Lifestyle Photographer| Clovis|What to wear to spring family photos
Family spring wardrobe options
With the spring season approaching, a lot of families are ready to book their spring photos. They like to take advantage of the weather getting warmer, the flowers blooming and the sceneries are just magical. There’s always a dilemma that stresses a lot of families out when it comes to spring photos and that is what do you wear. I have put together a small guide on what you can wear that is simple and easy. As the years go by and I gain more experience I’m going to be the one to break your heart. I’ll be 100% transparent when telling you wardrobe does matter when it comes to your photos. It matters so much that it can make or break how good your photos look. I don’t mean to sound so dramatic here, but I can tell you that a wardrobe is what will tie it all together. It can make your photos 100 times better when done right. With that being said it has less to do with fashion and more to do with storytelling. Keep reading I’ll explain below.
Decide what mood/purpose you want your photos to convey
I think before you start shopping online, you need to decide what mood or purpose you want your photos to convey. By this I mean, are you planning on framing this in your living room or are these going to be switched depending on the seasons? Are they gonna be gifted to family members or are they just for fun? All of this has to be taken into consideration once electing wardrobe.. why well you’re telling a story right with what you wear. I always recommend clients who want to frame their photos in the living room for a long period to select a more timeless wardrobe. Regardless of the season, they decide to shoot their photos. If you like to occasionally rotate your pictures, framed or not, you can have a little more wiggle room with a wardrobe here. Also, maybe you’re trying to tell a story of your new addition to the family so wardrobe will help make this more clear. Most families I work with express that they want their family to look like a unit so sometimes they think this means they all have to wear matching clothes to showcase this. I can see why the idea of everyone wearing matching outfits will seem tempting and nostalgic, but in reality, speaking from a creative standpoint, it doesn’t look the best. Instead, if you’re trying to portray unity as a family, you can choose a color and have different family members wear different shades of that color. For example, if your color is green, you can wear different shades of green like dark green, forest green, nude green, and think earthy colors. Don’t have everyone in a green top you can use the color for different parts of the wardrobe for everyone. An example would be maybe your son wears dark green pants and your daughter just has a forest, green bow. Little splashes of that unity color will tie it all together.
What location will the photos take place?
This is probably one of the most important things to consider. Location is a big factor that helps. Tell the story of your family photos. when you’re planning for your photoshoot you don’t just want to select a beautiful location you want to consider your family's needs, and how far the walk is to the location, there’s just so many factors, wardrobe being the main one. You wanna consider the weather when planning your wardrobe in an outdoor location, but you also want to consider your surroundings. That means what colors will look best not just on you but with your backdrop. Something to avoid would be blending into the background. This can happen with certain shades of clothing and end up looking flat in photos. Often I recommend using neutral colors that can honestly look well for everyone, the only downside to this is you don’t want to select a neutral shade that is very similar to where your photos will be. An example of this would be different shades of green when you’re surrounded by a forest of green trees. In this situation, you would be more likely to disappear or Blend in. A better approach to this would be to look at earth colors or even neutrals. think what is a color that can complement the green forest that I’m surrounded by. From there you can select different shades of the color if you want to represent unity in your family photos.
Are you dressing for comfort?
The amount of times comfort is overlooked when it comes to selecting a wardrobe is crazy. For me, comfort is super important when helping select a wardrobe for a family. The thing everyone needs to realize is that you can look good and feel comfortable in what you’re wearing. You don’t have to sacrifice comfort for looks. Let me explain why this is super important. If you have ever been in a situation where you’re wearing something that just doesn’t feel comfortable it kind of just ruins the moment for you and can ruin the day. With this thought in mind, imagine you're in some things super uncomfortable during your photo session. The crazy thing about photos is they always have a memory attached to them. You don’t want to look back at your gorgeous photos and remember how uncomfortable you were with what you were wearing. Having an uncomfortable wardrobe can ruin your experience. Instead of enjoying it and being present, it could even be a nightmare. Over the years I realize that this is the main reason people stay away and don’t do professional photos. often it’s the pressure of getting it all right and they end up thinking that it’s better to feel uncomfortable in what they’re wearing because they think they look good. Instead, think about how much movement you can do with what you’re wearing. I find that this alone makes the wardrobe more comfortable. Also, dress appropriately for the weather. Often I see us, woman especially wearing dresses alone in super cold weather and it’s so obvious they are uncomfortable. The photos show it trust me. If you want to wear a dress, you still can just think of layers. Add as many as you need to make yourself feel comfortable there’s a way to play around with clothes especially, during photo sessions to make them more flattering or you don’t have to sacrifice your comfort.
