What to Wear for Family Photos in the Desert

Once a family books with me, the wardrobe wondering usually starts within a day or two — a text, an email, a photo of three outfits laid out on the bed with the caption "help!" I always love it, because it tells me you care. You want these images to feel like you, and you want to look back on them years from now and still love them. After many years of photographing families across Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley, I've learned that what you wear is one of the few things that can make or break a set of photos, and it's also one of the easiest things to get right once you know a few simple principles.

This is the guide I wish I could hand every family before our shoot. It's specific to here — to our light, our landscape, our heat, and the way our seasons run a little upside down from the rest of the country. Let's get you dressed for the desert.

Start with the landscape, not the clothes

Before you pull a single thing out of the closet, picture where we'll be. Most of my family sessions happen in the places where people actually feel like themselves — in your own home, with soft daylight pouring through the windows, or close by at a local park, garden, or shaded patio here in the valley. Even so, the Coachella Valley palette tends to follow us indoors and out: warm sand, pale stone, dusty green creosote and palo verde, the silvery-blue of distant mountains, and that endless soft sky. Whether we're in your living room, under the palms at a neighborhood park in Palm Desert, on a garden patio in Indian Wells, or against a bright midcentury wall in Palm Springs, the backdrop tends to be warm, light, and uncluttered.

That matters because the most flattering wardrobe is the one that harmonizes with the setting rather than fighting it. You want your family to be the subject — warm faces and real connection — with the desert as a beautiful, quiet stage behind you. When clothing clashes with the landscape, the eye gets pulled away from the people. When it harmonizes, everyone in the frame glows.

So the single best piece of advice I can give you: choose a palette inspired by the desert itself.

Building your color palette

The families who look most timeless in their photos almost always do the same thing — they pick a small, cohesive color story and dress everyone within it. Not matching. Coordinating. There's a big difference, and the difference is what separates a portrait that looks effortless from one that looks like a school picture day.

Here's how I'd think about it.

Colors that sing in the desert

• Warm neutrals — cream, oatmeal, camel, soft tan, warm white, terracotta, rust, and clay. These are the colors of the desert floor at golden hour, and they make skin look luminous.
• Soft, dusty tones — sage green, dusty blue, mauve, muted blush, and faded ochre. They feel romantic against sand and stone without being loud.
• Deeper warm accents — burnt orange, olive, mustard, and a rich brown for an anchor piece. A little depth keeps the palette from washing out under our bright light.

Colors I'd gently steer you away from

• Bright, saturated primaries — fire-engine red, electric blue, hot pink. In our intense desert sun these can glow so strongly that they reflect color onto faces (a red shirt can leave a pink cast under a chin) and pull all the attention.
• Pure stark white tops on everyone — a little white is lovely, but a head-to-toe white outfit in midday desert sun blows out very easily. Warm whites and creams photograph far more gently.
• Neon and bright logos or large graphics — they date a photo instantly and fight the calm mood we're after.

The simple formula that always works

Pick two or three main colors, then add one or two soft neutrals to tie them together. Spread those colors across the family so no one is an island. For example:

Sage green, cream, and warm tan, with touches of rust. Mom in a flowing sage dress, Dad in a cream linen shirt and tan trousers, one child in rust, another in cream with a sage detail. Everyone belongs to the same family, but no two outfits are identical.

The trick is to let colors repeat and echo across people rather than landing all in one spot. If Dad's shirt is rust, give a child a rust ribbon, a rust stripe, or rust shoes. Your eye reads that as a single, connected group.

Give each person their own outfit

I want to say this plainly because it's the most common mistake I see: please don't put the whole family in identical khaki-and-white. It was the standard for a long time, and it reads as dated and a little flat now. Identical outfits flatten everyone into a uniform and erase the individuality that makes a family wonderful.

Instead, give each person their own outfit within the shared palette. Mix it up:

• Let one person wear a pattern and keep the rest in solids.
• Vary the shades — a lighter sage here, a deeper olive there.
• Mix textures so the photo has richness even where the colors are quiet.

