What to Wear for Senior Photos

Does it make you feel confident?

Handsome, beautiful, amazing. That feeling shows up in your face before it shows up anywhere else, and it is the single biggest difference between a photo you like and a photo you love.

Does it flatter you?

Highlight what you love and minimize what you don’t. You already know which things in your closet do this. Those are the ones.

Would you actually wear it?

Colors you truly like, not colors you picked because someone said they photograph well. If you would not wear it on a normal Saturday, it will look borrowed.

Does it look like your style?

Dress it up a bit if you want to. But don’t feel pressure to be overly formal if that’s not you. These photos are supposed to look like your senior year, not like a job interview.

The two looks work best when they are genuinely different from each other, because that is what makes a gallery feel like a story instead of a set.

A split that works: one that is a little dressed up, and one that is what you actually wear. Another: one simple and neutral, one with the color or texture you love. If you play a sport, one of them can be built around your gear.

Bring both on hangers if you can. Wrinkles are the one thing that is genuinely hard to fix later.

This is where Portland actually changes the advice. Most of the best spots around here are green — Hoyt Arboretum, Tryon Creek, Cooper Mountain, Forest Park, Tualatin Hills. Against that much green, deep and saturated colors separate you from the background beautifully. Rust, mustard, burgundy, navy, cream, warm neutrals, denim. Black and white both work and always will.

The one to think twice about is bright or yellow-green, which tends to disappear into the leaves.

Some spots are already doing the color work for you — the International Rose Test Garden in June, Crystal Springs when the rhododendrons peak in spring, the murals and brick along Alberta. At those, simpler outfits win. Let the location be loud. If you haven’t picked a spot yet, start with the best senior photo locations in Portland.

Early fall

The best light of the year, and the ground is usually still dry. Layers are perfect here because the temperature drops fast once the sun gets low.

Late fall through winter

It will probably be wet, and that is fine. Some of my favorite frames come from grey days, because the light is soft and even. A good jacket is a look, not a compromise. Bring shoes you don’t mind getting muddy and the shoes you actually want in the photos.

Spring

Everything blooms and the color is free. Rain is still in play, so plan a layer you can add or drop.

Summer

It stays hot well into the evening, then cools quickly, especially near the water at Sauvie Island or out toward the Gorge. Something breathable plus one warm layer covers the whole session.

Props and accessories are encouraged. Anything that makes you, you.

A favorite hat or jacket. Your guitar. The letterman. Cleats, glove, bat, spikes. The car you saved up for. The dog. These are the details you will actually care about in ten years, more than the outfit itself.

Bring your gear to the portrait session. The jersey, the cleats, the bat, the glove, whatever you actually use, and not just the clean version of it.

Your uniform takes care of itself on game day, so the only thing worth planning is how you want to look out of it.

Two looks that feel different from each other. Colors you like, on the deeper side. Steam or iron everything. Bring backup shoes. Add one layer more than you think you need. Bring the object that is yours.

Then stop thinking about it, because that is my job.