How to Dress and NOT to Dress, for your Family Portraits
Although there are exceptions to every rule, here are some suggestions, that you may want to consider.

Things To Do

~ Dress appropriately. Family photos in a natural setting , calls for a more casual look. (High heels, suits and ties may work in an urban setting, like downtown Tucson, but not so much in the middle of the Sonoran desert.)

~ To help give your family portraits a professional look, try to co-ordinate colors. In other words, do not dress as individuals (that is for individual portraits) but as a team. Your photos will come out looking much better.

~ Proper dress allows the face to dominate the portrait. Against a medium or dark background, the colors that photograph best are medium to dark tones of green, brown, rust, wine or blue. Darker shades are more slimming.

~ SHOES: Shoes are rarely visible in photos. In a rural setting, they may be behind bushes, for example. If your scheduled shoot requires foot travel, wear the appropriate footwear.

Things Not To Do

~ Avoid light colors that approximate flesh tones, such as beige, tan, peach, pink and yellow. These colors dominate a portrait and over power the face and make the wearer look pale. White is a great color.

~ Long sleaves are preferrable to short sleeves. Bare arms can show up it ways you might not like. Bare shoulders or "tops" with spaghetti straps often make the subject look heavier and take away from the face.

~ Especially bright colors such as red, orange or pink will ruin a portrait because their intensity overwhelms the face. The color red, does work well, however, for Christmas card photos.

~ Stripes, plaids and bold prints draw the eye away from the face and do not photograph well. Solid colors generally work better.

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