Allowing for personal touches
What I mean by allowing for personal touches is don’t be afraid to let your family be itself. Your family doesn’t have to look like every other family on Pinterest. Your family should have a sense of true identity in your photos. The cool thing about clothes is that it showcases identity. I find this to be helpful when planning wardrobes for older kids. Most of the issues some families share with me when it comes to teenagers and their wardrobe is they feel like their mom is playing dress up with them. Which could make the experience feel like a dread to them. therefore showcasing it in the photos and causing stress for the entire family on photo day. Give them some freedom to help choose what they get to wear expressing some sense of identity I feel like ends up working best. There’s also an added level of nostalgia to your family photos. I had a family in particular that wore a family heirloom, which was a great-grandmother‘s cardigan that was passed down, and it was so special to have that sense of identity in their photos, and that nostalgia that told the story of their family legacy.
With all of these tips to take under consideration when planning for your family photos. I will now give you some examples of some easy spring family wardrobe ideas.
I like to often start with mom and have her lead in which direction the family plans what to wear.
For spring my mind goes to flowy dresses and picnic attire. These can be super comfortable and flattering. They also allow for a lot of movement which looks great in photos. Another super timeless option. Would be a pair of jeans a belt, and some kind of flowy top. The great thing about both these options is that they allow you to move freely you’re able to carry the kids walk around move around and still look very put together. You can’t let accessories be your personal touch or sense of identity whether it is hats necklaces earrings you can have fun in this area. For shoes think comfortable no high heels no stilettos no crazy over-the-knee boots just comfortable no flip-flops because besides them looking extremely beach attire, they can be unsafe when walking around location.
Girls wardrobe
From here I move to plan the kid’s wardrobe. For girls, it could be very similar to Mom with the flow dresses. For similar reasons, they are super cute, and comfortable and allow for movement. Another option I would suggest would be jumpsuits. There are so many different kinds of jumpsuits that are super cute. They allow your little girl to be able to move around and still look very put together for the photos. Both of these options can work perfectly well for older girls, too, and similar to Mom, allowing them to pick out an accessory if you would like that. It can bring them a sense of control over their wardrobe and make the session more fun for them. For shoes, comfort will always be number one. They have so many cute options online for dress shoes for girls that fit both of these outfit options. I’ll have some photos below.
Boys wardrobe
For boys it is a little simpler I like to wear classic trousers pants and a button-up shirt the color of these both are totally up to you. For shoes, you can wear some dress-up shoes or some cool boots. Super easy, another option that is so timeless for boys would be some jeans, a white T-shirt and a denim jacket. If you want to skip the jacket, you can just make it a button-up white shirt. Ask for the shoes some dress shoes or cool boots would look great with this as well. I’ll have some photos for examples below as well. You can give boys the option of accessories, like belts, or even let them help pick out the shoes they get to wear, and give them their identity with their outfit.
Dads wardrobe
For Dad, it will look a lot like the younger boys' outfits. Some classic trousers and button-up shirts are perfect for spring denim is always super timeless and looks amazing in photos. Some denim jeans, a white T-shirt, and a denim jacket can look casual so if you want to dress it up more you can skip out on the denim jacket and substitute the white T-shirt for a white button-up T-shirt. Also, the shirts don’t always have to be white. I’m just giving in broad example. For shoes, some classic dress shoes or some cool boots will look awesome.
