Before a portrait session a lot of my clients ask me how to color coordinate outfits for photos. Most people are confused with the endless pairing of options. The thing is that it doesn’t have to be super complicated or stressful to put together a color coordinated outfit.
The easiest way I’ve found to color coordinate an ensemble is inspired by this video from Parker York Smith. In this video he makes this simple by breaking colors into three categories:
Earth Tones
Most simply put, earth tones are all the colors you’d find in nature. This includes bright, vibrant colors, and more muddy earthy colors with significant saturation.
Neutrals
Neutrals are white, pastels, greys and even dark charcoals. Less saturated earth tones fall into the neutral category at some point. Don’t get hung up where the line is just know it exists
Blacks
The last color category is black. That’s it.
How To Color Coordinate Using The 90/10 Rule
Styling gets simple when you break everything down into earth tones, neutrals, or black. If you’re just starting out, stick to one category—or mostly one—and toss in a splash from another. A 90/10 mix is a solid place to begin if you want to experiment. Here are some examples of some of my clients who did a good job color styling their portraits using this method.