what to wear for fall family photos

It’s that time of year again where all the moms are scouring the aisles of Target trying to figure what to wear for their annual family photos! If you have an upcoming Fall family photo session, take note of these different styles, the colors chosen, and a few tips for styling your crew that I’ll share along the way!

I truly believe that what you wear to your session makes all the difference on the final look of your images. Yes, location matters! So does having a knowledgeable and capable professional photographer that knows how to shoot technically and pose you comfortably. But what you wear and how you style your family is what brings it all together in a beautiful way. I promise, if you take the time to plan out your outfits, avoid little details that can be distracting (like cargo pants or shirts with graphics/logos!) and invest in needed clothing pieces, it will be so worth it in the long run!

Let’s take a moment to talk about the do’s and don’ts of choosing what your family wears! Here are some general “rules of thumb” when it comes to styling your session.

1. Avoid patterns smaller than a quarter: Tiny patterns and pinstripes can cause images create something called “chromatic aberration” that is impossible to fix in post editing, no matter what you do! Patterns smaller than a quarter should be very subtle!
2. Alternate Heaviness: If one of you is wearing very dark jeans, someone else may want to wear lighter pants like khakis. If one of you is wearing a navy top, the others shouldn’t wear a dark/heavy colored top too. To a certain degree, alternating the “heaviness” of your outfits can make your images look more balanced. This especially applies to mom and dad since they are most likely to be standing close together majority of the time.
3. Other things to avoid that can be distracting: logos, graphics, baseball hats.
4. Shoe choice DOES matter! Avoid tennis shoes, opened toed shoes (for dad), and remember that what you wear on your feet finishes off your overall look!
5. Lastly, avoid bright, bold, harsh colors such as red, neon, hot pink, bright oranges or sunny yellows (they reflect color onto skin and can be difficult to edit!) Instead, look for more muted tones! Olive greens, terracotta, navy, khaki, maroon, mustard, etc. These are the tones that will photograph the most beautiful – especially for Fall!

Now that we’ve established the general rules of thumb, let’s take a look at some outfit inspirations! Take note of how the heaviness of colors and patterns are distributed throughout the overall looks.

PS – each style graphic listed below is linked to my LIKEtoKNOW.it profile where each clothing article is directly linked to make shopping that much easier! These are affiliate links which means I might make a small commission off of something love as much as I do! Happy shopping!