What to Wear for your Portrait Sitting in Niagara

What to wear for your portrait sitting in Niagara. What is the best clothing for portraits? The clothes your clients or portrait subjects are wearing in their portraits can be a touchy subject to discuss with them, especially if you are just doing a portrait for them as “a friend with a good camera.” Even as pros, we have a hard time getting people to listen; they frequently show up in clothes that make us cringe and that even hurt our eyes. This article will help you understand what to suggest your subjects wear for their portrait photoshoots. You’ll also learn how to help clients understand why your suggestions really are in their best interests so they actually listen and get it right.

Clothes make the portrait

What your subjects are wearing is just as important as all the other portrait details, such as lighting, and posing. Poorly-selected clothing can really take away from an otherwise great portrait.

Here are the goals when helping your portrait subjects or clients select clothing:

• Make the people the main subjects
• Flatter the subjects and make them look their best
• Make the clothing disappear and be a non-issue

Poorly-chosen clothing, or having no discussion about clothing for portraits at all, can result in just the opposite. This is not what you want to have:

• Clothing that stands out so much you hardly even notice the people
• Arms, legs, or tummies that look less than flattered and people that are unhappy with the end results
• Clothing that gets so much attention it becomes more about the clothes than about a portrait of the people wearing the                                                                                     

  So what is the best thing for people to wear?

• We get asked for tips on clothing for portraits a lot in my portraiture classes. People hear funny things about what they should or shouldn’t wear for their portraits, and they show up in the damnedest things that sometimes make you shake your head and say, “What were they thinking?” 
• But people won’t know what is right (or what is best) unless you tell them. And you must help them understand why. This is what we recommend people do for a portrait session Wear solid-colored clothing Choose muted tones that are a bit subdued Choose similar tones for the top and bottom (both dark or both light) Choose one to three colors for your group portrait, colors with similar tones that go nicely together. Then have everyone work within that color palette. For example, a group could wear dark green, navy, and burgundy, which are all dark jewel tones. Or a group could wear tan, a lighter olive-green, and denim, all of which are lighter, softer tones. Choose a top with sleeves at least to the elbow Choose long pants for men/women or a skirt below the knee for women Choose dark socks and footwear (unless it’s a barefoot photo on the beach) Keep jewelry simple and minimalistic Do hair the way you’d normally do it while wearing these clothes (more on that later!) If people plan to get a haircut or new hairdo, make the appointment at least two weeks prior to your portrait session
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