As a child it was fun. You put on your nice clothes. You would get a special hairstyle and you were given specific instructions to stay neat for the rest of the day. So why is it as an adult you are ready to throw a tantrum when you have to take pictures?
The reason is simple. As an adult there are only a few unpleasant reasons you will NEED to take a picture such as your driver’s license which requires you to visit the unhappiest place on earth, the DMV, or a mug shot which never turns out well because the photo is ruined by the jail number you must hold up in the photo. All kidding aside, you may actually need to take professional photos for your career or for an online dating profile and one of the most important things you can learn is what colors to wear in photos.
Let’s start on what to avoid, unless the photo is for a head shot to become a starlet in a 1920’s silent film, you will generally want to avoid wearing black or wearing white in a photo. On a photo shoot these two options will require different lighting setup so for amateurish photos it is just best to avoid those colors. They are just very difficult to photograph well.
So if black and white are out, what colors should you wear? The unsatisfactory answer is, it depends. To really choose the best color, you should know your color season. This means knowing if you are an Autumn, Winter, Spring, or Summer. Colors that look okay on a Summer will look great on an Autumn because in the photo you will see that it brings out the complexion, eye color, and hair color.
Here are some great colors to wear in photos for the different seasons:
- Spring: Aqua, Emerald Green, Rust Red
- Summer: Lavender, Cranberry, Cadet Blue
- Autumn: Grass Green, Cinnamon, Rust
- Winter: Blood Red, Royal Blue, or Purple
If you do not know your color season, here are some almost universal colors to wear in photos to look great: bright red and bright blue. These colors will look great and make any photo jump right off the page. Remember that the colors listed are the ones that you want to wear on the upper half of your body near your face.
If it is a really important photo, for example if it is for your dating profile that will determine if you are home alone or out having fun for the next several Friday nights, then do what the pros do… test shots. Nowadays, everyone has a camera on their phone. Simply take pictures of yourself in the different colors and determine which one looks best. Most of the time you will be surprised at which outfit/color looks best in photo. That is why the professionals have racks and racks of colors and outfits at photo shoots. Now that you know which colors to wear in photos, it is time to ask an even more important question, “Is it inappropriate to use your mug shot on next year’s Christmas card?”