Fall is such a cozy and heart-warming time of year, perfect for capturing your family’s photos and memories to cherish forever with the falling leaves and pumpkins! With the chilly weather, your family can bundle up in layers, adding more visual interest to your pictures without feeling uncomfortable in the heat. However, knowing which colors to coordinate your family’s outfits with can be difficult. So, to help you style your family’s fall outfits with colors that’ll look great on camera and create images you’ll love, we want to share some gorgeous color palettes for fall family photos!
Choosing Colors for Fall Family Outfits
When choosing colors for your family and little ones’ fall outfits, we recommend selecting light, neutral, and earthy-toned colors instead of bright, bold, or neon colors because they photograph softer, complement your skin tones, and make your photos look more high-end! Besides creating unflattering skin tones, bright, bold, or neon colors also take the focus away from where it should be: you and your family! If you would like to incorporate a little more color into your session, we suggest choosing more sophisticated, jewel-toned versions of bright, primary colors.
Here are some of our favorite colors for fall:
Dominant & Accent Colors
The goal of coordinating your family’s outfits is to break up the colors and shades so you’re not all wearing the same color on top and bottom. The more you can mix it up, the better! We encourage you to plan each outfit with “dominant” and “accent” colors in mind. A dominant color is the one you see the most in an outfit, while an accent color has a smaller piece of visual real estate. Aim for each person’s outfit to have a different dominant color and tie in and vary accent colors from the other outfits that pair well together, helping everyone’s outfits look connected and highlighting each person’s unique personality! Most moms choose their outfits and then build the rest of their family’s outfits based on that.
We also suggest avoiding small, busy patterns because they’re distracting and can create unusual colors in your images. Instead, opt for solid, neutral colors and simple designs.
How to Mix All the Colors to Coordinate Your Fall Family Outfits
Example 1: French Gold, Mustard, & Beige Fall Color Palette:
You could wear a French gold dress with a soft gold necklace and golden granola ballet flats (making French gold your dominant color). Then, your spouse could wear a beige sweater with a white T-shirt; a beige solid, collared shirt; mustard corduroys; and trinket gold leather dress shoes (making beige his dominant color). Your daughter could wear a cream dress with a French gold sweater, French gold ballet flats, and a mustard hair bow (making cream her dominant color). Your son could then wear a solid white collared shirt with tan dress pants, a mustard bow tie, and trinket gold leather dress shoes (making white his dominant color).
For more visual interest in your family photos, you could add other accessories with coordinating accent colors, such as a bouquet or basket of fresh florals, cardigans, ties, suspenders, necklaces, bracelets, or a light-colored blanket! Each person would have their dominant color while incorporating a few touches of the others as accent colors, pulling all the looks together. These choices would visually break up the colors and highlight each person. (The French gold dress in this example is available in small, medium, or large in The Mom Closet for 45 & 75-Minute Portrait Experiences!)
If you have little ones in your session, they could wear layers and cold-weather accessories to keep them toasty warm while adding visual interest to your photos! Your little girl could wear a mustard sweater dress, cream leggings, and a mustard beret, while your son could wear a cream onesie with tan buttons, helping the two outfits pair well together in your gallery.
Example 2: Dusty Sage, White, and Tan Fall Color Palette:
You could wear a dusty sage dress with a soft gold necklace and tan heels (making dusty sage your dominant color). Then, your spouse could wear a dusty sage solid, collared shirt with a wafer tie, a white sweater vest, tan corduroys, and tan leather dress shoes (making white his dominant color). Your daughter could wear a cream dress with a cream sweater, a dusty sage hair bow, and tan booties (making cream her dominant color). Your son could then wear a pale-yellow solid, collared shirt with a white tie, white dress pants, and tan leather dress shoes (making pale yellow his dominant color).
For more visual interest in your family photos, you could add other accessories with coordinating accent colors, such as a bouquet or basket of fresh florals, cardigans, ties, suspenders, necklaces, bracelets, or a light-colored blanket! Each person would have their dominant color while tying in the other colors as their accent colors, mixing them together and highlighting each person’s unique personality! (The dusty sage dress in this example is available in small, medium, or large in The Mom Closet for 45 & 75-Minute Portrait Experiences!)
Cold-Weather Tips for Fall Family Outfits
When seasons change and temperatures drop, it can get too chilly to wear a dress and heels or a polo and dress shorts by themselves. So, we suggest getting creative with cold-weather accessories like scarves, shawls, sweater vests, and statement coats! Layering these pieces will help keep your family and little ones toasty while adding more depth and visual interest to your photos!
Try pairing your dress or skirt with a peacoat and warm tights, or wear a snuggly sweater with a pair of dress pants or jeans. Closed-toed ballet flats, heels, tall dress boots, or heeled booties always look flattering! We suggest layering a large-print plaid or solid, collared shirt with a cozy sweater/sweater vest or blazer for men. If he’s going for a more editorial style, he could incorporate a tie or suspenders into his look, and he can never go wrong with a pair of closed-toed, leather dress shoes, dress boots, or boat shoes! Lastly, the same applies to your little ones! Try dressing them in layers; cozy accessories; and warm, closed-toed dress shoes, ballet flats, dress boots, boat shoes, or booties!
Outfit Tips for 45 or 75-Minute Portrait Experience Outfit Change(s):
Depending on your 45 or 75-Minute Portrait Experience, you can include an optional outfit change(s) into your session, adding more variety to your photos! If you decide to incorporate an outfit change(s), we suggest arriving in a formal outfit and packing a casual one(s) for later in your session. It’ll help your session end on a more comfortable, relaxing note! Also, we recommend coordinating the outfit you wear to your session with the outfit change(s) you bring, so all the images in your gallery will pair well together and look cohesive! For example, if you wear a dusty sage dress with beige flowers to your session, you could bring a pair of beige khakis and a dusty sage dress shirt for an outfit change. That way, the two outfits would coordinate in your gallery and blog post (if you choose to have a blog post), complementing one another and making your photos look more editorial!
Color Palettes for Fall Family Photos
One Final Note
We hope you enjoy these gorgeous color palettes for fall family photos! Once you’ve booked your portrait experience, you’ll receive a booking confirmation email with The JHP Portrait Experience Style Guide. This guide will give you additional color palette examples for fall and other seasons while helping your family prepare for your session and have the best experience! Always remember, even though your style choices will enhance your photos, the outfits your family and little ones wear won’t matter as much as the fun you’ll have and the memories you’ll make! Your family’s love, joy, and connection matter most in your images, for “…love will last forever” (1 Corinthians 13:8 NLT)!
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at Jenn@JenniferHallPhotographyLLC.com! Have fun styling! Love you lots!