When you stand back and the family looks like it belongs together but every person still looks like themselves, you've nailed it.

Texture and fabric: the desert's secret weapon

If color is the first decision, texture is the one that quietly makes everything look more expensive and more beautiful. Because our palette here leans soft and neutral, texture is what keeps the images from looking plain. It catches our gorgeous side light and adds dimension.

Reach for:

• Linen — the desert fabric. It breathes in the heat, it drapes beautifully, and a little natural wrinkle looks intentional and relaxed.
• Cotton, gauze, and chambray — light, soft, and easy on warm afternoons.
• Knits and soft sweaters — wonderful in our cooler winter months (more on timing below).
• Flowy dresses and skirts — anything with movement is magic in the desert because we almost always have a little breeze, and fabric that catches the wind gives me those dreamy, alive frames.
• Suede, leather accents, and natural fibers — even a small detail like a woven belt or a felt hat adds character.

What to avoid: stiff, shiny synthetics and anything skin-tight and unforgiving. Clingy fabrics show every wrinkle and crease, and they don't move with our breeze. Loose, natural, breathable — that's the desert way, and it photographs as comfort, which is exactly the feeling we want.

Dressing for our weather (this part is local)

Here's where the Coachella Valley really is its own world, and where generic "what to wear" advice falls apart. Our calendar runs differently, and dressing for the actual conditions on your session day is what keeps everyone happy and looking their best.

Our cool season (roughly November through April)

These are the comfortable months, and a lot of my family sessions land here. Mornings and evenings can be genuinely cool — a January evening at a La Quinta park can have you reaching for a jacket. This is the season to lean into layers: think soft sweaters, a draped cardigan, a denim or suede jacket, long sleeves, scarves, and closed-toe shoes or boots. Layers are a gift photographically too — they add texture and let me create a few different looks within one session (jacket on, jacket off). Warm tones — camel, rust, cream, olive — feel perfectly at home against our winter desert light.

The shoulder months and warm afternoons

Even in our cooler season, midday can warm up fast. If we're shooting later in spring or on an unseasonably warm day, dress in breathable layers you can shed. Bring light fabrics, and save the heavy knits for the cool edges of the day.

Summer (and why we chase the light)

Our summers are intense — triple digits are normal from June through September. This is when many families choose an in-home session: soft window light, cool air, and no one wilting in a parking lot. If we do head outdoors in summer, we work at the very edges of the day — early morning or that last hour before sunset. Either way, dress for real heat. Light colors, loose linen and cotton, breathable everything, and sandals or soft flats. Skip anything heavy, dark, or tight. For outdoor sessions I always remind families to bring water for everyone, and I plan our location and pacing around shade and comfort. A cranky, overheated toddler is no one's idea of a good photo — staying cool is part of the wardrobe plan.

A note on light, indoors and out

For our outdoor sessions at a park or garden, I love to work in that warm, low light near sunrise or sunset — it's forgiving and flattering, and it makes warm-toned clothing positively glow. Indoors, I rely on soft natural window light, which is just as kind to skin and wraps a room in a gentle, even wash. Either way, soft, light-catching fabrics — gauze, linen, anything that moves — are at their most beautiful.

Dressing each member of the family

The grown-ups

You set the tone, so I usually suggest starting with Mom's outfit and building everyone else's palette around it. A flowing maxi dress is a perennial favorite here — it moves in the breeze, flatters every body, and feels both relaxed and elegant. If a dress isn't your thing, a soft blouse with well-fitted trousers and a great texture works beautifully.

For the other adult, coordinate into that palette without matching it exactly. A linen button-down (cream, sage, or chambray) with chinos or dark-but-warm trousers is foolproof. Roll the sleeves, keep it relaxed.

Whatever you choose, wear something you feel genuinely good in. Comfort reads on your face. If you're tugging at a hemline or sucking in, I'll see it. If you feel like the best version of yourself, that's what comes through.

