Tips for a Successful Family Portrait Session
At Inspirations in Photography, we carefully plan your session so your images will be as unique as your family. We’ve put together some tips to ensure the success of your session.
Clothing Suggestions
Choose a color scheme. For example, gray, black, and white- then add in an accent color (red, green, turquoise, yellow…). Then you can go through everyone’s closets and put together a wardrobe. Everyone does not need to wear the accent color. You can mix patterns, stripes, solids, but the overall effect should be simple and calm, with a few pops of color. You shouldn’t have to do a whole lot of shopping, except maybe for a few unique accent pieces. Small accent pieces, layers, and textures add character and interest to your portrait. Examples of these are belts, hats, jewelry, bows, and scarves.
OR…Start with an inspiration piece and go from there. Find an article of clothing or accent piece (a scarf, or your favorite dress) that has colors that inspire you. Choose several predominant colors in your inspiration piece and base your family’s wardrobe selections on that. I would still keep the overall effect neutral, but add pops of color, texture and layers.
Keep in mind that your shoes and socks will show up in many of the images, so keep them clean, coordinated, and neutral (unless they are an accent piece). Also, make sure your clothes are wrinkle-free, and you and your youngsters are free of temporary tattoos, chipped nail polish, and breakfast!
When you are choosing your wardrobe, keep in mind the location of your session and what you plan to do with the finished prints. It’s a lot like decorating- you want your finished prints to fit the environment. If you are planning a large canvas in your living room, then you want your portrait to compliment that room.
Locations
We are very blessed to live in an area that truly has a setting for everyone. If you want a more formal portrait, we can plan your session indoors at our studio. If you like an urban setting, we have an awesome rooftop at our studio with panoramic views of Pikes Peak, as well as many downtown settings. And, of course, there are countless outdoor locations. If you describe your style to us, and where you plan to hang your print, we can customize your portrait session to your needs. When you come in for your complimentary consultation, we’ll go through our location galleries and choose the perfect one for you.
The best time to plan your outdoor session is early morning or early evening to get the proper light, but we are experienced in finding the right lighting for the time of day you prefer.
The best Family Portrait Sessions are when everyone is having fun. Keep the atmosphere light and casual. It makes ALL the difference in your images! We can photoshop out the grass stains! If we have to choose, we would prefer a little crazy hair and grass stains over images where everyone looks stiff and forced.
We would LOVE to work with you to create your family masterpiece- an image you will enjoy looking at for years to come.
