What to Wear for Fall Family Photos on the North Shore
You almost certainly don't need to buy anything for this.
Soft neutrals, one accent color, and something everyone can move in. You probably own it already. Here's the version with reasons attached, and the four things I'd skip.
Start with one outfit
Pick one thing you already own and feel good in. Usually that's yours. When you feel good in what you're wearing, everything else about the day goes easier.
Then build everyone else around its colors. Working outward from one anchor takes about twenty minutes. Working from nothing takes a week and two trips back to the store.
Soft neutrals, one accent
Cream, oatmeal, camel, sage, blush, dusty blue. Rust and burgundy in small doses. Then let one person wear something with a little more saturation, and that's your whole color story.
Coordinate, don't match. Matching reads as a uniform. Coordinating reads as a family who got dressed in the same house.
Texture beats pattern
Knits, linen, corduroy, a chunky cardigan. Texture holds up in soft light and gives the images depth.
If you want a pattern, put it on one person and make it a big one. Wide stripes, large florals, a bold plaid. Tiny checks, thin pinstripes and small busy prints turn to mush from a few feet away, and on a screen they can shimmer and vibrate.
Four things to skip
Pure white and true black. In backlit golden hour light, white blows out and black flattens into a shape with no detail in it.
Big logos and graphics. They pull the eye straight to them, and they date the photo the moment the brand changes.
Neon and highly saturated brights. In low sun, strong color bounces up onto skin. Everyone ends up faintly green and nobody can work out why.
Orange, if we're shooting under turning trees. The trees have that covered. You'll disappear into them.
Layers, not coats
A coat is a wall. It hides everyone and it ends every photo at the neck.
A cardigan, a flannel, a jacket that comes off gives us two looks out of one outfit, and it gives kids somewhere to put their hands, which they will need.
A note about the lake
If we're shooting at Gillson Park, Elder Lane Beach or anywhere else along the water, plan for the wind. Long loose hair will be across someone's face for most of the hour. A dress that needs holding down will get held down in every frame.
That isn't a reason to skip the lakefront. It's a reason to bring a hair tie and pick something with a little weight to it.
Then let it down for a few frames anyway. Wind in the hair is one of the few things you cannot fake, and the families I photograph along the North Shore almost always end up loving those frames most.
Let the kids pick one thing
A shirt, the shoes, socks nobody will see. It doesn't matter which.
A kid who picked part of their own outfit wants to show it off. They turn up feeling like they helped plan the day instead of like they're being taken somewhere, and that difference lands in their face in every photo.
While you're at it, check the shoes. They end up in more frames than anyone expects, especially once everyone starts running.
What to bring
Snacks. A hairbrush. A full change of clothes for anyone under three, just in case.
That's the whole list.
Don't overthink the rest
Comfort beats the outfit every single time. If your kid can't move in what they're wearing, they won't, and movement is most of what I'm there to photograph.
And if you're stuck between two options, text me photos of both and we'll sort it out together.
Every family session I photograph in Glenview, Winnetka, Chicago and more comes with this guide when you book, along with location suggestions for the time of year we're shooting.
Fall dates across the North Shore are open now. If you're still working out timing, here's when to book fall family photos.
