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What to wear for a London photoshoot

Wear one calm base colour, one texture, and a coat you actually like. That is most of it. London gives you grey stone, grey sky and a lot of red, so the clothes that work are the ones that sit still against that and let your faces do the work.

AnatolyBy Anatoly, co-founder and editor · Routes and timings from Natalia’s London sessions · Updated

The rest of this page is the detail: what the backgrounds do to particular colours, what each season really needs, and whether a second outfit is worth the fifteen minutes it costs you.

Couple in winter coats by the Thames, London Eye across the river
February, by the river. In winter the coat is the outfit, so it is worth choosing it first.

Part of our London photo guide: London photo spots, the 14 places we use.

The short answer

  • One base colour between you: cream, camel, navy, charcoal, black. Then one thing with texture — wool, knit, leather, suede.
  • Something that moves. A long coat, a skirt, a scarf. Wind off the Thames is free and it does half the work.
  • No slogans, no big logos, no tight stripes or small checks. They flicker on camera and they date the photo.
  • Shoes you can walk a mile in. A session covers about a kilometre and a half, most of it on stone.
  • Bring the coat even if the forecast is good. The river is colder than the rest of the city, and half our best frames have a coat in them.

What London does to colour

Every backdrop on a Westminster session is one of four things: pale stone, dark stone, grey water, or grey sky. Colours behave differently against that than they do in a shop mirror.

Grey is the background, not the problem

An overcast London day is the softest light you will ever be photographed in: no squinting, no hard shadow under the eyes, and the same light for the whole hour rather than a new problem every ten minutes. Against that, mid-tones disappear a little, which is why one strong value — properly light or properly dark — beats three medium ones.

Red is already taken

There are red buses, red phone boxes and red post boxes in almost every frame. A red coat has to fight all of them for attention, and it usually wins in a way nobody wanted. If red is your colour, keep it small: a scarf, a lip, a bag.

White and cream are the safest bet

Cream, ivory, oatmeal and camel sit beautifully against Portland stone, and they lift the face on a grey day. They are the single most reliable choice for a London session. Pure white under strong midday sun is the one exception; it blows out where everything else holds.

Black works, but not head to toe

Black against the dark stone under the bridge arches turns into a silhouette with a head floating on top. Black with something lighter — a cream scarf, bare legs, a pale bag, a face-framing collar — reads properly. Black in bright winter sun is superb.

Denim and the river

Denim photographs well here and always has. Mid and dark blue against grey water is one of the easiest combinations in the city, and it is the one thing on this page nobody ever regrets packing.

Couple in coats walking across a wet Westminster Bridge with a red bus behind
Coats, wet stone and a bus. The two of them are in the same palette without wearing the same thing.

Two of you, one palette

Coordinate, do not match

Matching outfits photograph as a uniform. Two things from the same family — camel and cream, navy and grey, black and charcoal — photograph as a couple. Pick the palette together and then choose separately inside it.

Let one person lead

The simplest method we know: one of you picks the outfit you feel best in, and the other builds around it. It takes ten minutes instead of a week of messages, and it stops both of you compromising into beige.

With children, dress them last

Choose the adults first, then put the children in something from the same palette that they can run in. Nothing stiff, nothing new, nothing they have been told not to get dirty. A child who is being careful about their clothes shows it in every single frame.

Season by season

Winter, November to February

Cold, between about three and eight degrees, and it feels colder on the bridge than it does on the street. The coat is the outfit; everything under it is a detail. Bring gloves and a hat even if you do not intend to wear them, because having them means you can stay out for the whole hour.

The compensation is the light. Sunset is just before four in December, so golden hour and blue hour both land in the afternoon instead of at bedtime. Full detail is in our guide to the best time of day to take photos in London.

Spring, March to May

The most changeable weather of the year: sun, wind and a shower inside the same hour. Layers you can take off, and something that is not ruined by rain. This is the season where a second light layer does more than a second outfit would.

Summer, June to August

Warm rather than hot, usually eighteen to twenty-three degrees. Linen, cotton, anything with air in it. The catch is the light: in June the sun does not set until after nine, so the good hour is either very early or very late, and the middle of the day is harsh and crowded.

