What To Wear...

Getting the right colors and style for your family portrait wardrobe is essential for a beautiful photograph.  I have listed three different style of clothing choices, the first obviously being that no one pre-planned what they would be wearing so the clothing is distracting with so many colors, and the socks with sandals?  Um no.  The middle image is alright but the "matchy-matchy" style of clothing is very outdated.  Your best option is to use no more than three colors for the entire family, make sure that everyone is wearing solids - so no stripes or florals, etc.  And keep your tones in the same color family  There are 3 basic color families; pastels, earth tones and jewel tones.  Pastels work best at the beach where you can find soft colors in the background.  The beach is also the only place that I recommend wearing white.  It's not a very complimentary color and can wash a lot of folks out.  Plus, your eyes go to the lightest portion of the image, so a white shirt or dress can be distracting.  Your best options for the park like settings is either earth or jewel tones.  What is a jewel tone?  It's a bright deep color such as Ruby Red, Garnet Green, Amethyst, etc.  Earth tones would be Burgandy, Navy, Hunter Green, etc.  And BTW, black goes with everything!