To help them have the best portrait experience, we want to share photo styling tips for men or senior boys! From choosing what shirt to wear to adding layers and accessories, these tips explain what men or senior boys should wear for photos while helping them feel comfortable and confident during your session!
Choosing Outfit Colors and Patterns for Photos
When choosing outfit colors for photos, we recommend selecting light, neutral colors over bright, bold, or neon colors because light, neutral colors photograph softer, complement skin tones, and look timeless. Small, busy patterns (like tiny pinstripe, plaid, or checkered designs- especially in shirts) are distracting and can form unusual colors and overlapping, warped patterns in your pictures! Therefore, we highly suggest avoiding busy prints and opting for solids.
Also, we recommend avoiding logos.
To learn more about what colors to wear and how to coordinate your outfits for fall pictures, you can read our blog post, Fall Picture Color Schemes.
How to Coordinate His Outfit with Your Family’s Outfits
We suggest that moms choose their outfits first and select coordinating colors for the rest of their family’s outfits. When styling your husband’s, senior boy’s, or son’s outfit, we recommend choosing colors that complement your outfit while having a masculine style. For the rest of your family’s outfits, you can make different coordinating colors the dominant color in each family member’s outfit. You can then incorporate colors that pair well into each person’s outfits with their accessories as accent colors. By mixing up the colors, you’ll tie all the looks together!
For example, you could wear a light blush dress with a white sweater and tan ballet flats (making light blush your dominant color). Then, your husband could wear a solid white, collared shirt with a light blush tie, a beige sweater, tan corduroys, and tan leather dress shoes (making tan his dominant color). Your daughter could wear a white, beige, and light blush dress with beige ballet flats (making white her dominant color). Your son could then wear a white solid, collared shirt, a beige suit vest, beige dress pants, a tan bow tie, and tan leather dress shoes (making beige his dominant color). That way, your husband and son could incorporate a touch of light blush or coordinating colors into their outfits while having a masculine look, tying all the family’s outfit colors together!
Feel free to check out our How to Prepare for Family Photos blog post for helpful tips about preparing for your family photo session.
Helping Men or Senior Boys Feel Comfortable and Confident
To help you and your family cherish your portrait experience together, we suggest that men or senior boys wear shirts, bottoms, accessories, and shoes they feel comfortable and confident in while posing or walking.
How to Select Shades of Color for Men’s or Senior Boys’ Outfits
We recommend choosing a different “weight” for his bottoms and shirt when selecting a man’s or senior boy’s outfits. For example, he could wear jeans (darker) and a white collared shirt (lighter) or tan corduroys (darker) with a light sage sweater (lighter). This choice will add visual interest and contrast to your photos!
Photo Styling Tips for Men or Senior Boys About Shirts
A blazer, sports coat, or jacket is flattering on a man or senior boy. He could wear a dress shirt, slacks, and a blazer for an editorial look. We recommend that he avoids wearing a T-shirt or tank top and opts for a long-sleeved, collared, Henley, button-down, or polo shirt. He could roll his sleeves up for a more casual style, creating more variety in your photos!
Some of our favorite stores for men’s or senior boys’ clothing are Van Heusen and Kohl’s.
Men’s or Senior Boys’ Photo Clothing Ideas for Bottoms
If the temperature allows during your photos, some men’s or senior boys’ clothing ideas are to wear long:
- dress pants
- slacks
- khakis
- jeans
They’ll create a more editorial look in your images!
Men’s or Senior Boys’ Fashion Tip for Photos When Selecting Suits
A men’s or senior boys’ fashion tip for selecting suits to wear during photos is that the fit is the most significant factor, not the price. We suggest that his jacket fits well. Since pants bunching up by a man’s or senior boy’s shoes can cause him to appear shorter, we recommend that his pants are the correct length without having breaks. Also, we suggest avoiding suits with busy, intricate patterns and selecting ones with solid, light, and neutral colors.
The Benefits of Wearing Layers
A great men’s or senior boys’ photo clothing idea is to wear layers if the temperature allows because they will create more visual interest in your photos!
To incorporate layers, a man or senior boy could pair a sweater with a pop of color from a long-sleeved, collared shirt and tie or wear a leather or denim jacket. Another option is for him to layer a solid, collared shirt with a tie and suit vest or sweater. During warmer weather, he could layer a short-sleeved polo, button-down, collared shirt, or Henley shirt with a coordinating, solid-colored T-shirt and tie.
Selecting Men’s or Senior Boy’s Accessories
With these photo styling tips for men or senior boys about accessories, you can add visual interest to your photos while giving them a more editorial look! He can wear closed-toed, leather dress shoes or boots instead of athletic shoes or sandals to elevate your photos and keep his feet warm during colder weather! Scarves and hats can also help him stay warm in colder temperatures. A tie, bow tie, or suspenders create a polished touch in your photos no matter the season!
Optional Outfit Change Tip (for 1-Hour and 2-Hour Couple’s and Senior Portrait Experiences)
If you have a 1-Hour or 2-Hour Couple’s or Senior Portrait Experience, your husband or senior boy can include an optional outfit change(s) in your session, adding more variety to your photos! If he decides to incorporate an outfit change(s), we suggest he arrives in a formal outfit and packs a casual one(s) to end your session more comfortably. We also recommend coordinating the outfit he wears to your session with the outfit change(s) he packs so your gallery images will complement one another. Coordinating his outfit and outfit change(s) will also create a cohesive, connected look in your blog post, album, and/or wall display. Below, we have included several optional outfit change examples, displaying styling tips for men or senior boys you can use for your photos.
For example, if a man or senior boy wears a pale-yellow solid, collared shirt with a beige sweater, a tan tie, and tan khakis to your session, he could pack a more casual white solid, collared shirt with a pale-yellow tie and tan corduroys. Pairing his outfit and outfit change this way would cause the two outfits to coordinate while capturing elegant and slightly casual portraits all in one session!
For a more casual portrait experience, if he wears a slightly casual white solid, collared shirt with a pale-yellow tie and tan corduroys to your session, he could bring a light brown solid, collared shirt with a white T-shirt and jeans. This pairing would make your photos look editorial with a casual style! To capture a formal and casual look, he could wear a pale-yellow solid, collared shirt with a tan tie, a beige sweater, and tan khakis to your session and pack a light brown solid, collared shirt with a white T-shirt and jeans for an outfit change.
One Final Note
Sweet Friend, God has made you and your family priceless and unique! He loves and treasures you all so much, and you’re so valuable to Him that He created you in His own image 🙂
We hope these photo styling tips for men or senior boys will help them know what to wear for photos, feel comfortable and confident, and have an enriched portrait experience! Feel free to email us at Jenn@JenniferHallPhotographyLLC.com if you have any questions.
If you would like to learn helpful tips about preparing for your family photo session, feel free to sign up for our free 5 Impactful Tips for Creating a Fun, Meaningful Family Portrait Experience Guide on our website today! When you sign up for this guide, you’ll also receive Exclusive VIP Email Access and be the first to know about our upcoming portrait experiences, mini-sessions, giveaways, model calls, latest client education blog posts, newest styling options, and special JHP announcements!
