What to Wear for a Photo Shoot?

This is a question that I get often, therefore I have decedent to put this together so that I can help more of my clients to look absolutely beautiful in their Photos.

Outfits can make or break a photo shoot. No matter how beautiful your photos are, if the outfits aren’t right, it can affect the look and feel of the photographs.

Before each photo shoot, I send my client an idea of what I think will look good together. I then ask them to send me some of their outfit ideas so we can discuss their choices. The client plays the most important role in the photo shoot, and so while I offer advice on what to wear, I also like to tailor their photo shoot to match their preferences and personalities.

Here are some factors that help my client and I come to a decision on the right outfits for a successful photo shoot. Naturally, the outfits need to be right for the client. But they also need to be right for me as the photographer.

Type of photoshoot

• Lifestyle (usually more informal)
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• Portrait (usually more formal)
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• Corporate
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• Family (immediate family, perhaps with a couple of grandparents added)
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• Children (just the kids, sometimes with cousins included)
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• Three generations (e.g. grandmother, mother, daughter)
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• Engagement, love shoot, or couple shoot
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• Activity-based (sports, event, themed)
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Theme or no theme

When it comes to themes, the possibilities are limitless. But I always advise my clients to narrow it down to a handful of choices and keep things simple within their chosen theme. For me, a theme just provides context. The focus is still on the client looking good in their photographs, looking natural in the context, and loving the way they look in them.

Keeping it simple is best.

Location of the shoot

Rather than talk about the differences between studio and outdoor locations. I want to focus on what’s important when choosing outdoor locations to fit a client’s outfits and vice versa.

If they’ve put a lot of work into choosing outfits (and perhaps props), a location that provides a simple but effective background will work best. So having outfits that suit the location is crucial.

If you’re shooting in a busy location (e.g. city, market, funfair) where you can’t avoid being surrounded by people, I’d suggest plain, non-printed outfits. This will help you isolate your clients so they’re still the focus amidst the busy setting. When I shoot in these locations, I sometimes blur the background or drag the shutter to blur everything but the client.

If the location is a park where you can find a quiet spot and use trees, foliage, or sky as the background, then they can wear florals and busy patterns. I isolate them by blurring the background when shooting so I get creamy bokeh in a very shallow depth of field.

Here are some other locations you could choose:

• a brick wall (or any textured surface) large enough to be the background
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• large murals
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• Abandoned Buildings
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• a row of trees (pillars) that would work for the background.
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While I try to minimize stark contrast within the outfits themselves, I try to maximize the contrast between the outfits and the location. In other words, plain outfits in busy locations and busy outfits in plain locations.

Time of the year

This is pretty self-explanatory; except I want to add one word: options. I encourage my clients to have a change of outfits in case they want a different look. Some take up the offer, while others don’t.

In Autumn and winter, I encourage my clients to dress in layers. If the sun comes out, they can take a layer off. We can add a couple of layers for a cozy look in a café, complete with hot chocolate topped with marshmallows.

And in summer the clients have free range because then the weather is nice and warm out.

General outfit advice

Bearing all of this in mind, here’s my general advice regarding outfits.

Classic: Timeless style, chinos, khakis, beige and blues, natural hues, pastels, shirts, and simple dresses.

Florals and prints: Just florals, or an eclectic mix of prints and patterns. Pairing them with stripes can also work sometimes.

Colours: Keep them complementary as opposed to completely matching (e.g. all white shirts and blue jeans). Avoid stark contrasts such as green and orange/red together, and yellows and purples juxtaposed. Complementary colours are more like warm tones (yellows, oranges, pinks, warm red and even warm greens) together and cool tones (blues, purples, greens) together. But an explosion of bright colours could also work, although I’d shoot it on a plain background or setting.

Consistency: Avoid extreme differences (e.g. one person is wearing a casual knitted chunky sweater and the other is wearing a nice silky dress). It can be quite jarring. Black and white is another combination that’s too stark a contrast unless it’s done intentionally.

Dark, light, and bright: Darks for adults, and lights or brights for small children. Do it the other way and the adults will dominate the scene and draw the viewer’s attention, while the smaller people will disappear.

We all have our own personal preferences and styles. These are mine, but if you have other ideas for your photo shoots that’s okay.