To be a bit bewildered by the school photo options?

[CruCru]

There is a choice of four photos (all lovely) and the nursery group shot. There is a choice of a bunch of different packages, but in all you can only have the same photo. If I order the main pack (one big, two medium and four small - so I have some for grandparents etc) for each photo and the class photo, it will be £150. Argh! Too much choice.

You can often order singular photos as well, although admittedly they are expensive!

I think a pack including 1 x 10x8 was about £26 for us from school last time.

You can try dressing your dc in the same clothes and take a load of photos against a white/cream wall. Or hang up a duvet or something.

If you have a half decent camera and take your time you can get loads of lovely shots.
What I did when they were small is to get a big teddy and pose it so I could faff about get the angles and light and settings right. When happy swap teddy for child.

I've been doing this for years - saved loads in school photos.

I buy a copy of the class one usually

But then I am a cheapskate.

Cheapest decent sized single photo (I have a good scanner).

I know your not meant to, but I have a draw full of spare school photos. There is no sensible way of getting one for home and one for surviving GPs and nothing else.

We never look at the class photos that we've bought over the years. I just buy one nice picture. And email it to grandparents.

Is there an option for digital copies then you could print as you wish?

Or an option to get one of each and maybe get them copied in a printing shop? If they are pro photos the quality should be good enough to copy like that

I'd just get the class photo. Mine are huge clumping things now and still sometimes like to get their old class photos out and go, 'God, is that Ryan? He was so titchy! And look at Sarah's hair!'

Take one photo and group photo and make copies yourself.

I just get the one.. I dislike the class photos now, they're all long things with the kids doing different things. I much preferred the ones in lines. Although I do get the class photo for their last year of Primary and last year of comp just for something for them to look back on.

What pees me off is the different packs. I just want one photo.

I'd happily pay for digital rights if they'd do a decent combined price for all, posses, both DDs and the class shots, but they don't. They are silly money.

I know Photographers have to make a living, but the end of term sports groups were ridiculous, it would have been about £70 just to get one photo of each team. In the end I just kept the proofs and didn't buy any.

I bet a awful lot of parents did the same.

It would have been a 1000x better if the HT had done a deal with the mum who is a photographer and sold them for a sensible price each. We didn't need school photographer packs.

Buy the cheapest option and then take it to a photographic shop and use the scanner to blow it up - much cheaper :)

For all those suggesting copying the photos yourself - this is a breach of copyright law!

Photographers have to make a living and you're paying for the service not the actual print (which in reality will cost less than 10p).

The best thing to do would be to take your own photos though obviously you won't be able to get a group photo unless you organise it with all the parents.

i agree where i used to live they did more than one pose you could buy all of them on one disc for £20 where i live now its the opposite 5 poses you have to pay £20+ each

You can buy the class photo, then get a white sheet, sit your kids in front of it with freshly brushed hair and clean uniform and point your phone at them (assuming you have a decent camera on it). Then print out as many as you want using one of the many services available. Costs peanuts in comparison and if you do it on a bright day the photos are just as good (IME).

How much???!!!!!

No Oldbean. It is not an infringement of copyright law. If someone has bought the photo they can do whatever they want to with it!

I tell my classes that they should always get a form photo every year.

It is fascinating looking back on them in 30+ years time and seeing how you have changed, and how many of your class you still know/recognise/name. You are unlikely to get all those people together at any other time.

It is expensive, but I think it is an investment in terms of memories.

Sorry, I do not 'tell' my class, I 'strongly recommend' them to get a class photo.

(Esp. those in their final year at school)

We put dd in school uniform and take her to the nearest Max spielman photo shop. Half the price and I can guarantee she's clean!

We just had the letter home - £15 for a year group photos (they leave this year), £15 for a class photo (reduced to £10 if you buy the individual photo) and then £12 each for two poses individually.

I think I saw Dick Turpin leaving the school today....

Gosh - you lot have to pay a lot for your school photos. I was at the increase in cost for ds' secondary school photo pack compared to his primary school pack.

Primary school was £22 for a pack of 1 large, 2 medium and 4 small (and some bookmarks) whereas Secondary was, iirc, £20.50 for just one large and 4 small.

Group pictures at primary school (only done every few years) were not extortionate - certainly not more than £20.

No Oldbean. It is not an infringement of copyright law. If someone has bought the photo they can do whatever they want to with it!

No they can't. The photographer for pretty much every school photo I've ever bought retains the copyright.

Being a photographer is expensive. The kit for taking school photos costs about £4k. Then there's transport, time, developing costs etc. I know lots of photographers and none of them are rich. Even the paparazzo I know is skint.

*For all those suggesting copying the photos yourself - this is a breach of copyright law!

Photographers have to make a living and you're paying for the service not the actual print (which in reality will cost less than 10p).

The best thing to do would be to take your own photos though obviously you won't be able to get a group photo unless you organise it with all the parents.*

Oh i would like to see a photographer taking some mother to court, because she scanned a photo and emailed it to grandmother.

I buy the digital print (about £16 usually) on a disc and then buy copies in different sizes for 20p each or so on Photobox. The photographer has made their money, and I can get however many copies I need for family.

It's not a breach of copyright - what do they imagine you are going to do with the digital print, keep it on the disc and do nothing?

I appreciate they have to make their money, but if half the school did the same that would be still £3200 for a few hours work, which I would say is a tidy sum.

Sorry but I refuse to pay the prices school photographers charge! I have always bought the cheapest and copied them to give to family members as presents. And that is what I intend to do all through my children's school life. If it is not the done thing - tough!!

I have had to register to reply to this! Very long time lurker, and you have drawn me out!

I have a wee photography business, and I do a bit of school work. The biggest issue for me is the big companies who's packages are over priced and who can give 35% commission back to the school. My cheapest pack is under £10 for 2 framed prints, and I offer 10% commission to the school.

Not only do we have to pay commission, we have to pay for prints, frames, upkeep of our equipment, then obviously tax etc on top of that.

It's not a couple of hours work. The last school I did had 150 pupils. I was at the school from 830-330. Then spent at least 3 days processing the images, then printing and delivering proof sheets to the school was another' days work. Then when the orders come in there is another days work involved touching up images, placing orders for prints and frames. Then when you have the prints and frames the orders have to be packaged and delivered to the school. So that's probably another half day.

Last school I took around £1500 in sales. £150 back to the school. Then frames and prints were another £300. So before tax and insurance that's £1050 And that was one of only 2 jobs that month. The second job was a small playgroup that brought me about £300 before tax after costs were paid.

Also the big companies pay their photographers a very basic salary and top it up with commission. The photographer sees very little of the money!

When it comes to copyright, the photographer owns the rights to any image taken, if you buy a digital image you normally are given a limited rights release. Allowing you to print but not alter the image, but photographer still owns the image.

If you want good and reasonably priced photographs, ask your school to expand their horizons and take on a local photographer, rather than a big company who don't care about the end product!

I shall get off my soapbox now!