What to Wear for Cottage Family Photos

The families who look most comfortable in photographs are usually the ones who thought about clothing once, a week before, and then forgot about it. The aim is not a coordinated outfit. It is removing anything that will pull attention away from faces.

The method: two or three colours, mixed

Choose two or three colours that sit in a similar tone, then let each person wear a different combination. Nobody matches, everybody belongs. This is the whole technique and it works for two people or nine.

Palettes that work well against water and northern trees:

• Cream, oatmeal and soft rust.
• Denim blue, off-white and warm grey.
• Sage, cream and camel.
• Charcoal, dusty blue and stone.
• Deep green, cream and soft brown, which is particularly good in autumn.

Lay everything out on a bed the night before and photograph it on a phone. If one piece jumps out of the picture, it will jump out of the photographs too.

What to avoid

• Large logos and slogans. They date the photographs and they pull the eye immediately.
• Tight patterns. Fine stripes and small checks shimmer, particularly on video.
• Neon and highly saturated brights. They reflect coloured light onto the face underneath, which is difficult to correct.
• Everyone in identical outfits. Matching white shirts and jeans reads as a portrait studio, not a family at the lake.
• All black or all white as a group. Both force a lighting compromise that then affects skin tones.
• Brand new footwear on children. They will not walk normally in it.

Texture and layers do more than colour

Knit, linen, denim, corduroy and flannel all photograph with depth. A flat cotton t-shirt does not. Layers also give a session range: a cardigan on and off, sleeves rolled, a jacket carried, all from one outfit.

• Long sleeves and long skirts move in wind, which is useful by water.
• Natural fabrics wrinkle honestly. Synthetics shine under direct sun.
• A hat is a hard yes or a hard no. It shades the eyes completely, so decide in advance rather than mid-session.

Children

• Comfort beats appearance. A child in scratchy clothing will end the session early, and no photograph fixes that.
• Bring one full change per child. Docks, sand and lake water do what they do.
• Let older children choose within the palette. Autonomy buys cooperation.
• Bring the shoes they can run in as well as the ones that look right standing still.
• Snacks and water in the car. Not sticky ones.

Dressing for the actual conditions

Sessions here happen at the water's edge, on trails and on docks, and it is reliably colder at the shoreline than it was at the cottage. Bugs are real from late spring through summer. Both are worth planning for, because a cold or bitten family is a short session.

• Bring an extra layer for everyone, even in July.
• Insect repellent applied before you leave, and reapplied at dusk.
• Footwear that can get wet, plus dry socks in a bag.
• In autumn, a blanket. It is useful for sitting on and it photographs well.

Two practical last things

• Take the hair elastic off your wrist. It appears in every photograph once you notice it.
• Iron what needs it. Creases from a suitcase are visible and cannot be removed in editing.

Cottage family sessions, seasonal mini sessions and small business photography around Bancroft are on the lifestyle photography page. To book a session, contact us with a rough date and how many people will be in the photographs.