Choosing the BEST Colors for your Engagement Photos

INTRODUCTION

Part of what makes a beautiful photo session are the colors that are presented! Think greens and reds during Christmas, or a beautifully colored movie that shows complementary colors such as teal and orange.

Each color has a friend on the other side of the color wheel that brings out the best in both of them.

You really want clothing colors that work well with the environment and adds to the look of the image. You never want loud or distracting colors that compete for attention. 

DECIDING THE LOOK

Everyone has different tastes. What inspires you? What photos have you seen on Pinterest or IG that really grabs your attention? Flowy dresses and cute hats in an open field? Maybe boho is your jam! Perhaps a more regal style shoot in a beautiful indoor venue feels more your style.

Whatever your style is, we want you to dress accordingly. Try making a Pinterest board, or screenshot all the photos that inspire you and look at the outfits.

This is going to give you an idea of what you may want to purchase for your upcoming shoot, or you may even have something similar in your closet. Take a look!

Best to use online photos for inspiration and ideas. Trying to do an 'exact copy' of another photo is next to impossible to do (as you and your surroundings are much different than theirs) and it never looks quite right. So get inspired and come up with your own unique ideas.  

Above all, we want to make sure that whatever outfit you choose, you FEEL gorgeous, confident, and comfortable in it. This will translate to amazing photos!

CHOOSING THE RIGHT COLORS

We talked about the color wheel a bit earlier. Let’s use the principle of complementary colors for your engagement photos. We don’t want to get too confusing or technical, but understanding the basics goes a long way when choosing your outfits.

Bright, overly saturated colors can come across as very harsh in camera.

You always want to choose colors that are easier on the eye. Say you like green and red, think EARTHY Green and BURGUNDY Red. A good rule of thumb is monochromatic colors, pastels, deep tones, and NO neons.

Small Textures and patterns are ok but use them sparingly, so try to refrain from large logos, character tees, and big/bright/bold patterns.

Lay your proposed outfits on the bed and squint your eyes at them and if they seem to blend, with no particular one jumping out, you should be good.

If a bright white shirt looks too bright or the yellow in the dress is too intense, make some adjustments and try again. Once the colors are right, you’re good to go!

PUTTING TOGETHER THE OUTFIT

Having inspiration photos and knowing what you like or don’t like is a huge help when it comes time to start putting your outfits together.

If you’re still a little lost, your photographer can help you build a color scheme around the main color/outfit you want to coordinate everything else with.

Once you think you’ve got your outfits set, you need to look at them side by side. Seeing it all together is going to help tremendously, and bonus if you try it on!

Sending pics to your photographer to get their input is invaluable, too, especially if colors and outfits aren’t your strong suit.

Then you can adjust accordingly if needed! Take a look at some of our previous couples’ sessions in this post for outfit/color palette inspiration on what to wear for your engagement photos!

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