child portrait shoot and clothing

[rickp1]

A family member wants me to take some portraits of her daughter.

I'm looking for some recommendations on what color clothing she should wear, meaning colors that work well with the camera, also what type of clothing is recommended for this type of shoot?

Thanks
R.

[Kit]

It realy depends on a lot of things.
What look are you going for?
The clothing should suit the environment that your shooting in
How old is she?
What colouring is she?
What's her personality (no point trying to make her look like a little princess if she's a tom boy)?

So many things to consider but generally I would steer away from anything that has some sort of character on it.

[rickp1]

it's an indoor shoot with a solid light background. she is about 9, your typical little girl. For now they just want some basic portrait images, nothing complicated

I guess what i'm looking for is the best color for her to wear?

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by rickp1

it's an indoor shoot with a solid light background. she is about 9, your typical little girl. For now they just want some basic portrait images, nothing complicated

I guess what i'm looking for is the best color for her to wear?

What color hair?
What color eyes?
What skin tone?
All those relevant if you want us to guess at what might be the best color for her.

[rickp1]

Brown hair
Brown eyes
light skin with a very light tan tone.

Thanks for the break down, I wouldn't have thought of it. Some suggested blue or red, any thoughts on those colors?

R.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by rickp1

Some suggested blue or red, any thoughts on those colors?

R.

Just an FYI - red can be tough to photograph - the red channel is easily blown in post processing.

I might go with something simple like ivory. Pure white is also too easy to blow out, but ivory is still soft, pretty and timeless, and it photographs well.

[rickp1]

yeah i read that red can also be tricky if converting to B&W.

thanks

[NicolaB]

Depends on what atmosphere you want to set. Ask them what they want to do with the image. Do they want a large canvass for eg. Remind them that the image will be around for a long time so they should think 'timeless' clothing.

I would lay down some ground rules though:

No spots or stripes
No logos on t-shirts
Avoid crazy patterns that will compete for attention.

Here is an example of why - what do you see first?



hth