5 Best Cap & Gown Senior Portrait Ideas

Congratulations!  You’ve earned your diploma!  As a reward for all your hard work, you now get to sit through a long ceremony dressed in the world’s most ridiculous outfit.  Apparently the tradition of wearing a cap and gown dates all the way back to the 12th century.  That’s not a tradition I want to mess with, but I do want you to look your best in your senior pictures and on graduation day so I’m sharing my wisdom with you.  Here are five flattering ways to style your cap and gown for senior portraits:

1.Get in close on the details.

The tassel, the hat, the stole–they’re all important and unique to your particular school, so get in close and highlight the details.

2. Unzip it!

Once you get the traditional full graduation getup shot, unzip that gown!  You still get the full effect, but the results are much more flattering.

3. Keep the hat, lose the gown.

The mortarboard cap is the true symbol of graduation anyway, right?  Who needs the gown?  Toss it over your shoulder for a casual look, or just toss it all together.

4. Keep the gown, lose the hat.

Speaking of tossing, that’s the part of graduation everyone looks forward to, right?  Get a few shots with the cap in the air and save your graduation day hair.  Or just hold it and ponder your future.

5. Add cute, distracting props.

Did you have a preschool graduation or some other such nonsense?  Why not highlight how far you have come?  Or add a cute dog to your cap and gown portrait.  They make everything better.