What To Wear

     Selecting what to wear for a portrait or a photo session doesn’t have to be difficult if you consider a few basic things. First of all, spend some time envisioning what you want out of the photographs. Consider your “vision” for the session if you will. There may be times where a brightly colored or busy outfit is fitting and just what you want. For instance in Senior Portraits bright colors, edgy lighting, and a very modern look is popular. If that is what you have in mind, then by all means wear what you want to.
     However, if you want a more timeless, classical look to your photos we recommend sticking to solid colors. We recommend against bright reds, yellows, or greens as they take attention away from your face. The focus of the image shouldn’t be on the subject’s shirt color, but rather the subjects themselves. We find that going to one end of the spectrum or the other is good, i.e. a light colored outfit or a dark colored outfit. This is especially true if you would like some of your photos to be black and white. Brightness levels in the middle tend to blend in with skin tones in black and white images. For group photos some degree of coordination is desirable. There is a reason you see so many family photographs with the whole family wearing white button down shirts and blue jeans. It is casual and comfortable yet dressy enough to make people look good. Now, I am not saying you all have to wear white button down shirts and blue jeans for pictures. Rather, just try to coordinate your outfits so that no one individual stands out and you appear as a cohesive group. Remember, there is a reason you’re all having your photo taken together!
     I don’t really have a lot to say about makeup except for this: don’t overdo it. It’s good to use a little more makeup than normal but it should be just a slight bit more. We want you to still look like you! Make sure to bring your makeup, lipstick, powder etc. with you to the session so that you can make adjustments on the fly. Also, try not to use any glossy makeup. Be careful with glossy lipstick as places that are very shiny have a tendency to show up as pure white in the photo from the reflection of the flash or natural light. Since we do a lot of outdoor photos and this is Texas after all, we strongly recommend you bring a handkerchief or a small towel of some sort to dab sweat off. We don’t want anybody looking unnaturally shiny in their photos!