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Styling Guide- DO's and DON'Ts
Need some help with your outfit choices or color coordination? Read through my styling guide! I hope this helps you!
DO: Plan ahead. Don't leave it to an hour before your session to decide what to dress you and your family in. You'll likely get something rushed, needing to be laundered, or just uncoordinated.
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DON'T: Agonize for weeks or go out and spend a fortune on new outfits for everyone. More often than not, you have everything you need in your closet already. You just need to pull it all together, and maybe add a few finishing touches.
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DO: COORDINATE. Have you ever noticed what you love about a beautifully styled house or work of art? Take notice, it is usually because the colors and tones work together in perfect harmony. When thinking of your families outfits look for tones, textures and colors that flow and compliment each other. Paint color palettes can be an amazing resource when planning your outfit color choices. I'll include a few photos at the end that includes my favorite color palettes for you.
DON'T: MATCH. Matching outfits is very dated, and so boring, no one had their own style or personality with that approach. Remember the family portraits from the 90s with everyone in blue jeans and white dress shirts? yeah... Now I love matching siblings as much as the next mom, but a better way to go is to have siblings coordinate rather than directly matching them.Â
DO: THINK ABOUT YOUR LOCATION AND SEASON. Pay attention to the colors of the environment at the time of your session. For example; I adore pastels in the spring and summer, but they just dont work the same in the fall.Â
DON'T: DRESS UNCOMFORTABLY. It doesn't matter how cute an outfit is, if it is uncomfortable it will show in pictures. This goes with kids, too! You want to move and interact with each other for your session. Don't wear something that's too tight, stiff, or hard to move in. Long story short, wear something that makes you feel stunning and relaxed at the same time.
DO: USE NEUTRAL, MUTED COLORS. Choosing pleasing soft tones make you the focal point of the session and not your clothing. Also, bright colors project(especially red, yellow and orange) and can make you look larger. Lastly, neon and bright colors cast colors onto your skin giving an unnatural tone to your skin.Â
DON'T: WEAR GRAPHICS OR LOGOS OR BOLD PATTERNS. Patterns are great in moderation. One person wearing patterns (this includes plaid) is perfectly ok, great actually! But, multiple people wearing different patterns is distracting. My advice is its easier to find one center stage outfit (like mom or daughters beautiful floral dress) and coordinate around that. Logos and graphics however are always a no no, so please leave the cartoon character outfits at home.Â
DO: ADD TEXTURE AND MOVEMENT. Adding some texture and layers is beautiful and really creates interest in your photos. I absolutely love multiple textures and layers, especially when using softer more muted tones. When I say textures one of the ways to achieve this is with different clothing details, scarves, wraps, etc. These all add a deeper dimension to the image. Movement can be achived with layers and fabric as well. An image really comes alive when you can see the movement of a little girls skirt as she twirls, or a flowing wrap as a mama runs along side her toddlers.
Here is my favorite color palette to go by for styling your family!
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I hope this helped you style your family perfectly!!
Styling Guide: Press
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