What are the best clothes to wear for outdoor family photos?

A guide to choosing the right outfits for your outdoor family portrait session.

We have so many beautiful locations for family portraits around the Central Coast—sandy beaches, seaside coves, oak laden trails, and grassy fields. 

With all the amazing opportunities and their endless possibilities, you may be asking yourself:  what are the best outfits for outdoor family portraits? What will produce the photos we’re dreaming of; how formal should we dress; or what color tones are best? 

We invite you to consider the details shared next to get your family and pictures looking perfect. 

Achieving a cohesive look for your outdoor family photographs on California’s Central Coast.

1. Dress for the location.

Location plays an important role in how you should dress. As you start putting your family’s outfits together, think about where you will be. Will we be taking a casual stroll to meet tossing waves at the beach, or walking over a path of fallen leaves and branches from a surrounding forest of trees? 

Ask yourself what kind of clothing you would normally wear in this environment, and, from there, simply dress it up just a touch.

For example, if you are heading to the beach for a summer photo shoot, and you would normally wear shorts and t-shirts, you could dress the boys in light-toned shorts and polos or short sleeved button-up shirts while mom and daughter don a light-toned dress or skirt.

2. Dress for the same weather and occasion. 

Everyone should be dressed for the same weather. You want each piece of clothing to have a similar look—light, flowing and airy pieces during warmer months, with one or two layers for the cooler times of year. The weight of each outfit should blend well with the next. 

For example, if everyone is dressed for a summer day at the beach wearing shorts, short sleeves, skirts and going barefoot, it would look odd if one family member is dressed wearing a jacket, long pants, and boots.

Also, give thought to how formal the family is dressing. If one person is dressed for beach casual while the rest of the family is dressed in their Sunday best, the look will not be cohesive, and family members will look out of place.

3. Choose a color palette.

When putting your family’s wardrobe together, try choosing no more than three or four colors to keep things cohesive. If you are not sure where to begin, think about an outfit you know you want to have in your photos and work from there.

Think back to your early days of art class and learning about the color wheel. Certain colors complement and really pop against each other. Paired colors such as red and green, blue and orange, and purple and yellow are considered complementary colors. From here, explore different hues within your color selection. Red doesn’t have to be the candy apple shade we all might think of initially, but instead that of soft springtime flower petals sitting against its darker green leaves.

Another place to look for that perfect color scheme is in nature itself. If your backdrop is a crisp autumn array of yellow, orange and brown, you may find that a favorite shade of blue, plum or a deep red would brilliantly complement the season’s vibe.

In the spring and summer, nature provides a neutral pallet, so think shades of pink, green and blue. In the fall and winter, we see more of a bold palette with brown, gold, red, yellow, and orange. 

Generally, neutral colors work well in the spring and summer months, and deep, bold colors work better in the autumn and winter seasons.

Soft neutral colors tend to work well for most of the year along the Central Coast.  We are deprived of seasons on the Central Coast, and we have a lot of light earth tones in our surrounding environment for most of the year—with tones of green, blue, gray, purple, yellow, gold, orange, and light shades of brown. 

It is not necessary for the whole family to wear the same thing, or for everyone’s outfit incorporate every single color from your color scheme. The goal here is to be cohesive not identical. 

4. Colors you should avoid in outdoor family portraits 

People tend to think white is a color you should avoid. This is rooted in year’s past and is simply not the case. White can work well in our coastal environment. But, there are colors that tend not to work well in outdoor family photos. Black, neon or extremely bright colors should be avoided. We don’t normally see these in nature, and they tend to look out of place, so it's best to keep clear of them. Save the black for a more formal occasion.

5. Avoid pictures and logos and screen printing.

Everything has a place; logos will date your photo and could compete as the focal point. Secondly, please think twice before dressing your child in their latest character infatuation—while these photos are forever, their comic book hero may not have the same staying power.

6. Choosing appropriate footwear 

There is a time and place for everything, including getting sand between your toes. Just like clothing, use the same principles for footwear. Think about the terrain and how your attire and footwear will need to support each member of your family for both stability and comfort.

7. Incorporate layers and texture

Solid colors work well in photographs, adding layers and textures can be a great way to add more depth and detail to your photos. Additionally, layers can also be added or removed if conditions change. Utilizing layers also tends to look better than bulky jackets. So, it’s a good idea to include layers in your planning, especially if your photo shoot is at the beach or near the water where weather can change quickly.

8. Wear clothes that fit.

Trust me I get it; kids grow fast. I have children, and we often buy clothing larger to get as much life out of garments as possible. However, for your family portraits it’s good for their clothing to be well fitting on the day of your photo shoot…not six months down the road. Oversized clothing tends to look overwhelming on children and hides that great personality we love.

It may sound like a lot to juggle when preparing the right outfit for your family photos. In summary, focus on the location, color tone, weather, and the time of year. And remember, light toned airy clothing tends to work well on the central coast. If you get stuck, we are always here to help you through the process. I hope you found this helpful.

- Michael

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