An Executed Color Palette Inspo
If you're here reading this..just know you're making me nervous! This is my very first blog I've done as a photographer for my own photography page, and it's a little nerve-wracking. Let me just say, I've thought about this day for SO long, but was scared to put myself out there, but here I am!
I've carefully thought out about how I am supposed to achieve that 'light and airy' look that many of my clients desire, but couldn't fully execute it because of my lack of knowledge for outfit guides, picking a location, and basically not knowing whether color mattered. BUT I am here to tell you now that all of it matters. You'd be surprised how I could end up with such different editing because I wasn't educated enough to let my clients know that colors do clash and that a little goes a L O N G way. So, let's get started!
In this particular family session, I had a mixture of blues and my all time favorite, white as the color palette. Notice how all the shades of blue complement each other? Instead of having just one solid and same shade, we mixed in some baby blue, sky blue, and even a little powder blue. My niece, Evellyn wore a white long bell-sleeved shirt to give it a flowy feel. Her younger brother, Elliot, also wore white to give their outfit some contrast. He ended up wearing blue striped pants, which matched the other boys' outfits. If you have a difficult time selecting what pant color to wear, I always suggest some lightly shaded chinos, although you could very much get away with denim jeans as well.
Here, my sister is with her youngest daughter, Madellyn (Maddie). Maddie is actually wearing a knee-length dress, which also pleats at the bottom. It gives the dress some texture which helps with volume; not too plain, but not too extra either. She paired her dress with some casual white sandals and a beaded headband. I always say, the less, the better! My sister, Kelly, is wearing a lighter shade blue button-up shirt with a 3/4 sleeve. She paired her shirt with some regular white jeans and a light shade of pink sandals. Notice how her pant goes just to her ankle? That is desirable! Too much length makes it look baggy and we want to avoid that. Otherwise, we threw in a blush pink throw blanket as well to add a little bit of color. Since we shot at the sandy areas near the lake, it wasn't a harsh choice of color going up against their outfit color palette. In fact, it actually ties in their outfits and even bounces a little bit of color to their skin, giving them a 'glow.'
Lastly, I've added a couple of photos here to show how all the blues and whites complement one another. Clients tend to believe their families or spouse have to wear the 'exact' same color, but I am letting you know. Don't. Do. It. Is it wrong? Absolutely not. But wearing colors that are similar makes it so so so much better. Also, if you've noticed, I didn't have any of them wearing shirts or pants with logos, or having any sort of graphic on them (yes, even the little Ralph Lauren logo or American Eagle logo). It can get distracting (in fact, it is distracting) and I would hate for it to be the center of attention rather than my clients and their family. This is not a deal-breaker, but it's clean and it looks like a well-put-together outfit.
So, there you have it! I hope you've enjoyed this and consider this color palette because I have been waiting SOOO long to get this palette together. I legitimately used to believe that any shade of 'light' or blush colors were horrendous for a color choice when I was editing moody (not hating here, I still love my moody edits from time to time). Now that I've pretty much converted to a more true tone editor, I've realized that these colors are what makes these sessions so neutral and natural! Thank you for making it this far!
