11 Memorable Graduation Backdrop Ideas

Whether you’re graduating from high school or college (or another form of education entirely!), your graduation marks the culmination of years of hard work, and it ought to be celebrated in style! One way to make it truly memorable and to preserve those memories for posterity is with a graduation photoshoot. Here’s our list of 11 memorable graduation backdrop ideas to ensure that your graduation pics are as festive as they deserve to be.

1. Rent a venue on Peerspace

Want to spend a little money to make your graduation photos truly special? You’ll find many thousands of potential graduation backdrop ideas on Peerspace, where countless unique and inspiring spaces are aggregated, from cool urban lofts to charming country cabins, to glamorous mansions — and lots more. Whatever your aesthetic preference, there’s almost certainly something for you. Even better, Peerspace makes it easy to reach out to venue hosts and communicate one-on-one about your needs and plans for the space, and reviews from those who have rented the space in the past make it easy to tell if it’s a good fit for your planned graduation photoshoot. Browse Peerspace venues near you for tons of graduation backdrop possibilities that’ll make your celebratory photoshoot a huge success.

2. In and around your favorite school building

Is there a building on your high school or college campus where you and your friends spent countless hours, studying or hanging out, and making important memories? If so, what better place to capture your graduation photos, especially group photos of yourself and your friends?! If it’s a building with a set of stairs, all the better as a backdrop for group photos. Plus, many academic buildings are architecturally stunning, making them an aesthetically pleasing option on top of the emotional connection you might have to the space.

3. Find a nearby garden in full bloom

Another feature that many college campuses have is lovely, lush gardens on the campus. Some campuses even have their own botanic gardens! These are especially ideal graduation backdrop ideas because the majority of graduations take place in the spring and early summer when many gardens are in bloom. The symbolism here is key — with your graduation, you are growing and changing, progressing into a new stage of your life, and the flowers surrounding you are doing the same.

4. Candid photos of the graduation ceremony itself

Rather than scheduling a separate, formal photoshoot, consider hiring a photographer to take photos of the graduation ceremony. Some of the best graduation backdrop ideas here include you crossing the stage, accepting your diploma, throwing your cap in the air, etc. This way, the ceremony itself is the backdrop, and it takes the pressure off to pose for the camera, which is especially helpful for those who tend to get self-conscious when being photographed. 

5. Pose in front of a mural (on- or off-campus)

Here’s a graduation backdrop idea that you might not have considered. Is there a colorful, iconic mural on your campus, or perhaps somewhere in your college town? This is a perfect spot to pose for graduation photos (especially those you’ll be posting to your Instagram grid or Insta story). 

6. Bring a young graduate to their favorite college campus

This graduation backdrop idea is somewhat unexpected but could be really fun and unique. As we mentioned in the intro to this article, graduations aren’t just for high school- and college-aged kids. Plenty of kindergartners, elementary schoolers, and middle schoolers have their own graduation ceremonies, too, which also deserve to be celebrated! It could be totally adorable to dress them up in their own mini cap and gown and bring them to a college campus for a photoshoot. Maybe your middle school graduate, for instance, has dreams of attending a particular college someday? If so, that’s the perfect place to bring them for their own special grad photoshoot.

7. On the playground

Take your photoshoot in a playful direction with a total childhood throwback. You can snap photos swinging on the swings, hanging from the monkey bars, or sliding down the slide. Dress up in your fancy clothes or even in your full cap and gown! 

8. Paint your own backdrop

If you—and/or perhaps your friends—have a creative side, use these artistic proclivities to create your own backdrop exactly to your own speculations and share your artistry with the world. This is a potential alternative to our #5 idea of posing in front of an existing mural. If you paint your own backdrop/mural, you can make it meaningful to you specifically, and maybe even choose colors that match your graduation outfit!

9. Visit a natural area at golden hour

This will depend entirely on where the school you’re graduating from is located, but many high schools and colleges are located in rural areas that are very close to stunning natural scenery. That might be a beach, mountains, woods, next to a lake, etc. Perhaps the best time to visit them is during the “golden hour,” the time just before sunset or after sunrise when the lighting is especially pretty and suited to photography. Taking photos just after sunrise is an especially fitting metaphor since graduation marks the beginning of a new era in your life.

10. Engaging in the activity you’ve trained for

Considering that graduation ceremonies celebrate your educational training and acquiring a degree in a given field, perhaps celebrate that directly with your graduation photoshoot. If you’re a chemistry major, have your chem lab be your backdrop, and take photos there with test tubes and other tools of your future career. If you’re an English major, snap your grad pics in your school library, reading your favorite book. As a future teacher, take photos in front of a blackboard, your future workplace. An art history major? Photos at a museum! Or if you’re a computer science major and coder, take things in an unexpected direction and take your photos in VR goggles. These practical grad pics will certainly stand out from the crowd!

11. At a roller rink

When you’re successfully graduating, you’ve spent the last few years doing lots and lots of hard work, and deserve to do something fun and carefree to celebrate. A trip to the roller rink for your graduation photoshoot could be the perfect activity, especially if you go with a group of friends. The lighting in roller rinks is fun and unusual, and being on roller skates will make for plenty of dynamic action shots!

Find unique graduation photoshoot locations on Peerspace