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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think Mum complaining about school photo retouching is being a bit, er, touchy

85 replies

justgoandgetalife · 21/10/2015 08:04

School photo retouching service has been withdrawn after one Mum complained? Never mind that the company says it's a popular service. If she doesn't like it she can ask for the photo to be left untouched. It's all digital now after all.

When I ran a photo to canvas business we always asked the customer first if they actually wanted certain things retouching (sensitively of course) so maybe the company could just have asked?

Still up to the customer as we often used to remove whole people (ex-partners usually!) from photos or add people in so it's perfectly do-able. A pain for the photo service but that's why they cost!

OP posts:
stopfuckingshoutingatme · 21/10/2015 09:44

they are retouched? no wonder my kids look so great

I just though they were really really photogenic

BaronessEllaSaturday · 21/10/2015 09:44

I've just double checked my dd photos and it looks like they have been touched up to remove the freckles from her nose. Didn't even occur to me that they would do something like that, she likes her freckles. We were not asked if we wanted them touching up and the proofs have been provided already done.

Aeroflotgirl · 21/10/2015 09:46

I ttoally agree when its a temporary thing, such as a bruise or a zit or dirt on faces and clothes, but not for permanent things such as birth marks or facial disfigurements. You are paying so much for photos, I don't want dd with food on her face, or red nose from a cold.

FrozenAteMyDaughter · 21/10/2015 09:54

Surely the rule should be that it is ok to photoshop out anything you would have rubbed off or changed about the child themselves before the photo was taken if you had been there. So food on face or clothes, bogeys, maybe tidying up particularly wayward bits of hair. Anything else should be left. My inclination would be to leave bruises, cuts and even spots because that was part of them on the day - yogurt stains really weren't.

LibrariesGaveUsP0wer · 21/10/2015 09:57

What was she complaining about.

TBH, I'd be grateful if they removed food marks and paint!

LemonySmithit · 21/10/2015 10:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

YourKidsYourRulesHunXxx · 21/10/2015 10:35

Can you opt in/ out of this? If not, then I think it should be an option. My son is not at school yet, but I'm looking forward to him coming home one day with an embarrassing photo for me to pull out in the years to come Grin. I had a few of myself, with windswept hair from the playground, spots etc. That's part of the charm to me. With regards to mucky faces and snotty noses, well, I think the photographer should hand the kid a wipe. Noone wants to see that shit.

I do get that some people would prefer to have a lovely picture on their wall, so retouching should be an optional service.

Rubygillis · 21/10/2015 10:37

My son managed to get red chapped skin around his mouth on the morning of the pre school photo, and it disappeared a day later. His photos that year do look pretty bad and I would have probably preferred they had airbrushed this a bit to be honest.

But whatevs, it's only a photo and I have lots of nice ones of him without a bright red mouth!

Scarydinosaurs · 21/10/2015 10:38

Food stains
Temporary grazes
Bruises
Marks on top

All fine

Actual facial features? Wtf?

SoupDragon · 21/10/2015 10:43

One thing is certain - the photographer shouldn't be doing this as a matter of course. The proof phot you get should be an original untouched photo which you can then ask to have retouched if you want.

yeOldeTrout · 21/10/2015 10:46

My school photo was retouched in 1985... Not new. Not important to me just made my parents snigger (very spotty girl).

Fratelli · 21/10/2015 10:48

I thought school photos were supposed to be as embarrassing as possible! Grin

BabyGanoush · 21/10/2015 10:52

I know Fratelli,

Like George Clooney's famous Middle School photo (google it)

That's how they should be Grin

duckbilled · 21/10/2015 10:54

I went for a photoshoot with dd1 even she was a year. She has a birthmark on her face (which is fading significantly) but at that time was quite obvious.

It was never discussed at the viewing but when i recieved them they had removed her birthmark.
I was furious and really upset. How dare someone else pass judgment on what is aesthetically acceptable about my daughters appearance! It makes me so sad that she will grow up with this pressure and expectation to be airbrush perfect Sad

LucyBabs · 21/10/2015 10:56

We had family photos done when dd was two. She had split her head open 6 weeks before and had it glued. The scar was still very red. Anytime dd looked in the mirror she burst into tears remembering being held down at the hospital!

I asked the photographer to air brush the scar.. I thought this was quite normal?!
It's not like she looked any different.

They also air brushed my crooked tooth Smile

CinderellaRockefeller · 21/10/2015 10:57

I have a huge spot on my chin in one of my school photos. If I ever scanned it in, I would retouch it off because it looks awful and makes me cringe when I see it. I don't want my mum to display it.

Retouch it off, it's a nice photo. Who wants a record of spots, I didn't have them all the time, I don't need documentation of the massive one I did on display in someone's living room.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 21/10/2015 10:58

I've just organised our school photography and would be furious if the photographer did this without individual parents' asking for it. What message are we sending our kids? That they're not perfect enough?? I hate that Angry

Although I do understand the yogurt stains school of thought. I think we need more info OP before we can decide if you are being U.

alltouchedout · 21/10/2015 10:58

I didn't even know retouching school photos was a thing. It strikes me as bizarre tbh.

Jaxsbum · 21/10/2015 10:58

ooh I love the idea of re touching. dd gets a rash ofte on her face, would love that to be "removed"

BolshierAryaStark · 21/10/2015 10:59

Removal of food or stains is fine but anything else is plain wrong.

KittyandTeal · 21/10/2015 11:02

As a teacher I like the retouching option. It means I don't spent the day desperately trying to stop reception children getting paint, mud, glue etc on their clothes.

I imagine most 'retouching' is getting stuff off clothes and possibly face (some schools stupidly organise photos straight after lunch so we don't get a chance to wipe faces etc)

I bloody hate organising school photos, it's the nightmare day of the year!

ChewlipsFromHamsterDan · 21/10/2015 11:06

sparechange that is so mean, but absolutely hilarious Grin

I've never seen the retouching option on my children's school photos.

OwlFeathersFluff · 21/10/2015 11:10

sparechange that is fantastic GrinGrin

diddl · 21/10/2015 11:16

Is it the mum's fault that the service has been withdrawn though?

If she didn't want to use it, fair enough.

How would that lead to it not being offered?

Pedestriana · 21/10/2015 11:23

justgo I got caught up in a debate about this yesterday. Looking at the info the company provide, it seems the blurb on retouching is standard - they do it on any photos they produce, rather than it being specific to school photos.

I understand that some people believe the 'retouching' to be to make everyone look airbrush perfect, but the reality is, if you had the choice to remove food from clothing or reduce the appearance of a scratched face (if the child had fallen over just before the photo was taken) I can't see many people having a problem with it.
I'm sure that older children, those in secondary school would be quite happy to have the appearance of acne diminished.

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