Monochromatic

Want the easiest choice? You can choose just one color!

Find the color that you love to wear and then coordinate everyone’s outfits around it. Or choose the color that everyone actually has in their closet.

Using one color makes things simple and keeps the focus on your lovely faces.

Using one color means that you can use lighter and darker shades or that color. You can also use a print of that color.

To see what different shades of your color look like try this color wheel app.

Analagous

This is the next easiest choice. It’s like monochromatic, but it adds another color or two.

Take a color you like such as blue, and find out what it’s next to on the the color wheel. Let’s take blue. On one side blue is next to other blues and greens. This is one option. It’s also next to purple and red. This is another option. So you’re choosing two or three colors that are nextdoor neighbors.

The family in the picture is wearing navy with violet and red as an analogous color scheme.

You can try out different analogous color combinations with this color wheel. You can slide the circle around to choose your main color. Then click the NEXT button to see different color combinations such as analogous.

Complementary

Now, if you want to spice things up a bit you can play with complementary colors. In this option, you take a color you like on the color wheel and find out what its complement is. It’s the color directly across from it.

The family in the first picture is wearing navy. The complement for navy is a golden yellow. They also found a patterned shirt with both navy and golden yellow. They also make use of neutrals with a light cream color, navy, and denim pants.

The family in the second picture is wearing pink and its complement light green. The little girls’ light green shirt stands out to my eye because they only used a little pop of that complementary color.

When balancing your main color and its complement you have a choice. For a bolder look like the family in the first example use the colors in roughly equal amounts. For a calmer look with a pop of color, try the second example and use the bold color just a little bit.

Try out complementary color combinations with this color wheel. You can slide the circle around to choose your main color. Then click the NEXT button to see different color combinations such as complementary.

Split Complementary

Are you ready for a challenge? It will give you more color options to choose from as a reward. It also gives you a vibrant, colorful feeling.

To create this color combination, you choose a color and then you also choose the two colors next to its complement on the color wheel.

Let’s take blue for example. It’s complement is orange. So you find the neighbors next to orange which are red and yellow. Your split complementary is blue-red-yellow.

The family in this example is wearing lots of blue with red and yellow too. They also include orange as well. I think it works well because red, yellow, and orange are all neighbors. And it gives a color feeling without feeling like the entire rainbow of colors which might distract the eye.

Neutral Colors

Another classic, timeless color scheme is choosing neutrals. A neutral color is one those that lacks color or has only a small amount.

Neutral colors include shades of brown, gray, white, light pinks, denim and black. For the most neutral, soft look avoid adding much black or navy.

Neutral colors are also freebies that you can use in any of your color schemes. You can go back and look at each of the examples and see all of the neutrals that the families added into their clothing. Using lots of neutrals is a great way to keep images feeling classic and timeless.

Your pants, shorts, shoes, sandals can be neutral colors. You can also choose shirts, sweaters, and accessories in neutrals too.

Tip #3 - Textures and Patterns are Great

You don’t have to worry about wearing only solids. Feel free to mix and match textures and patterns. You should probably stick to one or two patterns rather than several. If you stay within your color scheme it will all look great together.

If you don’t change up the textures and wear solid colors only then it can start to feel a bit too matchy like a uniform.

Tip #4 - Avoid Distracting Items

Avoid neon colors because they’re distracting and can cause weird color casts sometimes. Also try to use bright, bold colors sparingly to make an impact.

Avoid t-shirts with logos, graphics, and character faces. These can be fun for kids, but they will really attract attention away in your image. Make sure that’s what you’d want.

Large amounts of white will definitely draw attention in your image, but I think it works ok if you love wearing white.

Tip #5 - Dress Comfortably

Ideally, you want to feel great while taking pictures. If you or your kids don’t feel good then it tends to show in your pictures. It’s tempting to dress up little ones, but make sure they can handle it. I so wanted to dress up my tiny ones, but I knew they’d never go for it. Don’t forget to make sure your shoes fit your choice of location and are comfortable enough for getting around.