We are excited to welcome Rachel Michael, a Minneapolis-based style coach and owner of Reflect Style, to the blog today! Rachel is a talented style coach who is dedicated to helping creative women find their unique style voice. Before a portrait session, one of the most common questions we get from clients is: “What color should I wear?” There’s a lot to consider when it comes to choosing the perfect color for your photoshoot, and Rachel is going to walk us through the three steps of understanding the impact of our outfit’s color and ultimately, how to choose the right color for you!
When you look at a color, how do you feel? Oftentimes, there’s a subtle but visceral reaction, a quick impression in your brain sparked by that color and it’s subliminal meaning. For example, when you look at red you could feel hungry, energized, or powerful. When you look at yellow you might subconsciously feel happy, energetic, or even alarmed. And when you wear a color, the same goes! It changes how you feel about yourself, impacting your mood and your energy. When you look at it this way, color is a powerful tool that you can use to your advantage to take your branding shoots to the next level.
But it’s not about wearing the exact colors of your brand to make sure you match the color story. It’s about using what you wear to evoke the feeling of your brand, show off the personality and tell its story to powerfully convey your message all in a single glance.
Step One:
First, determine how you want others to feel about your brand when they see these photos.
- If you want them to feel energized, excited, happy, hopeful or warm go with colors in the red, orange, and yellow color families.
- If you want them to feel calm, relaxed, and trustful go with colors in the blue, purple, and green color families.
- If you want them to think about timelessness, sophistication and elegance consider going with neutrals like black, white, and grey.
Step Two:
Next, consider how you want to feel during your photoshoot.
- Often how you want people to feel about you and your brand is a reflection of who you are as a person so these two will likely go hand in hand.
- For example: If you want people to feel energized and excited about your brand, slip into orange. This color will also help YOU feel energized and excited which feeds into the emotion captured in the photo. Isn’t it beautiful how these two work together?!
Step Three:
Pick a shade or tone of the color. To do this, you’ll want to consider the vibe of your brand.
- Does your brand have a serene, calm and all natural vibe to it? Consider going with soft, muted colors (blush, sea green, dusty blue, etc.) and neutrals (cream, white, light grey, beige) to give viewers a sense of ease and serenity when viewing the photo.
- Is your brand all about having fun, being playful and enjoying life? Then you’ll want to go with vibrant, saturated and rich colors like cobalt blue, kelly green, fuchsia, etc.
- If your brand is natural, earthy and sustainable, then earth tones like mustard, burnt orange, olive green, and brown will convey that easily.
