As a visual record of your college graduation, your graduation photo book will be seen not only by your classmates and professors but also everyone who has an interest in this momentous event in your life. It is perfectly understandable, therefore, that you and your classmates would want to look your best in these photos.

Unfortunately, graduation pictures are not always flawless. Taking awesome photos requires skill and preparation. In this post, we provide 15 tips for an awesome college graduate photo book for college students and photographers alike.

But before you and your classmates get to photo shoot and start preparing to celebrate your college graduation, you need to take care of a couple of things. Start with making sure your academic performance is as good as it can be and you don’t have any failed tests, missed assignments, or some other unfulfilled program requirements.

Now, straight to the tips!

1. Wear Formal Clothes. Your formal graduation picture is for a lifetime, so you need to look your best. Wearing more formal clothes during the photo shoot will give your portrait an air of dignity, pride, and accomplishment.

2. Proper Grooming. Proper grooming is one of the keys to amazing portraits. Before the graduation photoshoot, take the time to rest, prepare your clothes, and do your hair and or makeup. A clean and well-groomed appearance will give you that fresh look in those photos.

3. Rehearse Your Look. Don’t wait for the day of the photoshoot to come up with your look. You should start planning on how you want to appear in your official graduation photo well before the day of the shoot. Try on the clothes that you will wear to see how they fit and decide on your hair and makeup. Rehearsing at home will make it easier for you to replicate your look on the day of the photoshoot.

4. Rehearse Your Pose. Many graduates are surprised to realize that they are either slouching in their photos or looking awkward in their poses. The good way to deal with this is by rehearsing your pose in front of a mirror. Keep your back straight, relax your shoulders, and look directly into the camera.

5. Rehearse Your Smile. Rehearsing your smile at home is also another way to nail those graduation portraits. Practice your smile in the mirror to know which works best for you.

6. Work With Your Photographer. Most of the time, your photographer will be kind enough to show you your pictures before saving them. Don’t be afraid to ask to look at those initial shots and ask the photographer to retake your picture if you’re not satisfied with the previous one. Just make sure you’re polite and that you don’t take too much of the photographer’s time. You can even ask your photographer for some photoshoot tips!

7. Check the Weather. Checking the weather on the day of the graduation rites itself since it will help you prepare. For instance, in cool weather, you would want to wear something warm, while for warm weather you would want to wear something light. While this may seem of little consequence, being comfortable in your clothes will actually help you look comfortable in your photos. Furthermore, the weather will help you determine the type of lighting you will need.

8. Take Formal and Candid Shots. The best graduate photo books are those who show variety. This is why photographers and contributing students should take both formal and candid photos of the ceremony. While formal photos are perfect for that decorous look, candid shots give a touch of raw emotion, fun, and humor to the photo book.

9. Feature the School Grounds. Graduation photos should, of course, include the school grounds. Apart from making the setting more identifiable, campus sites such as a stately building or an expansive grove serve as perfect backdrops to your photos.

10. Feature Families, Faculty, and Friends. Graduation day is not just for graduating students; it is also for parents, mentors, and friends who are proud of the graduates’ accomplishment. Including them in the pictures adds a nice poignant touch to the photo book.

11. Take Lots of Photos. One of the more recent graduation photo ideas is taking lots of pictures. With today’s digital cameras, you no longer need to waste a lot of films to capture the best moments. Digital cameras and memory cards allow you to take lots of photos from which you could choose only those you feel are best.

12. Clean, Uncluttered Layout. A clean, uncluttered layout works best for a photo book. Minimizing distractions caused by unnecessary details allows people to focus on the photos of the graduates themselves. “Look professional” is just one of the many graduation tips that you could apply to design your photo book.

13. Take Clear Pictures. Make sure that the photos you use for the photo book are clear. Avoid blurred or overexposed photos since these do not add a lot to your photo book and only take up space that could otherwise be used for better pictures.

14. Use the Best Equipment Available. While many factors affect the quality of your photos, using the best equipment available certainly helps in taking the most awesome pictures.

15. Hire Professionals. If you are part of the committee that oversees the photo book, you may suggest hiring professional photographers to shoot your photos on the day of graduation so that your entire class can be assured that your photos will be taken by skilled, talented, and creative individuals. Photographers’ professional fees are a reasonable price to pay considering you only have one chance to capture this event. So why not leave it to the experts?

Conclusion

Graduation day is an event that not only marks the completion of your college studies; it also symbolizes your accomplishment and the beginning of a new phase in your life. Graduating is a ceremony that comes only a few times in on e’s life, hence the need for taking pictures that truly capture this moment. In this post, we collected 15 tips for an excellent college graduate photo book.