Awful school photo

[daisychainarainyday]

So..cutting a long story short. We have just received our school photos in the post because the company the school used , took so, so long to send them out.

My DD's own photo is terrible!!! I mean it is the worst photo i have seen of her!! She isn't smiling and his her head down so she actually has a double chin !!!!!!!

The class photo - is slightly better but my DD is one of the six who is grimacing 😔

im just so annoyed as they were expensive and i ordered extra for family. i cannot and wont send any. she looks terrible.

can i complain? surely they didnt just take one photo??

im thjnking that i will just take my own of her i her uniform.

i feel very angry and sad about it all.

I used to take my kids to a Facebook photographer who would take 20 photos of my kids as a group and solo so I could pick which ones to print.

There's a photography shop near me that does passport and portrait photos , instead of going to a booth.
They have the option of printing larger copies quite cheaply, not the cost of a full professional photoshoot.
The photos are always really good. Is there somewhere like that near you ?

Either take outside on an overcast day (no sun in eyes) or take with natural light facing your child eg against a plain wall in your house opposite a window.

I would complain to the school.
I would return them and ask for a refund.
I would take to their social media pages if they refuse a refund.

I get it OP, I'd be disappointed too.

I have two daughters, P1 photo of DD1 is lovely, taken just after she went in and she is smart, smiling etc.

P1 photo of DD2 she isn't looking at the camera and is all dishevelled with her shirt hanging out.

It's a shame as they are identical photos with them standing next to a wee board with all their details on it. Iv got them both up but can't help feeling annoyed that the teacher couldn't fix her shirt and get her to look at the camera (there is only 12 in her class)

For note it's the same teacher that has taken them (2yrs apart)

It isn't an official photo, we're yet to get them done, but I still feel disappointed in it!

This!!

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

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.

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.

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

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

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...

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

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.

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.

This! We love looking back on the terrible ones 😂

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.

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.

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

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

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!

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

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.

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.