What to wear for fall photos — family, couple and kids outfit ideas

Fall photos are mostly about colour, and the colour is already in the trees. The job of the outfits is to sit inside that palette without disappearing into it or fighting it. Here is what to wear for fall photos — for a family, a couple and children — with a picture of each idea.

Every picture here is one of our fall scenes, made by Headshot DP. Nobody in them is a customer.

The fall palette

The colours that photograph well in fall light are the ones already around you, slightly muted: cream, camel, rust, mustard, olive, forest green, navy and denim. Pick two or three and let everyone wear a version of them.

What to avoid:

• Bright orange, which vanishes against pumpkins and leaves.
• Pure black head to toe, which turns into a hole in the picture in low golden light.
• Neon and big logos, which pull the eye away from faces.
• Tiny checks and thin stripes, which shimmer at small sizes.

Coordinate, don't match

Four identical plaid shirts read as a uniform. The families that look best share a palette, not an outfit: one person in plaid, one in a solid knit, one in denim, all in the same few colours.

Fall family outfit ideas

• Cream knit + olive vest + denim for the adults, a plaid shirt or a green dress for the children.
• One plaid, everyone else solid. The plaid becomes the anchor.
• Layers. A vest, a cardigan, a scarf: layers photograph as texture and give hands something to do.

Fall couple outfit ideas

• A camel coat and a plaid scarf on one of you, a plain dark knit on the other. The scarf is the only pattern in the frame.
• Olive and white. An olive shirt beside a white blouse and light denim reads warm in golden-hour light.
• Match the weight, not the colour. Both in knitwear, or both in coats — one dressed for autumn and one for summer looks like two photographs.

What kids should wear for fall photos

• Knitwear with a little pattern — a fair isle sweater, a cable knit — is the classic, and it survives being sat in.
• Corduroy and pinafores in rust or mustard for little ones.
• Boots, because the good pictures happen in leaves, straw and mud.
• Something they will not fight. An itchy outfit is a scowl in every frame.

Mother and daughter

Matching is allowed here, softly: the same flower crowns, dresses in two related colours — cream and mustard — rather than the same dress twice.

Or let us dress you

If picking outfits for five people is the part you were dreading, you can skip it. Make your fall pictures from photos you already have: add each person once, with a close-up and one wider photo, and choose the scenes. We dress everyone for the scene, in sweaters, scarves and autumn colours, so any everyday photo works.

You see one free preview of your own people first, small and watermarked, before you pay. The scenes are on the fall portraits page; for locations, see fall family photo ideas and pumpkin patch photo ideas.

Questions

What colours are best for fall photos?

Cream, camel, rust, mustard, olive, forest green, navy and denim. Pick two or three and let everyone wear a version of them. Avoid bright orange, which blends into pumpkins and leaves.

Should a family match for fall pictures?

Coordinate rather than match: share a palette of two or three colours, and let each person wear it differently. One plaid, everyone else in solids, works almost every time.

What should a couple wear for fall photos?

Outfits of the same weight in related colours — both in knitwear, or both in coats — with at most one pattern between you, such as a plaid scarf.

Do we need to dress for fall to make fall pictures with you?

No. We dress everyone for the scene, so any everyday photo works.