Cap and Gown Portraits
Frequently Asked Questions
What are "cap and gown" portraits?
Cap and Gown portraits are images we take before graduation in your cap and gown, set to celebrate this big accomplishment! These are most often college graduates, but we also offer this service for high school students as well!
When should I schedule my cap and gown portraits?
As far away from graduation as possible! The crowds at the iconic spots on campus are no joke!! To create images like you see above, we need to do our best to avoid the crowds. If you are an FSU graduate, we have a cap and gown at the studio that you are welcome to borrow for your session, otherwise, we will need to schedule you the moment you receive your cap and gown from the school. Even scheduling your session the week after graduation will allow us to create beautiful images without the crowds. The month prior to graduation we only accept evening sessions, as the crowds are minimal at night and using our lights we can still create beautiful images in those iconic locations.
Where will the cap and gown session take place?
Most of these sessions are done on campus- either iconic locations like Westcott Fountain, the Unconquered Statue, the Eternal Flame or the Rattler statue at FAMU. If there is a location on campus such as a dorm or the building where most of your classes took place, we can usually include that as well. Each session is an hour and normally we can do two and sometimes three locations during that time.
What time of day should we schedule for the session?
If we schedule the session more than a month ahead of graduation, we can do the session right at sunset. If we are closer to graduation, we have to do an evening session so that we can avoid most of the massive crowds. Sunrise sessions are also an option, but most students don’t want to wake up that early!
How far in advance should we schedule our session?
If you are looking for portraits on a specific date or time, it is best to contact the studio as soon as possible to ensure you can reserve that time before anyone else does. If you have a more flexible schedule, we can generally get you on the calendar within two weeks of contacting the studio. In busier times of year such as Spring or Christmas, it is best to plan your session 4-5 weeks in advance.
What is included in the session?
The session includes one hour on location and two retouched digital images, printable up to 8×10. Additional prints, products and digital images are available for purchase, but there is no minimum order.
Can I bring my mom, sister, friend, etc to the session?
Sure! Your portrait session needs to be relaxed and fun! If you feel comfortable posing in front of your family or friends, you are welcome to bring them!
How should I dress for the portrait session?
Clothing choice is a very personal decision, but we do have some general guidelines that can help.
Solid colors photograph much better than patterns, but if you are looking to have a pattern, try to find a very simple design, or keep the busier pattern away from the face, or in small quantity.
Choose clothes that are well fitting, shirts with sleeves and nothing that needs a lot of attention or fussing to lay properly, so we can focus on having fun and getting great portraits, rather than fighting with an outfit. Definitely try all clothing on before the session to ensure a good fit!
We will photograph you with the gown on, gown open, and gown off, so definitely choose clothing that will photograph well without the gown!
What should I bring to the portrait session?
With the one hour time constraint, we don’t encourage outfit changes, but we can capture a variety of images with and without the cap, gown, stole, etc. Bring any cosmetic necessities to touch up your appearance, and anything you would like included in your images– a dog, champagne, beer, confetti, etc. Please note that if we use confetti, it will need to be cleaned up after the session so that we are not littering.
What if I have a blemish?
Small blemishes, bruises and scratches should not be cause for worry. We retouch all of your images and these minor imperfections are not a problem. With more significant issues such as large scratches, black eyes, etc. you should contact the studio immediately to consult about rescheduling the portrait session.
What if I get sick?
Sick subjects are not fun, they are not happy and they do not make for good photographs. They also expose us and our other clients to illness, so we ask that you reschedule your session if you are not well. Please be courteous to both us and our other clients and notify us as soon as you start feeling ill, so that we may reschedule your session and offer the original time to another client.
How much is a cap and gown portrait session?
The senior portrait session is a $250 session fee which includes the one hour session in studio or on location and two retouched digital images printable up to 8×10. All additional prints, products and digital images are purchased separately, with most clients choosing to spend between $500 and $2,500. There is no minimum order.
When do we see the images and order?
About a week after your portrait session, we have you come into the studio for your order session. At this session we show you all the final images and show you a variety of products including designed pieces, wall portraits, frames, canvases, storyboards, etc. It is best that anyone involved in making the purchase is present at this session, as many of the products are only available at this time and this session gives you the best pricing for all of our products. Orders are sent for retouching immediately after the order session and most orders are ready for pickup in three to four weeks.
Want More?
The gallery above shows some favorite images from countless portrait sessions over the years! The blog posts below show our recent work with kids in our Tallahassee studio or on location! You can also use the search bar below to find specific things on the blog!
Jack
Congratulations to Jack! As a new Florida State Grad, we headed over to Westcott Fountain at Ruby Diamond for his graduation portraits! I love that we did these AFTER the actual graduation, so we avoided the biggest crowds, but there was still lots of confetti and...
Tiernan
I have posted many times in the past about crowds at Westcott fountain and the Unconquered statue as graduation approaches. For Tiernan's session, we did the evening of Easter Sunday with the hopes that we could avoid the crowds. Even with the holiday, we waited over...
James Grad Session
A few years ago I changed studio policy that we don't do graduation or cap and gown sessions on campus the two weeks before graduation. The lines for images at Westcott Fountain, Ruby Diamond or the Unconquered statue at Langford Green will take an hour or more to...
Arienne’s Senior Portraits
I have photographed Arienne's family since she was in elementary school so I was thrilled to be asked to capture her senior portraits. Since her extracurricular at school is Garden Club, I knew we had to do the session at Dorothy B Oven Park to include all the...
Jeremy
I have been photographing graduation portraits at FSU for more than ten years and in that time it has changed DRAMATICALLY. When I started a few people did portrait sessions at Westcott or Unconquered, but it wasn't hard even close to graduation to get the images I...
Jessica
Graduation portraits at FSU are RAPIDLY growing in popularity! I used to get a few inquiries per year, but now I get multiple inquiries EVERY WEEK! We photographed Jessica's cap and gown graduation session more than a MONTH before graduation, but when we arrived at...
Location
702 W Tharpe St
Tallahassee, FL 32303
Linda@LongsPhotography.com
Phone
(call or text)
850.339.5799
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