by Alex Hinds

Created on: October 08, 2009

As a photographer who shoots family portrait sessions as well as other people photography I'll share my thoughts and tips on this subject along the lines of the advice I usually offer to my subjects. I don't think there are necessarily any "best" colours to wear for a family portrait session, but I do think there are definitely some important rules of thumb and dos and donts to keep in mind when preparing for your family photoshoot.

The first piece of advice I always try and ensure my clients have really taken on board is to co-ordinate their dress and styling. Whatever colours and style they choose I feel it is essential there is strong continuity across all members of the family group to ensure they look like a family unit together. Some people are understandably sometimes a little reluctant to be too artificial or feel "cheesy" dressing up like they are in a GAP ad, but when you show them how much better the images will look, how much better they will look, with some care and attention, you can usually overcome this reluctance! "Hey, we really do look like a GAP ad! That's awesome!"

Now this doesn't mean everyone needs to wear blue denim and a white t-shirt (though that can look great) but just that some pre-shoot planning ensures everyone looks great together and no-one is clashing or wearing a standout bright orange amidst everyone else's muted blues. I shot a large family group of over twenty people recently and by communicating this idea to my main contact ensured everyone turned up in casual clothes that broadly fitted within an agreed set of colours and consequently all looked great together in numerous combinations.

The next thing to consider is the setting for your shoot. In a studio you can work really work with whatever colours you want but shooting on location it is certainly worth considering if some colours may be more effective, and if others could be problematic. For instance I often shoot casual portraits in park settings which means groups are in predominately green surroundings. This will then dictate the colours I feel will work best most of the time; in this example I'll often encourage my clients to wear mid to light blues or greys. This is subjective and I'm looking here at what I can rely on working, you could make a great shot of a family in green in a park but it would be more of a gamble!

As well as considering colours and co-ordination I also try and ensure my clients avoid, where possible, clashes of patterns and stripes, and high contrasts which can be hard for digital cameras in particular to deal with. So as far as possible ask your subjects to wear fairly simple clothing avoiding strong patterns and stripes and favouring simple classic styles that will stand the test of time more gracefully. Any wedding photographer will tell you contrast can be a pain in the proverbial; so ban black and white!

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