How to pick outfits for your family photos

How do I pick outfits for our family photos? What colors go best together? Should we all match? Should we wear clothes with words or images? These are all very common questions I’m asked before every photo session.

Picking outfits for you and your family is one of the more stressful aspects of preparing for your photo session.

I’m here today to offer some guidance, and hopefully help remove some of the stress for you.

“Let’s talk color!”

I know you’re all just reading this to find out how to pair colors! That’s alright! And I have a super simple trick for you!

Head to (you can also just Google color palette ideas):

https://www.canva.com/colors/color-palettes/

This site offers tons of color palettes for you to view. You can search things like spring, autumn, rust, blue, etc to get inspo.

Once you’ve found a palette that you like (like the example below) you are ready to start shopping! These colors go together well and you can start basing your outfits off this color grouping.

Such a simple trick, but so effective!

“Layers, Layers, Layers”

Beyond colors, there’s a lot of other aspects to take into consideration! Being in Northern Wisconsin the temps can swing wildly from day to day. Should you plan for short sleeves or will you need a winter coat?

I suggest to families that have their sessions in the spring or fall months to plan on layers. Layers you can take off or put on as the session goes on. Photo sessions aren’t stand still events, you’ll be moving most of the time. So you might start out cold, but get toasty!

Cardigans or zip up sweaters are both great options! A blanket that’s big enough to wrap around you, fashion coats, or a shawl are good alternatives.

“Keep it simple”

Here’s a few general rules to follow when getting ready for your shoot.

• Matching family outfits can be fun (Christmas jammies!) - in the right setting. In general though, simple is better.

• Avoid graphic t shirts, especially those with really bright colors. Solid colors photograph better, and fit in everywhere.

• Steer clear of shirts with a lot of words. They are difficult to read in photos and often get cut off while you’re moving around. Think simple.

• Refrain from choosing bright colors (anything in the neon family) and busy patterns.

“Pro Tip!”

Don’t forget about your shoes. You can have a killer outfit, but the effect can be completely ruined with shoes that don’t match. Guys tend to be the bigger offenders on this one. Ladies, I recommend doing a double check of your hubby before you leave.

“Always here to help you!”

If you’re really struggling on your outfit, it is perfectly ok to reach out to your photographer before the session and ask for advice. The last thing we want is for you to be uncomfortable at your session.

A couple of things to keep in mind -

Your photographer is not responsible for you hating your outfit. They are also not responsible for clothing that is wrinkled, creased, or covered in pet hair. Photoshop is amazing, but it’s not magic - it also takes a lot of time to edit (and not everything is fixable).

As always, if you have a question or need help, reach out! Photography by Brooke wants you to love your photos for years to come and is always happy to help!

Maternity Self Portrait

Keep scrolling to see the end result!

I am not a person who loves to take selfies, or post a lot of pictures of myself. In general, I’d much rather be the person behind the camera than in front of it. The downside of this, is that I don’t have a lot of pictures of myself and my kids together. And virtually no pictures of any of my four pregnancies. I decided that when I was pregnant with my son, things would be a little different.

For me, I am never more self conscious than when I’m pregnant. I have never felt like I had the cute, perfect baby bump. When I was pregnant with my first two daughters, I couldn’t afford maternity pictures. And then when I was pregnant with babies number three, and again with number four I was too nervous to do them with another photographer. Thus the brilliant idea was formed - I would take maternity self portraits! I am a photographer after all! How hard can it be?

Really hard.

At the time, my husband and I had just sold our first home and had several houses we were trying to buy fall through on us. We were in a cramped, old, dark, not very attractive apartment (as you can clearly see in the before). There was no room for my studio, or really very much of anything. Definitely no room for my studio setup. In short, things had not gone according to plan. I’m telling you this to set the stage of what I had to work with.

I was bound and determined to make it work! I pulled my backdrop stand out of storage, found a roll of my seamless paper and set to work. In my head, it would be simple and I could knock out these maternity pictures in an hour or so. Learn from my mistakes, don’t try it yourself. I spent the better part of the afternoon fighting with my setup, tripod, and shutter trigger trying to get something usable. When I called it a day and uploaded the images to my editing program, I realized I had some hard work ahead.

I had the best of intentions to edit the images right away, I did not. It actually took me about nine months (oops!). To edit just ONE maternity image! Life has this funny way of ruining the best of intentions sometimes. Between kids, school, my day job, my photography, moving, having a baby. . . . . . . I just never got around to it.

Guys, moral of the story. Hire someone to help you get beautiful maternity pictures you’ll want to treasure forever. You will be stressed enough trying to prepare for your new baby, navigating the changes in your body, along with all the other stressors and obligations life brings. Let me help take one of those burdens off of your shoulders.