Awful school photo

I’ve never experienced a school photo company where they don’t send you a thumbnail preview first, for you to then decide if you want to buy any or not. It’s a shame they didn’t do this for you! Unfortunately their system of allowing parents to buy them without seeing them first is a risk you have to take, and you took the risk and are now disappointed.
As annoying as it is that you’ve wasted your money, I don’t think you can really complain because it’s not their fault your daughter didn’t smile.
Im a teacher and we get the same guy in each year to take the photos, and he is brilliant trying to get the children to smile and laugh, but as I stand on the sidelines watching, there are always a couple of kids that don’t smile at all, despite the photographers best efforts. They are quite pushed for time so usually only takes 2-3 photos of each child, and for some ch, if they haven’t smiled at all, there’s no option but to send previews of grimacing children. But then the previews mean parents don’t have to buy them, it’s a bit shitty that you have to make the decision having not seen a preview!

Oh dear OP. School photos are notoriously bad.

As a funny anecdote, I remember telling my mum aged 7/8 if I ever get kidnapped please don’t give the police my school photo as I don’t want it on the telly. I genuinely meant it. Hahahaha

I've no idea how professional photographers can make my (of course amazing looking😉) DC
look so so awful in photos. I didn't buy the pics ....because imo isn't an accurate representation of what they look like.
....but the pics are on their online portal and in the school year book, which they are not happy with. The only slight consolation is that virtually everyone looks horrendous in the year book! 🤣🤣

DS now 18 had a hilariously bad school photo when he was about 7. He was a very obstinate little boy, didn’t want his photo taken and was trying so hard not to smile even though the photographer was making him laugh. He ended up looking like an elderly codfish. I carried this picture around with me for years as it made me laugh so much, and on his 18th we made him a t shirt with repeated images of it on. If it makes you feel any better he found it hilarious at 18. (Photo attached for illustration purposes, not my DS).

Finally - a non mean post with a suggestion as to how to proceed (and not a shoulda/woulda/how stupid is OP).

OP - YABU to have posted in AIBU!

its normal for them to be awful but also normal to see them before you order
did you pay without seeing them? Very odd

If you've already paid then send them back for a refund.

In future just refuse to pay for them if you haven't at least seen a proof. We always got proofs when my children were that age. How can you decide whether or not to buy something if you haven't even seen it?

Personally, I would not bother with school photos any more. It's just so easy now to take a much happier and more relaxed photo using your own phone.

My daughter about two years ago can home with the preview and it looked absolutely nothing like her. Her hairs blonde and some bright spark had ‘edited’ it so her hair then was brown. I emailed the company and they sent me another again poorly edited her hair was gray. No photos were sent out to family haha!

I don’t understand the need to first edit photos but also force the children into specific poses which they clearly aren’t too comfortable with.

Not a white background. It will be too harsh unless you balance the flash out.

daisychainarainyday What about Tesco? the big one nearby ,has a big white back sheet. I think you ask for them to prepare it,then take your own picture. Ours were generally a bit crap as well.We have a digital camera but use our mobile a lot and have some terrific shots!

Definitely keep it and use it as leverage when she’s a stroppy teenager and won’t empty the dishwasher etc. 🤣🤣

Honestly in years to come these things are actually funny, I’d keep it. I have some real howlers of myself 😂

Wow - I've never known school photographers not send preview copies. I would never pay for a school photo without seeing it first! We hardly ever bought our dc's photos. Not because they were bad, just a bit 'meh'. They all look so samey.

Is this your first kid? I don't even have children and even I know school photos are notoriously shite hit-and-miss. I remember my mum moaning of old.

This! We love looking back on the terrible ones 😂

If you have a local max speilman, put them in uniform and go there, it's cheap and they do a great job.

It's part of the primary school calendar....Dress and comb child to inch of their life, photo is taken, receive the proof 3 weeks later of your child looking like they haven't seen a flannel / comb for months and missing half of their uniform.
You then either order print for comic reasons or bribery in teenage years or dont and do one yourself.

You'll come to treasure them and roll with it.

School photos are awful because the market for school photos is dominated but just a few large franchises. The schools are complicit because they're offered a cut by the company on every sale. The 'photographers' have minimal training, follow a very rigid manual of instructions, and I've even come across them being issued with cameras/lights with the settings glued/taped in place so they can't change them, and roll out mats with markings where the lights, camera, chair etc. have to be exactly positioned. They don't know how to take a picture, just how to push the button.

I would say that you get what you pay for, but they overcharge the parents so much that this is misleading. Complain through the PTA.

Our school photos have been pretty good and we get to preview them and select from 3/4 images. I would feed back to the photography company that the picture is awful and request a refund

I would also feed this back to the school. Out of principle there's no way I'd spend a fortune on a photo I wasn't allowed to preview before buying. They're obviously refusing because they know more people would refuse to buy if they could see the rubbish quality. I'd probably refuse to allow my child to be photographed by such a callous company as well tbh.

School photos aren't mandatory. Just decline if the service is shit. There's plenty of other ways you can capture your child's school years. I'm taking my own quick pictures/videos of my dd every couple of weeks just before we leave the house against a white wall. She's just starting Y2 and it's amazing to see how she's grown already. Hoping to carry this on until finishing Y11 at least

I wouldn't have paid for a photo I couldn't see beforehand.

You'll be delighted if your dc gets to secondary and you get one photo in Year 7 to last the whole time there. The pic on my DS's files and EHCP is a cherubic 11 year old, even though he is now Year 12. I had thought that they would get another taken maybe in Year 9, but it didn't happen for some reason. The whole school seems to be populated by Year 7s if you go by the computer records...

We haven't had a good preview photo in 8years apart from the class photo in reception. Never bought them

No preview? Didn’t you get a code to log on and see the preview? That’s what GDs school do….no way would DD buy a photo without seeing the preview…..they are way too expensive for that

Tips on taking your own photo in uniform, make sure you have great lighting. If you can use additional lighting and not just your camera light, it will come out better, as your camera light will cast a shadow on the white background.
Dont have them backed right against the wall, it looks odd in the pic, have them stand abit further away.
Keep the camera angle same height as their face.

Awful you didn't get a preview.

Our schools photographer usually take a few shots, they put the best one on the preview, but when we log in online to order we can see all the other shots and can choose which one we prefer, I find the one they put in the preview isn't always the best one.

I once received my child's photo, it was soooo dark!!!! You wouldn't think it was a professional photo taken!! I complained, they then brightened up the picture and resent it, it still wasn't that great, but since then the photos have been fine.

Contact the photographer and ask to see all the shots.

If you can go perpendicular to the window that might be better, softer light. Makes almost anything look good!