Your photos should be fun, and that means so should your outfits!

Why is styling important?

As a photographer, there are many elements that help add the 'Wow factor' to your images. Outfits/styling is absolutely one of them and it's often overlooked. Colours, texture, layers, head to toe! Every piece counts and adds to character, to your character.


The next time your photographer offers styling advice, please know that it is coming from a loving place. We just want your photos to look the absolute best!


For some families, updating their family photos is a one-off, annual event. How do you justify buying an outfit for every person, for one occasion?

A few tips for maximising the use and dollars spent on your outfits - book your session in the early part of Autumn/Winter so you can wear your outfits again. Buy and wear complimenting layers, you could wear a nice summery dress and chuck a nice jacket over the top, you might already have a jacket laying around at home. A few more tips below:


  • Sell your outfit on FB Marketplace or somewhere online afterwards
  • Lend it to a friend who is having family photos
  • Some photographers may be interested in buying your outfit from you for their client closet if you wish to depart from it
  • Sales! Search, shop, snag a bargain and spend less




Continued below...




Winter session with Alice Lea Photography. You can see we have a beautiful mixture of subtle matching colours across Mum and Dad. A non-distracting patterned shirt on Dad including a lovely layered warm coloured jacket. Mum wears a neutral dress which is perfectly tying in with the white on Dad, she also wears some cute dark boots with cream coloured frilly socks. Their little boy wears a cute neutral onesie that has some dimension and texture. Potential: You could add a fedora hat to Mum's outfit.

What are your favourite colours to incorporate into your sessions?

You can often sense this from a photographer's Instagram page, which I always recommend checking. Have a good scroll to make sure your style matches theirs. For myself, I am a lover of earthy/warm colours, that's just my style and I find editing that little bit easier when clients wear that colour palette. Brown, cream/beige, burnt orange, white, oatmeal, linen, olive, mustard.


Should clients match each other at photo sessions?

Short answer no. For some reason I think without fault, most people think this is the right way to style a family session, but it's definitely not ideal. Years ago this seemed to be a photography norm/phase. White shirts, blue jeans. If I'm honest, I couldn't think of anything more unflattering. If you're paying for a photo session, you want to make sure you look unique, and look, you. Does your family ever go out matching in public wearing white shirts and blue jeans? Probably not. So don't bring that into your photo session. We want your session to reflect your individuality whilst making sure you are comfortable.


Things to avoid when choosing outfits?

Bright colours - you want to avoid distracting colours

Logos - again, they are distracting

Tight or really short dresses - being comfortable is key, but also allowing free movement in your images, I'll often have my clients sit down as well

Dark colours - in moderation, if you choose to wear black, only have one person doing this, otherwise you lose depth

Matching - as mentioned above, avoid completely matching and choose to coordinate colours instead


How do you help your clients choose their outfits?

I always ask my clients in their initial questionnaire if they are happy to source their own outfits or if they would like to look at my client closet. I encourage my clients to tell me, or send me photos of their choices and then we'll discuss if we need to make changes. Sometimes I'll send a Pinterest board with outfit examples to give guidance and inspiration. Some people LOVE styling, others dread it - either way, I'll be here to help to take away some of that stress.


Favourite places to shop for kids?

One of my favourite places is The Iconic! They have such an incredible range of outfits for babies-kids and in the most flattering colours. They often have sales on too and shipping is relatively quick (with free returns!) You can't go wrong. There are also lots of great options for adults. A few other brands I love: Seed Heritage Clothing, Lolly May (for the girls), Ziggy Lou & Grown Clothing.