The most important thing when picking out photos for group portraits is to keep your clothing simple and coordinating. Clothes must be carefully selected to blend the bodies together so you compliment each other as a whole. Take note of your location and time of year. If you are taking fall pictures the last color you should wear is yellow. Pick clothing that wont blend into the background but choose colors that will compliment your location.
First, decide whether the basic tone of the clothing will be warm-toned (mustard, orange, tans, browns, etc.) Or cool-toned (teal, blue, grey, black, etc.) Keeping a group in similar colors focuses the attention of the portrait to the faces and individuals that make up the portrait. Dissimilar colors in groups will be more distracting. Everyone should have color-coordinated outfits (Not a uniform necessarily, but there should be a theme). Try using a complimentary color scheme or if you have a large group try a monochromatic color scheme or pick a palette of 3 colors (triadic color scheme). Remember that black, grey, denim and white are great filler colors!
For the kids, choose outfits that fit well without a lot of “growing room,” we want everyones clothes to fit great. If we are doing a generation or extended family shoot coordinate each separate family before coordinating with the group. I recommend in this case choosing one color for everyone, and telling family members to pair that color with either white, black or denim. The shade of one colors are going to vary from one another, so I promise not everyone will look the same.
Remember:
- Don’t match, coordinate instead
- Avoid large logos
- Patterns will get distorted
- Don’t over accessories
- Solid colors are best
- Black is slimming
- Tone down bright neon colors
- Light colors look fresh and airy
- Don’t wear shorts or sneakers
Here is a tip: Lay out all the clothing onto a bed, shoes too! Then, take a careful look at the collection. If your eye goes to any one item in particular, you can be certain that the same thing will happen in a photograph.