OH school Portaits! Ideas on what to dress your child in for school portraits! | Pittsburgh School Boutique Portraits by Snowflake Photography

Are you wondering what you should pick out for your child’s school portrait? Although it is early, I wouldn’t wait until that morning to decide. I’ve written about this topic a few years ago. (You can read it here) A simple and classic outfit is best. We only shoot from the chest up so it’s really all about the top! I like texture and patterns but you want to avoid writing or tops with graphics that would be cut in half in the image. I also like to avoid any super bright colors because they can cast strange color shadows on your little beauty’s skin.

Okay so what would I pick?

Well actually I was in the midst of thinking about this very topic and so as I went through for my daughters’ closets and did a quick online search, I thought I would share some of the things that stood out to me.

Snowflake shoots portraits on grey and black. Some schools have grey while others have the original black. The next school we photograph in September will be on grey so I kept that in mind as I went through outfit choices. Most of these work well for the black too but I try to keep away from black on black so keep that in mind if your school has the black backdrop.

Want to see what I found? I searched stores like Target, Gap, Old Navy, Children’s Place, Crew-cuts, Janie and Jack (some good summer deals here!) and more…. Check out my pinterest board here. But don’t think you have to buy anything! You probably already have similar things in their closets!

I have posted about this before but because I try to update this board periodically I thought a re-post might help. Stop over and check it out!

Link is here too! Snowflake School Portrait Pinterest Ideas

~ Marisa

School Portraits: What should they wear? | Snowflake Photography | Pittsburgh PA Portrait Photographer

School Portraits are quite the conundrum for some of us.  Even if you have a traditional school photo session at your kids school (even though you were wishing Snowflake was giving your kids the boutique treatment) The question is still out there: what do they wear?!  Against my daughter's best wishes my preference really is her school uniform.  I think she looks so cute and preppy in it and it really does show her school self.  So if you can get your kids on board I say go that way but this year I said that she could wear something different so I went to her closet to follow my own rules.  And here it is folks, short and sweet.

Pick something simple with a little bit of texture (think lace, crochet, cable knit, a bow) or a mild pattern, or even a simple layer of shirt and sweater.  I don't pick things with writing on them or obvious branding and I personally steer clear of things that are too bright so they don't cast a color shadow on her beautiful skin. Should you go with accessories keep in mind to keep it high on their torso so it's in the image. 

 To be honest I really love to photograph kids in simple, plain, and sometimes old fashioned clothes because their little personalities do most of the work. But after answering a few emails from upcoming clients and talking with friends, I thought I would share a recent search (seriously I scanned through in 15 minutes) of Gap, Old Navy, Target, and Janie and Jack.  It's mostly girls ideas with a few boys shirts snuggled in there but I thought it might help.  Now don't go straight to online shopping... head to their closets and see what you have that meets our new rules.  How my mom every chose my brother's outfit circa 1990 something with the laser background I guess I'll never know but luckily he was cute enough to overcome it.  

~ Marisa

** Note, because I shoot against a dark backdrop I lean towards light colors or contrasting.  I love black but It doesn't work for every situation and backdrop.