Autumn, September to November

Our favourite season to shoot. Soft light, fewer people, and wet pavement that doubles every light in the frame. Bring a coat and shoes that cope with rain, and read the rain guide before you cancel anything.

Woman in a cream suit on Westminster Bridge with the Houses of Parliament behind
Cream against Portland stone. The most reliable combination there is in this city.

The things that end up in frame anyway

  • Bags. Whatever you carry will be in half the photographs, so bring the one you like rather than the tote from the hotel. We can hold the rest.
  • Hands. Rings, watches and nails are close to the face in most couple frames. Worth five minutes of thought if that matters to you.
  • Sunglasses. Useful for ten minutes, and then they hide the eyes in every frame. Bring them, use them on the way, take them off when we start.
  • A clear umbrella if rain is forecast. It lights two faces instead of hiding them, and it costs about eight pounds anywhere in central London.
  • Hair. There is always wind on the bridge and along the river. Anything that only works perfectly still will not survive the hour.

Is a second outfit worth it?

On a one-hour session, usually not. Changing costs fifteen minutes of the hour and there is nowhere convenient to do it, so you trade a quarter of your photographs for a second look. On a two-hour session it is easy, and it is one of the main reasons people book two hours.

There is a free version of the same thing: take the coat off. A long coat on and then off, with a different scarf, reads as two completely different sets of photographs, and it costs you thirty seconds. We plan the route so the change of look lands where the background changes too.

Fifteen sessions, fifteen different outfits

Real sessions, in sun, rain and flat grey. Coats, suits, slip dresses, jeans and one blue dress that has been in more of our photographs than anything else.

Loading Images
Couple standing by the Thames in winter coats, London Eye across the Thames
Woman in a cream suit on Westminster Bridge with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
Couple walking across wet Westminster Bridge with Big Ben and a red bus behind
Woman in a blue dress under Big Ben with a red London bus passing
Woman in a cream suit by the Thames with the Houses of Parliament behind
Woman in a white dress mid-step on the Victoria Embankment, London Eye across the Thames
Woman in a slip dress leaning on Westminster Bridge with Big Ben behind
Woman in a long coat leaning on the river wall with the London Eye across the Thames
Woman in a long coat by the river wall with the London Eye across the Thames on a rainy day
Woman in a slip dress smiling on Westminster Bridge, Big Ben and Parliament behind
Couple walking hand in hand across wet Westminster Bridge with a red bus passing
Couple under a black umbrella on a rainy Westminster street, Big Ben behind
Woman in a cream suit standing by the Thames with the London Eye and County Hall across the river
Woman in a blue dress posing at Parliament Square with Big Ben behind on a rainy day
Black and white portrait of a man in front of Big Ben at Parliament Square

Questions people ask

Cream, camel, oatmeal, navy, charcoal and black. They sit well against Portland stone and grey water, which is the background of almost every London frame. Keep bright red small, because red buses and phone boxes are already in the picture.

No. Pick one palette and then choose separately inside it, so you read as a couple rather than as a uniform. Two things from the same family — camel and cream, navy and grey — is the whole trick.

Exactly what you would have worn, plus a coat that copes and shoes that are not suede. Add a clear umbrella, which lights faces instead of hiding them. We shoot in the rain often and it produces some of the best frames of the year.

Yes, and it works well on a two-hour session. On a one-hour session changing costs about fifteen minutes and there is nowhere convenient to do it, so we usually suggest taking a coat off instead for a second look.

Something from the same palette as the adults that they can run in, and nothing they have been asked to keep clean. Comfortable shoes matter more than the outfit, because a family session covers a fair amount of ground.

About a kilometre and a half over an hour, almost all of it on flat stone pavement. That is the only real constraint on shoes. If someone in the group cannot manage that, tell us when you book and we will shorten the route.

Tell us about your trip

Tell us when you are in London and what you were thinking of wearing. We will come back with a route, a start time built around the light, and the price in the same message. Sessions start at £150.

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