smattering of helpful lists of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’. These lists are a great guide for telling you what makes good family photography, but not necessarily how to make it happen.
Common recommendations for family photography include creating a color theme that begins with what ‘mom’ will be wearing. This is great advice. However, what if mom doesn’t know what colors she should be wearing? What are the flattering colors that work for her and for the rest of the family? How do we figure out a color theme that works for everyone? Here are a few tips for how to: choose colors that consider what is good for mom to wear, the backdrop, and all members in your family photography session.
1) Color for “Mom”: Warm and Cool Tones
Most people know what colors look good on them but may not know if the colors are cool or warm tones. Cool colors are purples, blues, greens, white, while warm colors are tans, yellows, pinks, and off-white. Some people are ‘neutral’, as both cool and warm colors look equally good on them.
If you aren’t sure whether you are a warm, neutral or cool toned person, there are a couple of ways to find out. You can look at the color of the veins and skin on the inside of your wrist. If your veins are blue-green and your skin is neither a pink/red or yellow/gold/ peach you are a neutral color. A wrist that shows veins with purple or a bluish tint and the skin has a pink, red, or blueish tinge, have cool undertones. Those with warm undertones will have veins that are olive green or green in color and the skin gives off a yellow, gold, or peach tinge. If this seems unclear, try the T-shirt test. The t-shirt test will give you the option of trying on both a white t-shirt, and an off-white t-shirt to determine whether your cool or warm. The objective is to see if white or off-white brings out a vibrant glow to your skin and doesn’t wash you out. As you would expect, those that fall into the neutral category look good in both white and off white alike. Based on this, one parent (i.e. mom) can think about colors that work for them to get the process started.
2) Backdrop/Background
Now that you’ve decided whether you are cool, warm, or neutral it is time to consider the color of the background for your family photography shoot. Is the backdrop the warm golden colors of fall leaves, or cool tones of ocean water and sky blues on a beach? If the background colors are warm, you may want to wear cool colors, like blues or greens. If the background is predominately cool colors, wear warmer tones. For example, if your photo shoot is in a tall wheat field, you don’t want to wear a warm yellow color as you’ll simply blend into the landscape. A white dress on mom, with pops of white on other family members will look perfectly balanced.
If the family photography shoot has a warm backdrop and mom looks good in warm tones, wear a warm tone on top and a cool color on the bottom. It’s important to have the correct tones reflecting against the face, so the face looks vibrant. For example, if the family photography shoot is against a stone wall with cool earthy brown tones, mom can wear a yellow color on top and blue jeans on the bottom.
3) Coordinate Color with All Family Members
We’ve determined what colors look good on mom, the colors in the background, now it’s time to consider who else will be in the family photography and how to coordinate what colors they will be wearing. The goal is to have the right balance of color, textures, and design. Here is how to achieve that:
a) Create a palette of up to three colors, these colors should be complimentary and be the opposite tone of the background as stated above. Since we are starting with mom’s color choice, this is a good jumping off point.
b) Limit the amount of patterns to half the number of people that are in the family photography session. For instance, a family of four should limit to two people wearing plaids, polka dots, stripes. Otherwise, the patterns become overwhelming and distracting. Patterns should remain small (no large patterned Hawaiian shirts for dad). Clothes with texture can create depth and be less distracting.
c) It’s okay to pick up a little bit of the same color that mom has on without coming across as too “matchy”. For example, if mom is wearing a yellow blouse, the daughter can wear a yellow scarf, or yellow polka dot tights. Go for cohesive and balanced, not “matchy”.
d) When pictures include grandparents, it’s important to be sensitive to what looks good on them. Brighter colors on older people show up in portraits much better than lighter, more muted colors. As people get older their hair typically gets greyer/whiter (lighter). Skin also loses some of the color and vibrancy.
e) Coral is the universal color. Coral is considered a neutral color, it’s both a warm and cold. Whether you have lighter skin, darker skin, lighter hair, or darker hair, everyone looks good in coral. Coral provides a lively glow that makes faces look healthy and vibrant. If this isn’t your favorite color, you can wear a pattern that has this color in it so it’s not the dominant color, yet still provides that vibrance that brings out the healthy glow in your skin.
f) Always put the clothes together before your family photography session to ensure the colors go well together, and there are not too many patterns.
Once you pull some outfits together based on these how to’s, get your professional family photographer involved. Your family photographer is excited to give you tips and feedback to create family portraits that brings out the fun, joyful and loving essence of your family.
About Maura Gaughan
Maura Gaughan is the founder and lead stylist at Wandering Parisian, a personal wardrobe styling firm in Washington DC. Maura works with clients to achieve their professional and personal styling goals. Maura specifically works with men and women who are dating or getting back into dating and need a wardrobe refresh. Her service is called, Dating with Style.
She is a believer in educating clients on how to create wardrobes that draw out the best version of themselves. In keeping with that belief, Maura holds workshops, writes a style blog, and creates inspiring content on the Wandering Parisian Instagram page, @thewanderingparisian. Maura can be reached at wanderingparisian@gmail.com.
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