Portraits and clothing

[Wes]

Any advice that you all could offer when it comes to a customer asking advice on what to wear for family portraits? Do you try to get them all to wear the same color clothes? I do all my shooting outdoors and have figured out that white doesn't seem to work real well on a sunny day (blown highlights).

Overall, I guess I'm just interested in what kinds of things to keep in mind when consulting with a customer with regards to what they should wear.

Thanks!

[photochic]

It good to have each family member with the same tone, not necessarily the same color. Try to stay away from stripes, plaid, words and logos on clothing. These things can be a distraction and take away from the picture. White does work but you have to know how to meter it right so that its not blown out.

[Duffy Pratt]

The nice thing about whites is that it gives you a reliable neutral tone in the picture, and one which is also typically the highlight (white point). Anything that has some color contrast to skin tones (and aviods the stripe, plaid, etc... as noted above) should be OK.

Duffy

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Are you talking Color, GrayScale, Monotone, Sepia? They All have their own quirks.

[Wes]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Are you talking Color, GrayScale, Monotone, Sepia? They All have their own quirks.

Primarily, color. Sepia and/or B&W occasionally.

[markfh]

I find black a difficult color to work with in outdoor photography especially if someone else is wearing white. Other than that what the others said.

[HotHolly]

We provide an attire suggestion sheet. It tells them about avoiding patterns, logos, and other things that tend to interfere with the over all cohesion of a portrait. Plus tips to help them look good - hair, make up, nails, fit, etc.

Take a peek at a color wheel for suggestions on what they should wear. You can do monochrome, but that tend to have a cult feel. White shirts on everyone can also be dull (and harder to manage - they blow out eaiser).

We give general suggestions for casual clothing - like everyone wears jeans and then choose complimentary color shirts, colored shirts that are similar hue (monochrome), or shirts that are more of a color theme - like americana: red white and blue.

Suggest that they each bring 1 alternate shirt, just incase someone's choices are way off or dont mesh right...

:o)

[BigBlueDodge]

If you are working outside, then have them avoid wearing any kind of greens. Also, if it is sunny, pay attention to the colors of their shirts. Brith Reds, oranges, yellows will all cast tints on their faces if it is bright enough.

[SaundraU]

Originally Posted by HotHolly

We provide an attire suggestion sheet. It tells them about avoiding patterns, logos, and other things that tend to interfere with the over all cohesion of a portrait. Plus tips to help them look good - hair, make up, nails, fit, etc.

Take a peek at a color wheel for suggestions on what they should wear. You can do monochrome, but that tend to have a cult feel. White shirts on everyone can also be dull (and harder to manage - they blow out eaiser).

We give general suggestions for casual clothing - like everyone wears jeans and then choose complimentary color shirts, colored shirts that are similar hue (monochrome), or shirts that are more of a color theme - like americana: red white and blue.

Suggest that they each bring 1 alternate shirt, just incase someone's choices are way off or dont mesh right...

:o)

Any chance of getting a copy of the sheet?

[johnastovall]

Simple solution, just do them all nude.

[Wes]

ROFL!!

Wait... there are some that I've shot that.... well, I think it's probably just best that they left their clothes on.

Holly - I'm going to second Saundra's request. Any chance you could post your "attire suggestion" sheet?

[suzyjazz]

A family showed up for their portrait dressed in white sweaters and blue jeans. It worked great, but that was indoors, and they were all blondes. No dark hair so we didn't have a huge range of contrast. I really liked how it looked in that case. But you don't always know what people look like until they arrive so it might be best avoided.