So, you have booked your photoshoot and now you are wondering what do I wear? This is the most frequently asked question! Here I can give you some tips to help you prepare so you can look and feel your best! The best piece of advice I can give you is to wear something that you feel great in! You want to be comfortable but also look smart and feel your best! After all these pictures will grace your walls for years to come. Clothing is huge factor in preparing for your shoot and will make a huge difference to how the pictures will turn out.
Firstly, COLOUR choice! This is very important for any type of photoshoot, whether it is a family session, sibling, newborn or older baby. I always advise my clients to wear something neural and to avoid bold bright colours. Bold colours are very distracting from the face. By wearing something neutral it will not detract from what you are trying to capture, which is of course your beautiful baby or family! If you follow my work you will know that my ‘look’ is fresh and airy. So I always advise white, cream, beige/ oaty colours. Keep it neutral, avoid stripes, patterns and logos! These are very distracting and will clash if you are photographed with more than one person.
TYPE OF CLOTHING: This will depend on what type of shoot you are having. For maternity, long sleeved body suits in a light colour are beautiful to showcase your bump. Additionally long floaty dresses that will drape over your bump is also stunning. For a casual look, denim unbuttoned jeans paired with a loose white over sized shirt or white bra will look gorgeous!
For newborn shoots I provide beautiful delicate outfits for your baby. I have a lovely range of options from long sleeved little rompers, beautiful baby friendly wraps and little shorties.
For Mummy and baby portraits long sleeved blouses, maxi dresses work well, or keep it simple with denim jeans paired with a neutral lace top or shirt. For Daddy and baby a pair of simple denim jeans and a neutral t-shirt or smart shirt looks perfect!
It all depends on what you feel comfortable with, you should feel like ‘you’ and your clothing should reflect your personality.
FAMILY PHOTOSHOOTS: This is very important. When choosing outfits for a family photoshoot you all ideally want to co-ordinate and compliment each other. Bold bright colours that will clash wont make for a beautiful portrait. Make sure that outfits are all on the same colour scheme. Sounds simple, but it is easy to by pass if you don’t plan in advance. If you all want to keep it light, mix up the colour palette between you all but stick within the same colour theme ,otherwise it can end up looking a bit messy! Long sleeved options are best, trousers opposed to shorts or bare arms as it will detract from the face.
MAKE UP AND HAIR: This is down to preference, you may like to wear very minimal make up or prefer a heavier look. You may want to get ‘dolled up’ and have a make up artist fix your make up before the shoot or go for a more subtle look. For hair, you should pick the hairstyle that you are comfortable with. I personally always wear my hair down so I would feel really uncomfortable putting it up, but you might be different to this. Soft curls or pretty up do’s all look beautiful!
SHOES OR BARE FEET?: If you asked any of my previous clients they will tell you that I will have advised them to go bare footed. One positive for this is that you don’t need to worry about buying shoes too! But more importantly this means that your photographs will be more relaxed and casual. With my newborn shoots we mainly shoot from the waist up. Many new Mums are feeling a bit self conscious after giving birth so I tend to avoid full length portraits (unless of course this is requested). Meaning that your feet wont even be in the picture anyway!
For babies, baby feet are the best!! I love nothing more than seeing those cute little feet!
HOW MANY OUTFITS SHOULD I BRING?: For family shots within a newborn shoot I would suggest just one outfit change. However for older baby or child sessions a variety is great! Two to three outfit changes would be advisable to create variety to your images. I’ve had some Mummy’s bring bag fulls of options to the session and that great! We can choose together and I can guide you.
To conclude, the best advise I can give YOU is to keep it SIMPLE, don’t over complicate it. Stick to the same colour theme for family photoshoots, avoid bright and bold colours because they are distracting. Wear something that fits your personality and style and feel comfortable in! No two people are the same so wear what works best for you.
I hope you have found this useful, please let me know if you have any questions I would love to help. for information about my sessions please use the CONTACT page to drop me an email.
Pippa x