So you have booked your family photo session.  Good for you.  Now you have to decide what you and everyone else in your family is going to wear.  Some of you might be inserting some choice words at the idea of tackling this.  Have no fear.  I have a few tips that will make your life much easier.

1) Start with your toughest customer.  Who is the hardest to shop for in your family?  If they already have an outfit that will work use that as your inspiration.

2) Pick clothes based on the location/time.  If you are doing an outdoor photo shoot avoid going to dressy.  It usually does not blend well with a park type setting.  Also do not forget the time of year.  It is hard to get a kid to smile in a sleeveless dress in 50 degree weather.  Lastly, do not forget about time of day.  If you have a morning shoot the light will be lovely, but there will be dew on the ground.  Wearing a white skirt is probably not the best idea, unless you are go with the flow and understand you will be visibly dirty after sitting on wet grass.

3) Choose a neutral base color pallet with pops of color.  I usually tell people to pick one neutral color such as navy blue, brown, white or grey.  I try to avoid black (more on that in a minute).  For example, if you have a beach summer shoot go for a white pallet with pops of coral or turquoise.  If it is a fall photo shoot try for navy blue with pops of orange or green.  One of my favorites is a brown/cream base with pops of maroon for fall.  You can certainly use more then one pop of color.  If you go back to the navy blue base you could do pops of green/pink. The key to making this idea look natural is not everyone should be wearing the pop of color.  Another tip to making it look natural is to mix up the types of clothing everyone is wearing.  So if you have a dad and son both wearing white dress shirts put one in a brown corduroy jacket or a vest to help mix things up a bit.  Everyone wearing a camo jumpsuit is not coordinated, it is crazy!  So do not worry about everyone matching perfectly and just keep the outfits in the color scheme.

4) Cut, fabric, and layering will slim you, not the color black.  Yes if you take a picture in a white t shirt and then in a black t shirt you will look slimmer in the black.  However, if you take a great button down white shirt that fits well and has some darting and wear that with a fabulous necklace and structured jacket, you are going to look better/slimmer then you ever would in the t shirt.  So pay attention to the cut and quality of fabrics.  If you have to pull at an item after putting it on to look nice, do not wear it for pictures!  It will more then likely bunch up and you will be unhappy with the extra attention drawn to that area.  If you do use a black base color be careful with the neckline.  Crewnecks and turtlenecks can produce a "floating head look."  Opt for scoop or v-necks instead and try and work in the pop of color with a scarf or necklace.

5) Be careful with loud patterns and stripes.  As a general rule patterns and stripes can bunch up in odd ways and not photograph as well as solid colors.  So if you are going to wear something with a pattern, snap a quick picture of yourself both standing and sitting to see if this pattern will work.

6) Get inspiration elsewhere.  Use resources like Pinterest or photography websites for examples you like of coordinated families.  I have included several images of family outfits below.