what to wear for our family portrait?

[Alaniara1973]

Hi,
We are going to get some family pictures at a professional photographer. My two daughters gave this to me as a gift (how cute:)) for my birthday and so I get to choose which style it is going to be.
We will definitely do it inside the studio and I want it to be really casual and informal. I'm not sure what to wear though. I'd say blue jeans on everyone and not too many diverging colours and styles. Maybe I'd prefer black and white anyway.
As for shoes, I'm particularly unsure because of course the girls (18 and 20) have a completely different style from me and my husband and I fear that this could be distracting in the photos.

Has anyone there ever had a studio photo shoot like this? And can you recommend anything?

That’s a v thoughtful gift,wear something you’d usually wear. No sudden image change
And same for the others,no dramatic overhaul

We did it a few years ago. No patterns, just plain tops and not all the same (ie not all black or all white). We actually took 2 or 3 changes of clothes (photographer suggested that) and it worked very well. The other advice was to wear slightly more make up than usual if you go for a kind of no-make-up look. They can Photoshop images but it helps you not to look washed out.

My cousin had this with her parents, sister's family and all the (grand)kids
All wore jeans; adults wore black tops and kids wore white
Bare feet
If you cant agree on shoe styles, maybe go for the same colour: eg black pumps?

Yes foundation is vital!
We have had them done and I selected outfits that didn't match but were all in the same colour family. So all blues and purples. Then they all looked natural, but went together without being matchy. A subtle pattern is ok but nothing that is too noticeable. No small checks or stripes if you're going black and white. White backgrounds are usually used so avoid white clothes or you'll look like a floating head

Ours were bare foot. Check this with the studio.
Don't worry too much about styles but try and all wear relatively classic or plainish things just because fashion really dates a picture

Hi, thank you so much for your advice!
I think jeans and dark shirts is perfect, or white shirts with a dark background maybe?
And bare feet are a great idea!! I guess you meant that we should remove both shoes and socks then, right? not just shoes
Has anyone else ever done this (family portrait with bare feet) and can you recommend it?

Anything except blue jeans, white shorts and bare feet. 😩 It's such a cliched dated look now and makes them all look the same.

And now I've actually read the thread... Sorry. But it was the first thing I thought of as I really don't like that look on a family portrait. Around 2007 it seemed like everyone did them like that. Bit naff now.

White shorts is meant to say shirts! Blue jeans with shorts would be a whole other look.

If it was me I wouldn't go too much with a theme - I would stick with everyone feeling their best in the favourite clothes/jewellery. Means they will be a lot more relaxed and will be more a true representation of each of you - so will make for some lovely photos.

Of course it is all subjective to your own family - you know them best and you know what you want on your wall / to bring out for the grandkids in the future! And as it is your gift, I am sure they will do whatever you want x

We did a winter shoot a couple of years ago (DH, 2 preschool DDs and I) and all wore purple / grey / black.

We all had clothes in these colours anyway so wore our natural style but it worked really well.

We all wore black socks / tights.

If it’s going to be in front of a white screen, no white! If your top is white you’ll look like a floating head

I don’t love the matchy matchy look but would agree, get your nails and a pedicure done, get your hair professionally blow dried, and watch lots of Lisa Eldridge videos to see how to do a nice makeup.

The thing about these kind of photos is they hang around for everrrrrrrrrrr!

Well, I think blue jeans, white (or dark?) shirts and bare feet sounds great! I don’t see what’s wrong with that look and I didn’t know that 10 years ago everyone did them like that. Anyway we don’t have pictures like that yet. I would also prefer a theme instead of letting everyone wear what they want.

I have talked to my husband and the girls and told them that I want them to wear this. They thought it is a cool idea, except one of my daughters wants to keep her socks on. I told her that’s not going to be possible because one person with socks won’t look good.
Would you agree that it is important not to have exceptions if we opt for the bare feet look?

Why don't you buy co-coordinating socks. Eg slouch socks in different shades of blue, so they sort of blend in.with the jeans?

slouchy blue socks

Overinvested now!

Well, I don't know, I guess I like the idea of bare feet better than the just socks look.