15 cap and gown photo ideas (before and after graduation day)

Many graduates take their best cap and gown photos before graduation day, when the campus is quiet and the light is good. Pick an evening in the last week, bring the cap, gown, diploma cover and a friend, and shoot these 15 ideas in under an hour.

The cap

1. Decorating the cap. Glue, glitter and flowers on a desk, top-down.

2. The finished cap from above. Held in both hands. The One-Point Aerial guide places it on the bottom line of a top-down frame.

3. Cap on, looking down so the design faces the camera.

4. Cap toss with the design facing up.

The gown

5. Gown in the wind. On a breezy hill or open quad.

6. Walking away, gown flowing, the tassel swinging.

7. Gown over the arm, dressed in your outfit underneath.

8. Golden hour silhouette in cap and gown.

Around campus

9. The empty lecture hall. Sitting in the front row.

10. The library steps.

11. The campus sign.

12. Your favourite tree or bench.

With friends

13. Arm in arm across the quad. Laughing, mid-stride.

14. Matching decorated caps lined up.

15. The group jump.

Tips

• Go the week before, in the evening, when campus is quiet.
• Steam the gown so it hangs well.
• Bring hair pins to keep the cap on.
• 2x for portraits, 1x for campus scenes.
• Black gowns: expose for the face, avoid hard sun behind.

More: graduation photo ideas and graduation photo poses.

Frame the moment

slay overlays composition guides on your live iPhone camera, so every cap and gown photo is framed.

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