Choice of clothes and how you hold yourself is VERY important in a photo shoot!
I will always give you clear directions on what to wear, or specifically, what NOT to wear and how to stand! I’m not being pedantic; I just want you to achieve the perfect image: clothes and posture are a massively important part of that.
The first thing to remember about what to wear for a photo shoot is that our brain registers visual cues slightly differently when we look at someone in person compared to looking at a picture. As humans, we are instinctively drawn to faces. We gauge so much from the emotion that is stirred within us from looking at someone in the eyes because the wealth of information is huge and the depth of experience considerable - and it all happens in an instant. We ignore other stimuli in preference to immersing ourselves in the personal experience..... to a point.
For example, logos are designed specifically to attract our attention, be memorable and convey a certain message. These are the traits of a successful logo. Therefore, when engaging with someone we can be forgiven for being distracted by the clothes that they wear.
When people look at a picture the essence of the human interaction can be diluted. We are not hearing their breath, feeling their warmth, experiencing them in our personal space; all we have is a visual stimulus. But what do we want to achieve from a photo shoot? We want to capture a memory of a person, a feeling, an emotion, the essence of who they are and how we interact with them. One way to orchestrate the shoot is to control unwanted visual stimuli in clothing, thereby maximising our brains ability to conceptualise the emotion and feeling of a picture.
Beach family photo shoot, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
I love this image of my eldest daughter because there is such life in her eyes and an illusion of movement as she turns to see me. Unfortunately, her T-shirt pattern draws the attention away from her face so I solved this by cropping in closer and reducing the brightness of the white when I edited the photo. This isn’t always possible to do though so if you choose the clothing wisely to begin with it eliminates this issue.
Portrait taken during a family photo shoot on the beach, Bay of Plenty
Clothing advice in a nutshell
- Mid tone colours suit photographs well - not to bright and not black.
- Avoid large prints, logos and busy patterns.
- Darker colours will make you appear slimmer, so wear them on the part of your body you would like to draw attention away from - e.g navy, plum, teal or charcoal.
- Cover the parts of your body that you are self conscious about. Our eye is drawn to the brightness of skin and in photos we usually want this attention to be on the face.
- An open neckline or collar works well to frame your face.
- As a rule fitted clothes work better than baggy ones, but of course you still need to be comfortable.
- If you are in a group wear colours that complement each other.
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I'd say the bottom line is check with your photographer before the shoot and always bring a change of clothes!
Now read on for advice on how to position yourself in front of the camera to portray your best self!