The kids

My honest advice: dress them in the palette, then let them be comfortable enough to be themselves. The best children's photos happen when a child forgets they're being photographed, and stiff, scratchy, brand-new clothes are the enemy of that.

• Keep it soft and broken-in, not itchy or fussy.
• Coordinate them into the family colors, but let their outfits have a little personality.
• For little ones, bring a backup outfit — desert dust, snack smudges, and spills are real.
• Comfortable shoes they can actually run and climb in. We'll be moving around.

Babies and toddlers

Simple, soft, and warm-toned wins. A onesie in cream or a tiny linen romper photographs beautifully and won't fight the rest of the family. Avoid big bows or huge graphics that overwhelm a small frame. And again — pack the backup, and a layer for cool mornings.

Teens

Give them some ownership. If a teenager helps pick their own outfit within your palette, they'll feel more at ease, and ease is everything in a portrait. Steer them gently away from big logos and very trendy pieces that will look dated quickly — we want these to feel timeless.

Accessories, shoes, and the finishing touches

The little things round everything out:

• Hats — a felt or straw hat is right at home in the desert and doubles as sun protection. Just be mindful that wide brims cast shadows over the eyes in bright sun; I'll help you angle it.
• Jewelry — simple and warm-toned (gold reads beautifully against our palette). Skip anything that jingles or distracts.
• Shoes — they show more often than you'd think. Coordinate them too; leather sandals, boots, or simple neutral flats all work. Please, no bright white athletic sneakers unless that's truly your family's style — they tend to grab the eye.
• Hair and a few practical extras — bring a brush, hair ties, blotting tissues, and a small mirror for touch-ups. Desert wind is part of the charm, but you'll want to tame the flyaways between frames.

A quick prep checklist

The week before our session:

• Lay every outfit out together on a bed and photograph them side by side with your phone. This is the single best way to spot a clash or a piece that's pulling too much attention.
• Iron or steam anything that needs it (linen's relaxed wrinkles are fine; deep creases are not).
• Try everything on ahead of time, especially kids' clothes they may have outgrown.
• Check shoes and socks — they end up in the frame.
• Trim and tidy little fingernails, and skip the bright temporary tattoos.
• Pack a small session bag: water, snacks for the kids, backup outfits, a layer for cool air, and your touch-up kit.
• Get a good night's sleep and eat before we meet — happy, comfortable families always photograph best.

Common mistakes to avoid

After all these years, these are the ones I see most:

1. Everyone in identical outfits. Coordinate within a palette instead.
2. Too many colors and patterns at once. Keep it to two or three colors and let one person carry the pattern.
3. Loud logos and busy graphics. They date the image and steal attention.
4. Brand-new, stiff, or itchy clothes — especially on kids. Comfort first.
5. Ignoring the weather. Dressing for a generic "photoshoot" instead of an actual cool desert morning or a warm afternoon.
6. Forgetting shoes. They're in more photos than you expect.
7. Wearing something you don't feel good in. It always shows.

Let the desert do its part

When your family's colors live in harmony with our warm sand, soft mountains, and golden light, something lovely happens — the photos feel cohesive, calm, and timeless, and you become the heart of them. That's the whole goal: images that feel honest and warm, that look like your family at this exact, fleeting chapter of your lives.

If you'd like more help thinking it through, I've written companion guides on what to wear for branding photos in the Coachella Valley and on planning the best time of year for desert family photos — and once we book, I'm always happy to look at your outfit choices with you before the day so we can be sure everything sings together.

Mostly, I want you to relax. The clothes matter, but they're the easy part — and helping you get them right is part of my job. The hard part, the real magic, is the connection between the people I'm photographing, and that's the part you already have.

When you're ready, I'd love to plan a session for your family — in the comfort of your own home, or at a favorite park or garden nearby. Send me a note and tell me a little about who you are; I'd be glad to help you create images you'll treasure for years to come.