Not sure what to wear for your portrait session or CityShoot with Zoe in Liverpool? We have put together this simple to use reference colour palette to help you think about colours to put together. This is not exclusive, but is meant to give you some ideas around working with colour for your portrait session or CityShoot with Zoe Photography.
If one person is wearing a strong colour you need to make sure that others involved in the shoot also wear tones around that colour. Alternatively you can choose colours along the line (always work in either blocks of 4 or along the horizontal line) so that you have a mix or stronger and paler colours all working together. Remember, the strongest, brightest colour will be the one the eye is drawn to in the final photographs.
With regards to style of clothes, think about whether you are wanting to dress casually or smart, or somewhere in-between. Having one person in jeans and everyone else in their Sunday best is not a good combination. Whatever theme you go for, make sure you follow it through into everything, right down to your shoes - there is no point asking for the shoes to be photoshopped into a different colour, when you have the right colour or style of shoes in the wardrobe!
With blocks of colour it's best to avoid round necks, particularly for portly gentlemen or for ladies with curves. We find that V necks, scooped necks and opened necked shirts work best. Go for layered looks, so for men with a T-Shirt it helps to add on a jacket or a V-necked jumper. For women, again a jacket can work well, or a cardigan or open shirt over a V-necked t-shirt.
And finally, think about logos and patterns. Remember that patterns date quicker than colours. So it's best to avoid patterns, particularly bold patterns. And keep stripes to a subtle level if you need to include a shirt, for example, that has stripes, in order for everyone to be in the same colour palette.
It's worth putting some effort into laying out clothes together before you come to the shoot to see how they work together - it's difficult to make any changes when you're at the shoot if you left the obvious top that goes with everyone else's outfit back in the wardrobe, and when you see the pictures and notice that Uncle Bob's bright green jumper just doesn't go with everyone else in creams and browns, it's too late to do anything better than turn the photographs black and white ... unless, of course, Uncle Bob is the one person in the photograph everyone wants to look at!
Photographers, this is easy enough to create for yourself in photoshop - please respect my copyright.
