5 Things To Think About When Styling a Photo Session

 

It?s fun to go out and take cute pics of your kids or grandkids on the fly. You know, like when they are playing out in the backyard or just look extra cute that day. But when you want to take pictures that are a little more styled, it does take some time and planning on your part. It doesn’t have to be super hard to do, but it does take more thought than just pulling out your camera.

 

So if you are thinking about styling a session for your kids or clients soon, take a peek at these 5 things that might help you out to make it super successful.

 

Your Subject

You might have some ideas swirling around in your head about the vision you?d like to create, but guess what So does your subject. It’s always a good idea to ask them what their ideas are too! They might have some pretty interesting thoughts that will help in the styling of this session. Hey, two heads are always better than one right?

 

For this session with my daughter I knew I wanted to make it more styled then just having her put on clean clothes and heading outside at the ideal time of day. I had a few ideas, but she had her own: she wanted to be mega-fashionable and stylish. That was her criteria, so I went with it.

 

Clothing

Clothing is a HUGE part of styling a session. Pay attention to the details and choose colors, textures and materials that are going to look good.

 

She she wanted fashion and style, so we headed out to a local thrift store with that in mind. We found a red lace dress that screamed fashion. (cost= $1.99) Lace in general takes great photos because of the texture, so the find was perfect!

Accessories

Think about what else you’d like to have in your styled photos. Jewelry, flowers, hats, scarves, food, other props.. Really there are a lot of things you could add to give your styled photo that much more intrigue and detail.

 

We kept it simple here, and back at the thrift shop, found a pearl necklace, and matching red dangle bracelets. (cost= $0.50 each) Simple, to keep it interesting, but not so much that it totally overpowered the photo.

 

Colors

Complementing the colors in your photo is a big win! It will take an OK photo and make it really eye catching! Whatever clothing, props and accessories you choose, aim to find a background or location that will complement it.

 

Here we choose a park with lots of green, because I knew it would complement the red. Plus, [BONUS!] there was a cute little area with a very pretty cream color that gave me some variety and also complemented the red dress well.

 

Time

This is something to think about when wanting to style a session. How much time do you want to put into it? A carefully planned and styled session could take months of planning. Especially if you have more than one model or are looking for hairstylist or make up artists. If you have a real specific look you are trying to capture, it may take you some time to lock down the perfect outfit or props that you’ll need. Decide how big of a project you want to make this.

 

For us, it was just my daughter and me wanting to have fun, play a little dress up and get some great shots in too. It only took a few days to piece it all together, but I think in the end it turned out pretty sweet (…and very fashionable & stylish!)

 

 

Are YOU thinking about shooting something a bit more styled? Tell me about it! Leave a comment below or if you’ve already shot a more styled photo, tag me in it over on Instagram! I’d love to see;)