Written by: Melinda Brookshire
It’s time for the summer installment of “What to Wear”!
First and foremost, putting together these stylized boards for all of you makes me want to go shopping, but more importantly than that… it excites me! Which, coincidentally, is the same kind of attitude we want your clients to have. We want them to be excited about their upcoming session. And what better way to get them there than to provide stylized boards and directions to relieve some of the stress that comes with deciding what a whole family should wear for their portraits?
Being a fashion guru is definitely not necessary in order to help clients on their way to a beautifully stylized session. Trends and inspiration are readily available for viewing on all store websites, throughout magazines, and within advertisements. A simple understanding of coordinating colors along with knowing your clients’ personalities are all that’s needed in aiding them in their clothing choices. (A simple questionnaire, a few phone conversations, and/or a pre-consultation can help determine their “look”.)
Current Fashion Trends…
The Nautical look is HUGE this summer but is similar to Americana which tends to be overused. So rather than doing the same ol’ red, white and blue why not add a new color in there? Such as a bright and cheerful (and very popular for 2011) yellow, which encourages us to honor the sunny weather of summer.
Another hot color right now is orange. It’s exciting, energetic, and definitely a must for this summer season. And the great thing about orange is that it rarely looks bad on anyone (unless of course we are talking about the fake orange suntans that come from a bottle – which is not at all a good look…on anyone.) 
Outfits and accessories can be found at Old Navy, Tee and Whisper Bug Boutique on Etsy.
Happy shooting…and shopping, everyone!
Inspire Your Clients
You are given permission to use these beautiful stylized boards to inspire your own clients! We just ask that you link back to both of us (Melinda Brookshire Photography and I Heart Faces) if you use them on your website/blog or you can send your clients right here to this post on I Heart Faces. Enjoy!
Melinda Brookshire is a born-and-bred Georgia girl now residing with her husband, two boys, and her dog in a small town in Western Oklahoma running her own photography business. In no particular order, she is obsessed with her faith, family, chocolate, Pepsi, photography, and books. She despises ironing, cleaning toilets, dieting….and potty-training her dog seriously leaves her in a foul mood.
You can check out more of Melinda’s stylish work on Facebook, website and Twitter.
You might also like:
- Stylized Fashion Boards for Photographers {Spring Edition}
- Photo Challenge Winners|Yellow
- Summer Days Community Photo Inspiration
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS!!! SO AWESOME!!
love it love it love it!
It was definitely my pleasure! I truly do love putting these boards together – if for no other reason than it gives me an excuse to window-shop : )
@Brook – There are many photographers all over the web that offer these same types of boards. Simply type in “what to wear photo session images” into your Google search bar. You can look on my blog under the category for “What to Wear” for a few more examples and then there is also a page on Facebook called “Wardrobe Wednesday” that is a great source for more outfit options. Hope that helps : )
Your stylized boards are so completely fabulous Melinda…thank you so much for taking the time to put them together as a help to everyone in our community. We appreciate it so much!
-Angie
co-founder of I Heart Faces
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Love the colors and styles! Ihave the hardest time helping them know what to wear. This is brilliant! Thank-you!
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I LOVE these! I’m not a professional photographer, just a mom. But I seriously have the worst time picking out coordinating outfits for my family of four. Especially the hubby…if there are any other photographers that use style boards and would like to share them with a fashion challenged mama just send me a link. I could use all the help I can get.
Love it! What a great way to put together a visual for people to really understand what works and what doesn’t. And now I want to go shopping too!!
This was an excellent post. So well thought out and articulated : ) Now, I want to go shopping!
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