Every May and December, the same thing happens at UCF. Reflecting Pond fills up with grads in gowns, everybody's mom is holding a phone, and half the class realizes at the same moment that they should have booked this weeks ago.


Do not be in that half.



Group of friends celebrating in a fountain, tossing confetti in the air while wearing white outfits outdoors.

Four Years Is Worth More Than a Phone Photo


You put in four years. Some of you put in five, and there is no shame in that.


You are going to want more from that than a blurry shot your roommate took while somebody's grandmother walked through the frame.


Graduation photos are one of maybe three times in your life you get properly photographed at a milestone. Senior year, graduation, and your wedding. That is about it until somebody else starts taking the pictures.


What the UCF Knights Session Includes


The UCF Knights Graduate session runs 90 to 120 minutes and starts at $395.


That covers:

  • The iconic spots on the UCF campus, planned so we are not backtracking
  • A bottle of champagne
  • Confetti, which is genuinely the most fun part
  • Up to three friends included, at no extra cost
  • $25 for each additional friend beyond that



Smiling female graduate in black cap and stole posing outdoors at university campus graduation ceremony.
Young woman in pink dress poses on steps outside John C. Hitt Library building on a sunny day.

Bringing friends is the move. Half of you are graduating together and none of you are going to be in the same city in eighteen months. Get the photos while everybody is still here.


If you would rather go solo and build the session around your own thing, the Solo Graduate session starts at $350 and gets customized around what you are into. Your major, your sport, your instrument, your car, whatever the thing is.


The Spots Worth Shooting On Campus


We plan a route so the session flows instead of zigzagging across campus in a gown in Florida heat. The Reflecting Pond, Millican Hall, the Pegasus seal, the John C. Hitt Library, and whichever building you actually lived in for four years.


I wrote the whole walk out in its own post, in the order I shoot it, with what to wear and where your family should park: UCF graduation photo locations.


Graduate in blue gown and cap stands triumphantly with raised arms before a university fountain.

Timing: This Is the Part People Get Wrong


Book four to six weeks before you want the photos in hand.


Here is why that matters more for graduation than for anything else. If you want photos to send to family, post on announcement day, or put in an announcement card, they need to be finished before the ceremony, not after.


Turnaround is within three weeks for sessions. Work backward from the date you actually need them, then add a buffer.


Shoot on a weekday morning or at golden hour. Campus is emptier and the light is better. Midday sun in Orlando is brutal and it is not kind to anyone in a black gown.


Do not wait for finals to end. The week after finals is when everyone books and the good times go first.


What to Wear Under the Gown


The gown covers less than you think, especially once you take it off for the second half of the session.


Wear something you would be happy in without the gown on. Most people shoot half the session in the regalia and half in a nicer outfit.


Bring your cords, your stoles, your honor society sashes, all of it. You earned them and they photograph well.


Bring your cap decorated if you decorated it. Those are always some of the best detail shots.


And bring water. It is Florida.



Smiling graduate in cap and gown holds diploma in a brick building hallway, wearing white dress and heels.
Graduate in cap raises diploma triumphantly in empty auditorium after graduation ceremony.

For the Parents Reading This


If you are the one paying for this, here is the honest pitch.


Your kid is about to scatter. The friends they lived with for four years are about to become people they text twice a year. This session is the last easy chance to get all of them in one frame, on the campus where it happened, before that window closes.


It is also a rare moment where your graduate is happy to be photographed. Take advantage of it.


Not Graduating From UCF?


Plenty of the grads I photograph are not Knights.


Valencia, Rollins, Full Sail, high school seniors, nursing school, someone finishing a master's ten years after they started. The Solo Graduate session starts at $350 and gets built around whoever you are and wherever you finished.


We can shoot on your campus, somewhere around Orlando that means something to you, or a mix. If your degree came with a uniform, scrubs, a hard hat, or an instrument, bring it. The photos that hold up are the ones that say something specific about what you actually did.


Same deal on the gallery, and the same advice on timing: work backward from the date you need the photos, not the date you walk.


What You Get


Every gallery includes high resolution digital files with no cap on downloads. You get all the best photos from the session, professionally edited, and you download as many as you like. Nobody is metering you.


You get an online gallery you can share with family and order prints from.


Turnaround is within three weeks, and I try hard to come in ahead of it.



Woman in black graduation cap and gown sitting on stone sculpture outside university building.

Book Before the Rush


UCF graduates a lot of people twice a year, and the two weeks before each ceremony fill up fast. The grads who get the calm, unhurried session are the ones who reached out early.


Tell me your ceremony date, whether you are bringing friends, and anything you want built into the session, and I will get you an exact quote.


Go Knights.


David Stella Photography

Orlando and Central Florida

321.475.7792

Contact me