what colour should the client wear for a black and white shoot ?

hi
what are the rules for black and white portrait photography ? the mother ask what colour top she should wear with jeans, i suggest white which it a safe bet lol ...i have been had to do some outdoor shooting tomorrow for a little three years old girl. i would prefer doing it in colour as she have beautiful light red hair ,we are going to the local park and didnt relise till later she wanted b&w ! argh
p.s it red hair differcult to do in black and white ?

I don't know the best colours but aren't skin tones best enhanced with green filters which will affect the other colours. White can be difficult to control with exposure so I wouldn't consider it the best choice. This is just an attempt to help, i'm no expert on b&w portraiture.

To be very honest, nothing. Not into portraits but the only thing to perhaps be improved by using mono will be the skin. Clothing is difficult so perhaps shades of grey or blue. Think it is the shade and contrast that you need to consider rather than any special colour.

thanks for your help BC and snapper !
im getting all panicky now the mother have gone and bought a white top but i will suggest to her to take another colour top just in case lol
it lucky she is a friend and understand im no expert but knows i want to practice

i just have to go with the flow and hopefully it goes well

Sorry I missed this.....I would go with light top and dark bottoms..... and plain.

hi jols !
she is wearing white top and denim jeans which i thought would be nice shooting in colour againt the green grass and other colours like flowers ect . plain and simple
just not sure with black and white.
photoshoot at half 11 today, nervous but hey ho i will give it a shot and let you all know how i got on later

Hope it went well and look forward to seeing some of the shots.

avoid white... it will look blown and the contrast is not very appealing in BW. Jeans are good particularly light blue jeans and textured ones. Things to avoid are strong patterns and dots.

just to let you know it all went well apart from that she was a lively one lol had to chase her all over !
anyway im happy with a few . they are not brilliant but good enough (me thinks) plus i had to use the 50mm lens as my 18 - 135mm was too slow and the sun was low .Using the fifty, i found it quite tricky to keep her in the same postition also couldnt use the reflector

jack - im afraid it too late , she wore a white top but that my fault
going through the images now and if i have her permission to post here then i'll show you what you think

Glad it went well Claire - look forward to seeing the shots!