What to Wear for Senior Pictures

It is that time of year when you are thinking about your senior pictures and what to wear. It is important to put thought into your outfits ahead of time to get great images. The most important thing is to wear what you like. You want your senior portraits to capture who you are and your unique personality. Clothes do make a statement.

General Rules of thumb:

• Solid colors photograph better than busy patterns. Patterns, images, and text can be distracting.
• Long sleeves are better than short sleeves, and short sleeves are better than tank tops.
That doesn't mean tank tops and patterned outfits are off limits. It just means don’t do all of your pictures in polka dot sun dresses and leopard print pants.

Choose a Variety of Outfits:

Choosing a variety makes your images more interesting and offers flexibility for different locations and backgrounds.
• Choose multiple colors: Think about where you want to be photographed and what colors would go well there, as well as the time of year. Also, think about what colors you look best in.
• Choose different styles: You’ll want to have different outfits to capture all the different aspects of who you are. Casual, formal..even a prom dress or suit would be fun!

Tips:

• Choose Complete Outfits. Make sure you select outfits that are complete from head-to-toe. Consider what goes together. Try your outfits on the week before and make sure you like them in a full length mirror. Then if you don’t like them, you have time to fix it.
• Dress in Layers: Layers can be flattering and give your outfit a little flare. A cute coat or cover up can change the look of an outfit, and you can always easily add or subtract it from an image.
• Accessorize: Accessories are great not only to spice up your outfit, but they can be used as fun props. Hats are great, necklaces, sunglasses, or your favorite coat could all be fun additions. Boots, or funky shoes are great too and can make a picture more interesting. Coordinating your accessories well with your outfit will make the image more fun.
• Props: If you’re into sports, the arts, cars, or whatever…let’s photograph you with it! These special objects or clothing that are meaningful to you will make the images more about you and your favorite things. We’ll discuss this beforehand, and so we can choose the right location for it.

Ladies:

• Some special considerations to what you're wearing underneath: If you're wearing a short skirt, you might want to wear spandex or something underneath so that you’re comfortable doing a variety of poses without embarrassment
• Also consider your choice of bras and undies. Bra straps can be very distracting in an image, & bra / panty lines don’t look great in photographs.
• Makeup: You can go a little more dramatic than you normally would with your makeup. (I don’t mean going totally crazy, but a slightly more eyeliner and eyeshadow will really pop in your images.)