Fall is on the way, and this is your sign to start planning family portraits.

I keep coming back to this session with the Nau family. Every time it comes across my screen I stop on it, and it is the clothing that does it. Leather. A soft sweater. Denim. Suede. Warm, rich tones all the way through, good layers, and textures that photograph beautifully.

Now, I am not going to pretend that clothing is the whole ballgame. Good light and real expressions matter more. But of everything a family actually controls before we ever meet up, what everybody wears is the biggest one. It is the difference between five people who happen to be standing together and a portrait that looks like it was meant to be.

Start with where we are shooting

Here is the piece most families never think about. Your clothes have to get along with the location.

We made these over at Adriatica here in McKinney. If you have not been, it is a little Mediterranean village tucked into town, all warm stone and tile roofs and quiet neutral buildings, and in the evening the light comes through those columns and turns the sky pink behind you.

Now look at what the Nau family is wearing against all that. Their browns and blacks and that cognac suede sit right down in that scene like they belong there. Nothing fights. Nothing jumps out.

Put that same family in bright primary colors in front of that same wall and you would feel it right away, even if you could not name what was wrong. That is why the first thing I want to talk about with you is where we are going, and then what you are wearing. In that order.

Pick a range of colors, not a uniform

You do not need everybody in matching shirts. That look went out a long time ago and it never did anybody any favors.

What you want is a small family of colors that live near each other. Here it was black, chocolate brown, cognac, and denim. Four people, four different outfits, one palette. Everyone still looks like themselves, and the group still reads as a group.

My rule of thumb is to pick two or three colors and one neutral, then let everybody choose their own pieces inside that. Deeper and warmer wins in the fall. Save the bright whites and the loud patterns for another day.

Texture is what the camera loves

This is the part that surprises people. A camera can only show you color and light, so texture is what keeps an outfit from going flat.

Look at what is going on in these portraits. Leather has a sheen to it. Suede drinks the light up. A knit sweater has depth you can almost feel. Denim has its own grain. Put those next to each other and the photograph gets some life in it, even when the colors themselves are simple and quiet.

If you are standing in front of your closet and everything you have picked is the same smooth cotton, swap one piece for something with a little tooth to it. It will show.

Dads, this one is for you

I have to give this dad credit. His layers are doing a lot of work. A black tee under an open suede jacket, jeans, and boots. That is three levels of depth on one person, and it never once looks fussy or overdone.

Most dads I photograph want to wear one shirt and be finished with it, and I understand completely. But a jacket you can leave open, or a shirt over a tee, gives you some shape and some dimension standing there. It is about the easiest upgrade there is.

Let one person go first

If you are stuck, start with whoever is hardest to shop for. Usually that is a teenager with opinions. Build the rest of the family around that one outfit and the whole thing comes together in about fifteen minutes instead of two weeks of second-guessing.

You do not have to figure this out alone

Helping families plan what to wear is one of my favorite parts of the whole thing, and it costs you nothing. Once we have a date and a location, we will talk through colors, layers, textures, and what actually works for your family, your spot, and the look you are after. I have been doing this for over thirty years around McKinney, and I can tell you pretty quickly what is going to photograph well in a particular place at a particular time of day.

The right clothes can take a beautiful location and turn it into a beautiful portrait that hangs together.

Fall sessions fill up fast, and the good evening slots go first. Do not wait until fall gets here to start thinking about it. Give me a call or send a message, and let's get you on the calendar and make something you will love having on your wall for years.