You’re excited because you just booked your photo session, but now you are stumped on what to wear!

Its probably one of the first questions you ask yourself once you book your session. Selecting outfits for yourself and your family may be a little daunting at first but these 7 tips should help guide you through the process. Feel free to take whatever information is most helpful and apply it to meet your own look/style.

1. Ladies, select your outfit first!

Many mom’s will get excited about selecting the most adorable outfits for their children first. This is great! But, we want you to feel comfortable in what you’re wearing, especially if this is for a maternity, or newborn session as pregnant and postpartum mommies are working around a beautiful yet shifting figure. Regardless of where you are at in your stage of motherhood, I want you to look and feel beautiful at your photoshoot! So let’s do you first. If you like dresses, maxi dresses are great for all sessions. They flow in the wind and the look delicate in photos. If you’re not into dresses, pants/jeans paired with a top and a sweater works perfectly as well!

2. Variety is Key

  • Add Texture: Clothing items with texture, like lace, denim, chunky sweater or vest are a great way to add variety to your outfits.
  • Coordinate VS. Match: We want your outfits to flow well together and coordinate, not match. For example, denim looks great in photos, but everyone in the same colored denim isn’t as eye catching. So, instead of matching, you could do khaki pants, a skirt, a dress, & jeans for your family. If 1 person is wearing a certain colored chino’s, and you want another person to wear chinos too, choose a slightly different shade and you are on your way to some awesome coordinating outfits!
  • Add just 1 Pattern: Patterns are great a nice pattern can pull everyone’s outfits together, but try to stick with just 1 pattern (or 2 patterns for 2 different people in a larger family, like floral & stripes).

3. Select your color palette

The colors that you select for your outfits have the ability to change the look and feel of your images. For light/airy photos select light/muted colors. For moodier images, select darker colors. For newborn sessions, colors like ivory, blush pink, blues, sea foam green, & taupe work really well. If you have a dark home I recommend wearing light colors especially if you want lighter images. If your home is naturally dark your photos will likely be more on the moodier side so keep this in mind.

4. Pinterest is your new friend!

Check out these amazing Pinterest boards for outfit ideas and to also get a better idea of what might work well for your photoshoot.

5. Its all in the details

Finding the perfect outfit for the entire family is important. However, don’t forget about the smaller details! The last thing you will want to worry about at the shoot is falling bra straps, a see-through dress, outfits that don’t stay put, hair that is non-stop flying in your face (check the weather report before your session), or baby’s shoes that keep falling off. Try to pay attention to these small details so that you can focus on sharing moments with your family at your photoshoot.

6. Where to shop!

Mom: Lovestitch, Fillyboo, LoveShackFancy, Morning Lavender, Amazon, Free People, Forever 21, Anthropologie, H&M, Nordstrom

Dad: Zara, Nordstrom, J. Crew/J. Crew Factory, H&M, Banana Republic

Baby & Kids: Zara (although they might not have newborn sizes that fit your baby) Baby Gap, Nordstrom, Janie & Jack, a new one I found is ponponia.com (they have the most adorable, simple & cute outfits!).

7. Client Closet/Wardrobe

Some photographers have a closet of clothes for clients to access, so as your photographer if this is something that they do for clients. I have a few pieces for mothers and babies to wear so please indicate if you’d like access to the online gallery of images for you to browse the closet. For newborn sessions, I will typically bring wraps, a couple of headbands, and a plain white organic long-sleeve onesie for baby in case that is something you might want to use.

All clients that book with me will receive complimentary styling/advice on the outfits you have in mind. I love shopping, and putting together outfits so this is actually quite fun for me! Many clients will actually text me a variety of outfits that they want to wear to get my input on whether everyone’s outfits mesh well together. I can be as hands on as you’d like so let me know how I can assist.

#whattowear #sanfranciscophotographer #sanfranciscofamilyphotographer #bayareaphotographer