Beware: What You Wear Can Affect the Portraits You Shoot

Here’s an interesting portraiture tip you may not have considered before: what you wear as a photographer can affect how your portraits turn out due to the reflected light. That’s what’s shown in this simple 43-second video by the Koldunov Brothers.

We first see a demonstration of how the clothing worn by portrait subjects can bounce light differently onto their faces (you’ll see the differences in how illuminated the chins are in the following photos):

This is something you may have noticed or realized before, but have you considered that your own clothing can also make a noticeable impact in how the photos turn out? Here’s a side-by-side comparison by the Koldunov Brothers showing how big of an impact a photographer’s clothing choice has on a certain lighting scenario:

Of course, you can also compensate for whatever clothing you’re wearing by adjusting the subject, set, and lighting to achieve what you want, but it’s still interesting to see how much of a difference a photographer’s choice of clothing can actually make.