clothing

MKP CLOTHING GUIDE

Thank you for booking an appointment with Matt King Photography. Here are some suggestions to help you with clothing. These suggestions are given so that the attention is drawn to your faces and not your clothing, VERY IMPORTANT. These aren’t guidelines to make your life harder or micromanage how you choose to appear. However, they are safe bets if you want your portraits to represent you or your family across time. Trust me, your portraits will be beautiful if you follow through with the suggestions below.

No! What Not to Wear...

Big no-no’s for your clothing are busy patterns and or busy colors. Also avoid logos and advertisements. Your favorite everyday shirt might be one with every color in the rainbow in a plaid pattern, but I can guarantee that won’t look as amazing in a family portrait as it does in your full-length mirror. Leave behind your stripes, high contrast patterns, and safety orange hoodie. These types of patterns can create a dizzying and unflattering pattern in photos. Specifically, stay away from tank tops with bra straps showing, strapless tops, sweatpants and jerseys. Sure, there are exceptions to every rule. But unless you’ve discussed/planned otherwise with MKP, rule these types of clothing out. Make sure makeup is to a minimum, don’t over do it and especially avoid black around the eyes (this darkens the eyes and doesn’t allow light in).

Yes! What to Wear...

What you wear will depend on the time of year, the setting, the occasion, but most of all, your personality. MAKE IT ABOUT YOU. Here are some general ideas to help you on getting outfits together:

MAKE SURE TO START EARLY, don’t wait till the last minute. Get clothing together along with any accessories and put them into the closet until the day of your session. Accessories and Layering are good, especially for ladies, but keep is simple. Light Jackets, scarfs, Bracelets and necklaces are a good thing.
Stick to solids, pastel, muted colors such as light blue, earthy tones, charcoal gray or beige.
Keep is casual but not to casual (Think church casual or business casual).
Blue jeans or Khakis are just fine (either-or, don’t mix).
Hair needs to be as normal but typically stay away from ponytails. The looser and more flexible the style, the better.
MAKE SURE TO COORDINATE your groups. You don’t have to look just alike but you do need to coordinate clothing. Make sure everybodys in the same color palette (there are color cards below to help).