ple within the group, increases in importance with the number of people in
the group. It is possible to create an appealing portrait with two people wear-
ing contrasting tones or colors, but it is impossible to do this with a group
of ten or twelve people. With the reduced facial size, the viewer’s eyes will be
drawn to the contrasts in clothing tones or colors, and not to the subjects’
faces.
It is best to talk with the principal female in the group and explain how im-
portant color and tone coordination is. Typically, they will help make sure
everyone dresses similarly, and often buy matching clothing for the group.
While color and tone are important, so is the style of the clothing. You can’t
have everyone in sweaters and one person in a t-shirt or shirt and tie. The style
needs to be similar and should be coordinated to the style of scene, pairing
casual styles of clothing with typical outdoor scenes and dressier clothing with
more formal locations.
The one time that contrasting clothing is appropriate is when very small
children or babies are to be photographed with full-grown people. In this
case, having them dressed in contrasting color or tones helps draw the
viewer’s eyes to these very small people in a very large world. Without con-
100 JEFF SMITH’S POSING TECHNIQUES FOR LOCATION PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Clothing selection is important. In this
image, all but one subject wore green. The
mismatched shirt had to be retouched to cre-
ate the image seen here. Remember to ad-
vise your clients that ignoring your advice
about clothing suggestions may result in ad-
ditional retouching fees.