Thousands every year take their photo at the Arch, here’s one tip to make sure you look your best when having yours taken!!

During my time at Purdue, I have noticed countless people have their photo taken at the Purdue Gateway to the Future Arch, only to result with photos where for the most part, it is indistinguishable who it really is in the photo. You could be replaced by virtually anyone and it would still look the same. And with a lot of new students set to arrive at Purdue for the new school year – I want to share an idea of mine.

By no means is this a hard and fast way I think you should do it, I am just here to offer one helpful tip that I found useful and would like to share!

Many have their photographer stand here(📷) and they stand under the arch here(🏃🏻):

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

And this I created of myself ↑

Though I say that’s me, it could be any dude you know in a white shirt and shorts – with this as his sweet, new Facebook profile pic.

To look your best when taking your photo at the Arch,

take advantage of perspective!

By that I mean, bring your subject closer to the camera, while keeping the camera (relatively) the same distance away from the Arch.

The man-hole cover closer to the street, stand on top/in front of it. Have your photographer (or person taking your photo), stand halfway between you and the street corner, like so:

Though it seems like being farther away from the Arch is the opposite of what you should do, you result with photos that you can:

• see the faces of the person(s) being photographed
• fit the entire Arch structure in the picture &
• look much better overall with the trees and surrounding buildings

Another benefit is, by having your subject larger in the frame – you block out people that might be standing under it or approaching it from behind, making you stand out even more over others near the Arch.

This is also the best place to be in my opinion, because during the winter, spring and early summer months – you see the entire Purdue University.

Here are a few of my favorites while playing with the perspective at the Arch:

Once summer rolls around you have to move slightly to right right (when looking at the arch) to fit it all in.

That’s all, just play with the perspective! I hope you found this useful and I hope your photos at the Arch turn out great!