What do I wear?? | Eugene, Oregon Senior Portrait Photographer

 
Here you are.  You found an amazing photographer (me, of course!), you booked your session, you Mom paid for it, and now you're totally stressed out about what to wear.  One of the perks of having hired your amazing photographer (again, me) is that she/I have a lot of experience and knowledge in photographing seniors.  So why not milk a little of that knowledge now?! Here is my $.02 on what seniors should wear to their photo shoot to ROCK IT.

First of all, the clothes you bring to your senior picture session should represent the real YOU!

Pick and bring those items that make you feel like you, and like a million bucks.  Whatever that style is - A&F from head to toe, or Forever 21 meets AE at Buckle- it's right for you.  Since Mom is paying, then you better bring at least one thing she likes too.  

So, for purposes of senior pictures, choose clothing that represents YOU!  We (you, me and mom) want you to express yourself with what you wear.  We want your style and your personality to come shining through.

 

What do you feel good in?  What do you LOOK good in? What are you comfortable in?  In short, those are the things you want to bring.  Think in terms of the different aspects of your life.  What do you wear?  Is this an aspect that you want included in your senior portrait session?  Then you should include something in this style. 

Whatever you bring, think about in advance.

Don’t get up the morning of your senior portrait session and grab whatever crawls out from under the bed.  Or simply whatever happens to be clean.  You’re only going to have senior pictures done once, so take some time to plan.

Bring a variety of different looks.

If we’re going to photograph you in four outfits, don’t bring four pairs of jeans and four t-shirts, unless that's all you ever wear, or there’s some special reason to do so.  Think VARIETY. 

For girls this might be shorts, capris, skinny jeans, skirts and dresses.  All with appropriate tops, shoes and accessories...lots of accessories.

For guys, it might be shorts, jeans, dockers and slacks, your sports uniform and your hat.  Again, with coordinating style of shirt and shoes. 

Some people have a wide range of comfort level, others a narrow range.  But whatever your range, make use of it.  You don’t want all your senior pictures looking pretty much the same because the clothing never varies, or varies so little that nobody notices. 

Think in terms of total outfits.

We’ll go through your clothing when you first come in for your session, but what I want to see is what you would wear together, not just a random inventory of tops, bottoms and shoes.  In other words, I don’t want to sort your laundry for you, nor do we want to spend a big part of your time simply trying to figure out clothes that go together. 

Wear colors that you look GREAT in.

You probably already do anyhow, but think in terms of the colors that go best with your complexion and hair coloring.  What color are your eyes?  If you wear at least one top that matches your eyes, it tends to make your eyes glow as if they had batteries in them. Look at what this blue shirt did for Wesley's eyes!  If you don't know what you look good in, ask someone!  Or call me and ask me.

Get help if you need it.

Some guys especially are very clothing/style challenged, so if this is you, and  if you have a girlfriend, or a girl who is a friend who has a great fashion sense, get her advice. Mom gets a say too, remember she's paying for this.

You girls, have some fun with it.  Get some of your friends together and pick out what you’re going to wear.  Then bring them along as your fashion consultants/dressers.

Make sure everything is clean and pressed. 

I can’t tell you how many times people have shown up with clothes that really needed to be laundered and ironed before they arrived.  You won’t look your best, and we really want you to.  I am good at it, but I refuse to iron your shirt with Photoshop, on 30 different images.

One thought specifically for girls.

Girls, if you’re going to wear dresses or skirts, wear something underneath that will give us the maximum flexibility in what we do with the minimum possibility for embarrassment.  Some girls wear spandex or something like Cheer pants, and this is a great idea.  Also, if you wear a tank or something similar underneath your outfit, it makes it easier to change if we need to change in the car.  Make sure your underwear is also not visible through your clothing.  Nude underwear works best.

Okay, now for the general portrait clothing guidelines.

There’s an old saying in photography that says learn all the rules so you can creatively break them.  That applies to clothes as well.  Here are the general guidelines we use that will, all other things being equal, make your portraits look that much better.  But we fully expect to creatively break them when it makes sense to do so:

1.  Solid colors photograph better than patterns.  Patterns take the eye of the viewer away from the face and to the clothing. 

2.  Generally, shirts with large writing on them don’t work as well as plain shirts, or maybe shirts with a simple logo.

3.  Think in terms of the colors in the environment we’re going to be photographing you in.  For example, if we’re doing fall colors, don’t wear pink.  That’s not a color you’d see in fall, and your clothing will clash with the colors in the background. There is nothing wrong with neutral colors.  After all we want to see YOU, not your cobalt blue shirt.  Although, I do love cobalt blue.  Bring the shirt just in case.

4.  Sleeves are generally better than no sleeves, and longer sleeves are better than short sleeves.  This is simply because they eye goes to the lightest, largest item in the picture and if this is your shoulders and arms, it will take the viewers gaze away from your face, which is generally the center of attention.    The larger the arms and shoulders, the more the distractions.  So if you want to wear a spaghetti strap dress, a wrap over it might be a great choice.  Long sleeves in the summer might look out of place, so just keep this overall guideline in mind when you’re putting together your outfits. If you are a guy, and you want to show off your big arms and shoulders then by all means, show them off.  I won't be complainin'. 

Finally, GIRLS: wear make up and get your hair done and bring heels! Even if don't wear make up all the time, you do need to for your photos.  You also want your hair to look great.  It doesn't need to be totally different necessarily.  Just better than everyday hair.  Also, bring hair accessories so we can change your look throughout the shoot.  And lots of hair spray.  Do I really need to elaborate about heels? C'mon!

I hope this helps a little.  Keep an eye out for more articles to get you ready for your portrait session.  We want it to be a success.  Just as a hint, if you are really struggling with looks check out my Pinterest board on what to wear for senior portraits.  Great ideas there. And while you're at it, check out my Senior Pics (P)inspiration board for poses and other ideas.

My name is Analia and I specialize in family, children and teens photography in  Eugene, Oregon and the surrounding areas.  If you enjoyed this article please feel free to browse the rest of this website.  You can help spread the word about my work (pretty please) by "liking" my Facebook Page, or by following me on Twitter and Pinterest.  Thanks for stopping by!