How to Coordinate Clothes for a Family Picture

Prepping for your portrait

Family portraits are a great way to provide a pictorial family history for future generations. Planning and organizing a family portrait can be a daunting task because of the number of people who need to be photographed. Coordinating clothes for a family picture can help derail the chaos and will result in a sharp, good-looking family photo.

Instructions

1. Decide if your portrait will be formal or casual. Formal portraits require dressing up. This entails shirts and ties for men and dresses or blouses for ladies. Casual portraits would reflect a dress code of polo or collared type shirts and khaki pants for men and cotton shirts and slacks for ladies.

2. Choose a solid color for everyone to wear. Choosing one solid color and letting everyone choose a shade or hue of that color, or having everyone wear the same color, will present a nice visual effect. Avoid bright colors. Instead, opt for blues or greens. If you have a large group, limit the colors of clothing to no more than two.

3. Keep things simple. Clothing should be simple so the focus is not drawn away from faces. Avoid jewelry that may cause glare.

4. Dress from head to toe. Avoid sleeveless choices that expose lots of bare skin. Be sure everyone is dressed from head to toe so that the photographer may try different poses.

5. Dress children comfortably, but in the same color and style as the rest of the group. Choose fabrics such as cotton that won't itch.

Tips & Warnings

• The goal of the photo is to look like a group, so avoid any articles of clothing that cause a person to stand out.

• Glasses may give off glare. Contacts or frames work best for photos.

• Avoid bold patterns and prints. Regardless of whether you choose casual or formal portraits, bold patterns and prints do not show up well in photographs. They are just too busy.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• AwkwardFamilyPhotos: Family Photos Gone Wrong