Senior Pictures in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara Senior Picture Ideas, Pricing & PRocess
Congratulations graduating Senior Class of 2025! Are you looking for the best 2025 senior picture photographer to capture professional senior photos for a graduating high school senior or college student in Santa Barbara or Montecito?
Or maybe you are looking for photos for a professional photo to an application for graduate school or medical residency photo to make your application shine? We help every graduating senior at this threshold take a big step toward their future career and educational goals. We often combine best friend and group graduation photos and family photos in the same session too to really make the memory a shared one.
Keep us in mind for senior yearbook and graduation ceremony pictures for your 2025 graduate. We are one of the top Santa Barbara graduation photographers for senior class photography and graduation portraits for high school and college graduates and can give guidance on what to wear beyond the usual cap and gown photos. See some of our five star client reviews here.
How Much Do Senior Pictures/Senior Class Photography Cost?
Senior pictures in Santa Barbara run a wide range from free for staff college photographers, friends, and even junior photographers on Craigslist to four figures for boutique higher-end family and portrait photographers in Montecito and Santa Barbara. Its once or maybe twice in a lifetime if you go on to get your Masters degree, but if you want to guarantee you actually receive high quality print-worthy graduation photos in a reasonable length of time with a fairly high level of polish and/or you want help with ordering printed products or grad books, look books or coffee table books, you will want to hire a professional senior picture photographer. Current industry rates as of late 2025 for Montecito and Santa Barbara senior pictures are between $350 and $950, with some photographers requiring additional fees per image download or requiring print orders as part of their graduation picture collections.
Education is costly so I don’t want having photos that celebrate your educational achievements to be overly cost prohibitive. I have kept my prices static for several years and still charge $495 for my 45 minute mini senior picture session with three retouched files and a gallery of high res selects. $695 for up to an hour and a half and five high res selects which allows us to go to multiple locations and change into multiple senior picture outfits. The Full Session also includes more selects in the gallery and time to include friends and family in the session as well. Click the link below to see more details and schedule your customized senior picture session.
With us, you’ll get a competitive rate and a quality assortment of 150-250 images with our mini and full session packages.
- Mini Session ($495): This includes a 45-minute session with high-resolution options and three retouched files.
- Full Session ($695): This is up to a 75 minute session with multiple locations, outfits, and five high-resolution selects. You can also include more selects in the gallery and time for friends and family to join the photo session.
What Makes Me One of the Best Photographers for Graduation Pictures?
The difference is in the preparation and the care we take to create memories and printed artifacts you and your entire family will enjoy for life. We also don’t hold the digital files hostage or force you into expensive print packages or products. We take the time to get to know you and your hobbies, interests, and to suss out specific photo locations in Santa Barbara with a personal relevance to you. Then we help you with the hair, makeup and clothing as needed so you can make sure you have the right senior picture outfits to really celebrate and capture this graduation milestone in fine style.
Custom Graduation Photo Packages for Seniors: A Personalized Experience for Timeless Results
I take the time to get to know you and your interests and favorite places to go, sometimes even including props. Together, we’ll choose the perfect senior picture poses, outfits, hairstyle and makeup, and locations that let you relive some of the best moments of your life. Senior year is the best year of high school or college. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions and can be all of the feelings. You’d be surprised how much of that we can convey in just 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
A Few Senior Picture Outfits and Poses
I have a great hair and makeup person and people on my team to help you not worry about extraneous details or distractions during your graduation portrait session.
As your passionate photographer, I can capture memories for the following purposes:
- Yearbook pictures: In some schools, students may choose their senior yearbook photo over the traditional cap and gown shot. I can photograph a professional photo just for your senior’s yearbook.
- Graduation portraits: Every senior deserves a beautiful photo to remember their high school years. I’ll work with you to preserve those exciting and happiest moments through quality portraits.
- Fun senior gallery: Your teenager will only be a senior once, so why not give them a fun photoshoot to celebrate their achievement? Senior pictures are a great way to preserve these memories. It will help your teenager look back on and cherish the best year of their life!
Competitively Priced Packages for Graduation Pictures
Senior pictures in Santa Barbara can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands depending on photographer experience and print collections. If you want to ensure you get usable digital files, a reasonable turnaround time, and help with ordering printed products or graduation books, hiring a professional senior picture photographer can be the best option.
As of 2023, senior picture packages around Santa Barbara range from $350 to $850, with some photographers charging per-image download fees or additional print purchases. With us, you’ll get a competitive rate with our mini and full session packages.
- Mini Session ($475): This includes a 45-minute session with high-resolution options and three retouched files.
- Full Session ($675): This is a 1.5-hour session with multiple locations, outfits, and five high-resolution selects. You can also include more selects in the gallery and time for friends and family to join the photo session.
Fun & Relaxed Where You Feel Best
At Doug Ellis Photography, I take pride in delivering exceptional senior portraits while creating a comfortable and fun experience throughout each photo session. My assistant and I strive to build relationships with our clients that continue long beyond after the photo shoot. From your first appointment to the day of your session, we work hard to keep your experience as personalized and professional as possible. Our sessions are relaxed, fun, and all about capturing unique, beautiful portraits that reflect your teenager’s personality.
A Seamless Backdrop Senior Picture Process
You’ve come to the right place if you’re searching for “senior pictures near me” in Santa Barbara. With our collaborative approach, we can customize the look, feel and location of your senior photoshoot to include the places, people, and sometimes pets you like best.
Here’s how our process works.
- Consultation. To get things started, we have a free discovery consultation to ensure we have a good vibe. We take the time to listen to your needs and vision. Then, we’ll collaborate on the best ways to go about your session.
- The Session This time is all about your accomplishment and personality! We provide the opportunity to explore different locations, let loose, and have fun while capturing their personality and spirit perfectly. Your teenager is free to choose their own senior picture poses and movements.
- Downloading and Enjoying Your Photos--No Watermarks or Restrictions After the photoshoot, we’ll edit and compile the photos as agreed. Once ready, we’ll contact you and send the gallery of high res selects which also includes sharing and slideshow capability and three high resolution retouches too.
See our Pinterest page for more Senior Photo session posing and styling ideas.
