What To Wear For Heart-Stopping Photo Sessions
Wardrobe choices make a tremendous difference in any professional photo session, but that’s especially true for maternity and newborn images. Professional stylists are pros when it comes to selecting the best colors and patterns for their clients’ skin tones, hair type, size/shape; and they also take the photo session setting(s) or backdrop(s) into consideration.
Learning some tips from the pros can help you create a photo session that yields heart-stopping images that capture the magic of the moment for decades to come.
Wardrobe Tips For Professional Maternity & Newborn Portraits
I’ve been taking professional maternity and newborn photo sessions for nearly a decade. My artistic eye and years of experience have taught me quite a bit about what to wear - and not wear - to ensure you look your best for an upcoming photo session celebrating your pregnancy or your miracle newborn.
What To Wear For Your Maternity Session
Maternity sessions offer a chance for you to slow down, pause, and honor your magnificent, pregnant being. Personally, I believe pregnant women should be highlighted in ways that make them feel like goddesses, queens, divas, or whatever elevated persona they’re most comfortable with.
While the third trimester may feel like an eternity for the woman carrying a near-full-term baby, it’s actually a very fleeting moment. Your maternity wardrobe choices may include one or two more formal dresses, but without using a ballroom gown or something worthy of the most luxurious boudoir, the odds are you don’t have the “just perfect” choice in your closet.
For that reason, I have my own maternity wardrobe that clients and I review during their design sessions. These gowns are carefully selected in a wide range of styles, sizes, lengths, colors, and fabrics. We’ll ensure that the gowns you wear during your maternity session are so gorgeous that the resulting images will take your breath away.
If you’re planning a DIY maternity photo session
If you’re opting for a DIY, rather than professional, maternity photo session:
Focus on earth tones. Even earthy jewel tones fit the bill here. Earth tones work with all skin types and colors, as well as with various settings or backdrops. Test your options beforehand to see what looks best on you - and in the environment. If you prefer brighter or more bold colors, that’s fine! You need to be confident in your choice. Rest them out in front of the backdrop or outdoor setting you’ve chosen, with similar photo daylighting, to ensure they reflect you in your best light.
Choose solids over patterns. The best maternity photos typically use solid colors rather than patterns. This is because we’re trying to highlight that beautiful baby belly. Patterns distract and are less likely to show the dramatic curvature of the pregnant form. So, while you may have appreciated them earlier in your pregnancy when you weren’t sharing the news yet or after your pregnancy as you work through physical postpartum changes, a maternity session is the time to show off every proud pound you’ve gained to grow that baby!
Fitted rather than loose. Again, as with the no-pattern recommendation, we want to highlight your beautiful third-trimester self. So, while having looser or flowy material below the bump or around the shoulders/arms is fine, ensure your photo session wardrobe choices are comfortably snug around the belly. You’ll never regret it. If you do opt for a looser garment, like a floor-length gown, make sure to use your arm/hand to wrap around your belly and create a more fitted look around your baby bump.
Think about climate control. Finally, consider your body’s thermostat when selecting what to wear for a maternity session. You don’t want to get too hot or too cold, or you won’t enjoy the process. If you’re set on wearing a specific item of clothing that doesn’t necessarily suit the season, have things like blankets, fans, etc., on hand so you can use them (or do them) before or after the images are taken.
What To Wear For Your Newborn Session
Once that precious baby is home from the hospital or birthing center, it’s time to look ahead to the newborn session. Your baby will be taken care of in the wardrobe department. Unless there’s something special you want to have them wear (like an heirloom or other special newborn garment), your baby will be swaddled or wrapped in our soft fabrics and safely posed to yield those precious images you’ve been dreaming of.
However, while we’ll have a hair and makeup stylist available for you (yay!), you’ll be the one deciding what to wear. Again, we’ll schedule you for a styling session, and we can talk about what you envision for your newborn, which directs which colors and styles are best for those posing with the baby for the session.
Again, we typically look for soft or more earthy tones because they yield the gentle look we aim for when posing and taking newborn photos. You’ll want to choose clothes that:
Compliment rather than clash with the setting/backdrop. While we don’t typically recommend blacks for color photos unless we’re creating a specific look, they look amazing in black/white - so keep that in mind.
Feel comfortable so you can focus on your baby and have more ease around natural poses.
You feel confident as that energy will transfer right through the images.
Are easy to get in and out of if you plan to have multiple wardrobe changes.
You’ll wear it again. There’s no need to purchase “something special” that you wouldn’t wear again for a special occasion. If you peek at my blog, you’ll see many newborn photos that include parents and significant others, some of which barely highlight what they’re wearing at all.
Learn More About What To Wear For Your Upcoming Photo Session
Are you interested in booking a professional maternity or newborn session? Get in touch with me, Marcela Limon. I’m the owner of Lemonshoots, one of the East Bay’s premier maternity and newborn photography studios.
Let us take care of everything, from what to wear and how to get your toddler (or family members) to cooperate to designing your album and hanging that very special framed wall piece in the nursery. We’re here to pamper you and make it a unique experience you’ll never forget.