Cap and Gown Photoshoot Ideas
Why Should You Take Senior and Grad Photos?
With the change from spring to summer comes another transition: graduation. Graduation is not only a big moment for grads, but parents too. Senior year and graduation is a culmination of all their hard work and accomplishments, so it deserves to be celebrated and commemorated! Remembering this time is so important and makes your graduation feel special and appreciated. Senior and grad pictures are also a great opportunity to get photos of you otherwise-oddly-good-at-dodging-photos teenager.
When Should You Take Senior Photos?
When you take senior photos really depends on what season you want. The summer between junior and senior year is a great time to take senior photos because there’s more free time without school, but anytime during their senior year works. Late April to early May is the cutoff for taking senior photos if you want them back in time for graduation parties or graduation.
For cap and gown photos, you typically have to get a little closer to graduation itself in order to have the cap and gown. If you’ve already done senior photos, we recommend a 30 minute session a day or two before graduation.
How to Make Senior Photos Personal
We love senior photos because they are really all about featuring their personality. What do they like to do? Do they play a sport? What activities are they involved in?
You can even select your location based on their favorite locations. Where do they hang out with friends? Do they have a favorite place to go with the family? Where did they grow up?
Do You Need Cap & Gown Photos?
We highly recommend taking cap and gown photos. You have a few options here though.
Option 1: Use 15-30 minutes of the senior session to specifically get a few cap and gown photos to commemorate the actual event, not just this season of life.
Option 2: Schedule a 30 minute cap and gown session separate from the senior photos a day or two before the actual event.
When you decide to do cap and gown photos, you just need to be sure that you’re prepared. So what do you need? You need the cap and gown, obviously. Make sure this includes any tassels, medals, cords, and/or hoods that your grad has earned. You get bonus points for decorated caps that make for fun photos to show off that personality a little more. We also recommend bringing something to celebrate with. This can be confetti cannons (preferably the biodegradable kind), streamers, or bottles of champagne if they’re over 21. Be sure to ask your photographer for tips on any of these that you want to do so that they can lend you their advice based on the many times they’ve done this.
The last thing to consider when planning cap and gown photos is what to wear underneath. This is highly dependent on the color of the gown itself. If the gown is white, the only option to wear underneath is white or you’ll see the color through the gown. For any other color, check out our style guide here for our recommendations for every photo session. For girls, we recommend wearing a dress that is shorter than the length of the gown so that it doesn’t stick out of the bottom of the gown and heels. For guys, we recommend wearing dress pants, a dress shirt, and dress shoes. Dressing up will add a polished look to the photos that will make them timeless.