Tag: commencement

Tips for Great Cap-and-Gown Photos at Behrend

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By Heather Cass, Publications Manager, Office of Strategic Communications

Class of 2026, you’ve earned that tassle. Now let’s make sure you have the photos to prove it. Iron your gown (use a low temp!), grab some festive props (we suggest the “grad” and “2” and “6” balloons from Dollar Tree) and take a walk around campus.

Not sure where to stop? I’ve taken photos all over campus for more than sixteen years. I’ve got you.

Here are a dozen great photo stop spots:

  • The Penn State Behrend entrance sign (be careful getting there!)
  • On the path with Lilley Library in the background
  • Near any of the flowering trees that are now in bloom all over campus
  • In front of Glenhill Farmhouse
  • On the footbridge near Turnbull Building
  • At the Lion Shrine
  • At the Lion Bench
  • In Lilley Library
  • Leaning on a brick pillar in front of Metzgar Building
  • At the Mary Behrend Monument – trees are BLOOMING now!
  • Glenhill Gardens – Adirondack chairs/fountain
  • In front of/in the building/lab you spent most of your time
  • EXTRA CREDIT: Top of the Burke Parking garage at sunset!

Tips for Great Cap-and-Gown Photos

  1. Shoot in portrait mode but step back a little. Portrait mode blurs the background beautifully, but standing too close can make the blur look unnatural and chop off your cap or gown. Have your photographer take a step or two back and zoom in slightly instead of getting right up in your face.
  2. Turn your back to the sun. It sounds counterintuitive but having the sun behind you (making it your backlight) and using a shaded or open-sky light on your face prevents squinting and harsh shadows. Overcast days are actually ideal for photos — the clouds act as a giant softbox.
  3. Tap to expose on the face. On any smartphone, tap directly on the subject’s face on the screen before shooting. This tells the camera to expose for skin, not the bright sky or dark background — which is the #1 fix for photos where the person looks too dark or washed out.
  4. Take bursts, not singles. Hold down the shutter button to shoot a burst of photos, especially for candid or walking shots. Caps shift, eyes close, smiles go awkward — bursts give you 20 frames to find the one perfect moment instead of hoping a single shot lands.
  5. Mind the gown hem and posture. This one’s simple but often missed: before every shot, do a quick check — gown hem even? Cap straight? Shoulders back?

One request: Skip the glitter and confetti, please. #KeepBehrendBeautiful

Bittersweet Commencement

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By Heather Cass
Publications & Design Coordinator, Penn State Behrend

Earlier this week, I was looking through the photos taken at Commencement and began jotting down the image numbers of students I recognized from having interviewed in the past.

“Oh, that’s a really nice one of Maddie. I’m going to have to send that one to her.  Awww..there’s George. And Vee. And Brian. And look at this one of Katie & Cody. Oh, I love it!  Wait, Nico graduated? And Megan and Paul, too?”

And there go half of my go-to student sources. Dang.

As a writer in the Office of Marketing Communication at Behrend, I work this gig like a newspaper beat, cultivating relationships with people in each school, making contact with the movers-and-shakers, and keeping tabs on standout students.

But, eventually, they all leave.

*sigh*

Such is the nature of the beast in academia. Student turnover is inevitable (and, if we’re being honest, preferable for everyone involved, I’m sure). It’s our job to educate them and send them out into the world.

But it’s bittersweet to see them go. Not just because I lose valuable student sources, but because we lose charismatic, interesting, enthusiastic, and remarkable members of our Penn State Behrend family.

  • Brian established the Waste Not program with his friend and former classmate, Stephen, turning what was waste into food for the hungry.
  • Vee was a very successful president of the LEB and a visible member of the Arts Administration program.
  • George was a hands-on, charismatic Marketing student who gamely posed in a hot, humid water park for a School of Business cover shoot.
  • Katie drove (and worked on) the School of Engineer’s thrice-winning Supermileage Car. Cody was a vital member of the Supermileage team, too.
  • Maddie helped the women’s soccer team to four championships while earning an Interdisciplinary Business with Engineering Studies degree and doing an internship in Germany.
  • Megan was the cheerleading coach and a founding member of Phi Sigma Rho, a new engineering sorority on campus.
  • Danielle was an outstanding tutor. She even has an award to prove it.

I could go on…and on…and on…and on. We have a lot of really great students at Behrend.  And I’ve been here long enough to know that there will be more to replace those who graduate.

While I’m going to miss the students that I got to know in the Class of 2015, I can’t wait to see where they go and what they do. Rest assured, you’ll probably hear about them in the future. I write alumni stories, too, you know.

(So, students…I mean, ’15 alums, go out there and do something I’m going to want to write about!).