When a CLIENT BOOKS their photo shoot with me, they are EXCITED about the day, they usually don't think of all the questions they want to ask me. They are expressing their thoughts around locations and how they want themselves to be portrayed in the image. "I want my photo to look like Tom Cruise standing in a forest" or "I want to look like a super model". However, after the excitement has settle on their fantasies, the very next question usually is…
"What color of clothes should I/we wear for our photo session?"
This can be a tricky question because we really have to understand a lot about the person, their personality and what colors they feel they LOOK GREAT in. I totally rely on the client to decide these colors, but I give them the following guidance, allowing them to choose their favorite colors that they feel GREAT in. What I totally do not want is to pick a color they don't like, take the photos and then I get some bad review. So wear what you like, wear what makes you feel good and comfortable. The images will turn out great if you’re happy and comfortable…
My Guidance
First, let’s start with what not to wear. NO, repetitive patterns, such as dots, stripes, lines, or checks. Especially NO black (or darker color) and white (or lighter color) stripes, PERIOD. That is both vertical or horizontal stripes. Just stay away from these types of repetitive patterns... There are a few reasons based on digital imagery. MORIE.. The death of a photo.. These repetitive patterns cause digital moire, a wavy effect within a photo. This effect cannot be 100% corrected in post processing. It will destroy an image.
So now with that said….
I think a good approach is to focus on what season we are in to determine the colors. Each season has a different sense of feeling; fresh and clean, warm and bright, harvest and change, cold and frosty.
Spring - Fresh and Clean
I think of Spring as Easter tones, soft light pastels and new flowers that are blooming. This makes me feel of a fresh soft colors like light pink, baby blue, light yellow, light green, lavender, light gray, cream colors.
Summer - Warm and Bright
Summer is warm and bright with bold bright hard colors of yellow, dark blue, bright pink, orange and red.
Fall - Harvest and Change
Nature and leaves changing makes me think of more neutral colors that reflect the great outdoors. I lean more towards browns, khaki, brown orange, dark/forest green, light gray and cream, dark purple.
Winter - Cold and Frosty
Wrapped up in a blanket in front of fire or outside in the snow are the colors I think of during this time. Which are black, dark gray, dark purple, blue, ruby red, cream and white.
Well hopefully this helps you out on deciding the colors you would like to see yourself in within your photos. I am pretty sure the images will turn out great and that you will want to book with me many times in the future..
See you behind the lens...
