The Best Clothes To Wear For A Baby Photo Shoot At Home
The first days, weeks and months with your new baby are incredibly precious, and yet they fly by. You’ve chosen to invest in some beautiful photographs that capture this time for your family, and no doubt want to make sure that you all look your best – so that you can feel proud as you look back at them in years to come, and perhaps even display them at home.
So what are the best clothes to wear for a baby photo shoot at home?
I suggest that you start planning your outfits as far in advance as you can, and consider these five factors as you do:
- Choose a neutral colour palette
- Consider your home decor
- Avoid clothes with words, pictures and too much pattern
- Try the outfits on and move around in them ahead of the shoot
- Give special consideration to the clothes your baby will wear
In this article I’ll explain each of these considerations in more detail so that you can confidently choose the best outfits for each person in your family.
Plan the outfits for your photo shoot as far in advance as possible
Life with a baby is busy. Life with a newborn baby can feel even more hectic, and those things you planned to make time for – like sorting out everyone’s outfits – can easily slip down the list. I know that when I had just had both of my babies, the thought of planning, and perhaps even shopping for outfits for our photo shoot would have been overwhelming. With this in mind I recommend that you start to plan your family’s outfits as soon as you’ve booked your session.
This gives you plenty of time to plan, and if necessary shop for your family’s outfits so that you all look your absolute best on the day. After all, you can’t go back and capture this moment in your baby’s life again.
Choose a neutral colour palette for your family’s outfits
When you’re having a photo shoot with your baby at home I always recommend choosing soft, neutral colours for your family to wear. Babies are soft and gentle creatures, and colours that carry this soft and gentle feeling will usually work really well in the photographs.
That’s not to say that everyone needs to dress from head to toe in white or cream, or have matching outfits. Instead I recommend you choose a colour palette of 3-4 colours to build your family’s outfits from.
Colours that tend to work well are white, cream, grey, beige, soft pink, soft blue and navy.
Colours to avoid are black, and very bright or neon colours. These can be very overpowering, and don’t give the soft, gentle look that we are looking for.
Consider your home decor, and how the colours complement it
Before you start choosing the clothes that your family will wear, I suggest taking a few minutes to consider the colour palette you’ve chosen against your home decor. After all, your home will be the backdrop to your photographs.
For example, if your home is decorated in whites and greys, this neutral palette will probably complement it well. If on the other hand your home has a lot of bold colour, you may like to make a darker colour – for example navy – a more prominent part of your outfits.
Avoid clothes with words, pictures or too much pattern
Now that you have your palette of 3-4 colours you can start to choose the clothes that each member of your family will wear.
It’s best to avoid clothes that have words or pictures on them. We want the focus of your photographs to be the people in them, and words and pictures on clothing can be distracting and take the viewer’s focus away. They can also date your photographs more quickly, as clothes with words or pictures on are not as timeless as clothes without.
The ‘rules’ on choosing patterned clothing are not so black and white; a little bit of pattern can add a lot of interest to your photographs, but too much can be overpowering. For example, having one member of the family with a small, pretty floral pattern on a shirt or dress and everyone else is in relatively plain clothing can look lovely. Having one person in florals, another in stripes and someone else with a checked shirt will probably look very busy and be distracting when we look at your photographs.
Try the outfits on and move around in them before your photo shoot
Once you’ve settled on your outfits, make sure that everyone tries them on well in advance of the photo shoot. This gives you time to make sure that everything fits really well.
I also recommend that you move around in your outfits to make sure that you feel comfortable in them in lots of different positions. During the shoot I’ll usually take photographs when you’re in a variety of positions – for example, sitting, standing, or leaning over your baby on a bed as in the picture below. Check how your outfits look in each of these situations – are you comfortable in each one?
Choosing Clothes For Your Baby To Be Photographed In
When you’re choosing clothes for your baby to wear during the shoot, I recommend keeping it simple and well fitting.
Basic items like a long sleeved, white bodysuit and a plain white sleepsuit can work very well on newborn babies in their photographs. They fit the criteria of being soft and gentle, and don’t distract from the star of the show – your baby.
Knitwear can also look very sweet on babies of all ages. Zara usually stocks a nice range of knits for babies in it’s Mini range.
You may also like to include a sentimental outfit – for example a special gift, or outfit that has been passed down through the family. It’s also nice to take a few photographs of your baby in just their nappy, or with nothing on at all.
As you are no doubt aware, most babies have a limited tolerance for having their clothes changed, so I recommend no more than 2 to 3 outfit changes during the session.
It’s important to make sure that anything you do choose for your baby to wear during the shoot is very well fitting. Anything too big can easily drown your baby and we won’t be able to see the detail of just how small they are. This may mean buying something a size or two smaller for the shoot.
Over to you
I hope that this guide has helped you to feel confident as you choose outfits for your family to wear at your photo shoot.
As you’re planning your outfits, you may find this Pinterest board a good source of inspiration:
If you have any other questions please do get in touch. You can send me an email, give me a call or send me a message using this contact form. I’d love to hear from you and I will get back to you.
Related Articles
You may also find these articles helpful as you prepare for your photo shoot:
How to prepare your children for a family photo shoot
How to get your home ready for a photo shoot
