What To Wear For Your Studio Family Photos

March 29, 2022

by Virginie Jarmon

Clothing and styling are very subjective and personal choices, so I would never want to be too prescriptive, but there are some general guidelines and recommendations that I am happy to offer. Also, remember right from the beginning that this is not something to get stressed about. Your clothing can add a bit of gloss to the results, but it won’t make or break your session. The session is about you and your personality.

Clothing Should Be Comfortable and Make You Feel Confident

First and foremost, the most crucial consideration is that every family member should dress to make them feel confident and comfortable. This will help achieve relaxed and natural photos that reflect true personalities. Bearing in mind that contemporary family studio photography often involves sitting (and sometimes lying) on the floor, no clothing items should unduly restrict movement.

Many photography studios allow outfit changes during the shoot, so don’t necessarily feel you have to stick to one look. I tend to start with bright, high-essential photography and move on to low-key photography: so starting with casual clothes and then moving toward more innovative outfits is one possibility.

Think About A Theme, Not Necessarily Matching Outfits

The biggest question that I receive from clients concerns family or generation groupings. Our advice is that some degree of color coordination is excellent, but that families should not worry about matching their outfits. Generally, keeping the number of colors between 1 and 3 works fabulously well. In the first example, the family has opted for types of denim and cream tops; and this looks very striking indeed.

Start With Your Favourite Outfits

If, as a family, you are at a loss where to start, it might be worth laying down each family member’s favorite outfit on the bed – and viewing whether the colors broadly go together. Intuition is fine – you shouldn’t worry about complex rules. Perhaps only one or two outfits need attention to achieve a good result. It might also be worth thinking about your home décor. What color range might best suit your home if you hung wall portraits from your studio session?

Communication

Suppose you decide on a color scheme (even if it is a broad theme). It is essential to communicate this to the rest of the group, especially if you are planning a generations shoot that involves more than one family. You would be surprised that this often gets overlooked!

Solid Colours vs. Patterns

Try to stick to solid colors. The running theme of any advice I give on clothing is that attention should be drawn to faces and personalities when the final photographs are viewed. Ideally, clothing items should not be competing for our attention in a group photograph. So it’s not the end of the world if a family member has stripes, patterns, logos, or illustrations, but it is probably sensible to stand back and perform a sanity check! In the same vein, jewelry is excellent (I always encourage accessories that help reflect personalities), but I don’t want it dominating the imagery.