Clothing Suggestions for your portraits Clothing can make or break your portraits. They can make them a masterpiece or reduce them to almost a page from a three-year-old’s coloring book. Color harmony aside, a little coordination goes a long way to enhance your portrait from a photo that looks like we got four or five people off the street to “take some pictures”, to planned excellence. Here’s how we start. Keep it simple. Loud flowery prints usually look great on Sunday morning or at the beach, but in a family portrait, they are distracting and steal the view. Likewise, mixing prints, plaids and checks between subjects detracts from the “look” of your portraits. Solid colors make a portrait look planned and coordinated. Long sleeves are great, short sleeves are OK but sleeveless does make you photograph heavier and is not recommended. Take that one step further and limiting the group to three colors takes your portrait to the next level. How does the three color thing work? Pretty easily is the quick answer. If you choose to wear jeans for the group, blue is one of your colors. If, then Dad wears a light blue button down and Mom a navy sweater, you have all dressed in one color. Shades within the color are acceptable and even encouraged to create a little individualism within a group portrait. In our example above, you still have two other colors from which to choose. So, Junior can wear that favorite green shirt and your daughter can dress in black and you have successfully met the three color suggestion. What about style? Most people in our times do not choose formal portraits. Most of us want to be comfortable and thus choose a more relaxed look for our family portraits. We can also create the look and style of your portrait with the location and time of day. Think for a moment about where you will proudly hang the finished 30” or 40” portrait print. Is the area a formal setting or a place where your family likes to relax. Is it a private area in your home, such as a bedroom or powder area? This will also help you decide on the style of clothing you choose to help carry the theme of your portrait. So, the long and short of this should be: 1) think about how you want your portrait to look and 2) keep your clothing simple enough to allow the viewer (including you) to concentrate on the people in the portrait and not the clothing. This way, you’ll be able to proudly hang your portraits and enjoy them for years to come. | 
