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.

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

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!

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).

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! 🤣🤣

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 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!

I think they should ban editing

I think I only bought 3-4 school photos the entire 13 years ds(10) was at school as they were mostly awful. It is a production line of kids with a very short time to get them to sit/behave/take the photo then move on. Sometimes you are lucky and the photo is ok, others not so much.

It is poor that you didn't get to see the image before purchasing, I don't think I would have taken that risk with my money as they are extortionate! In his later years at school we were given a signon to a web page to view the image before ordering.

Her dd has eyes too and would know if it was a bad photo and it is important to be honest with your dc.

I used to laugh with mine when the photos are awful. It is a reflection on the photographer not the subject.

I've got all my sons' - even if it was just one small copy of an awful one. They are nice (funny) to look back on.

OP, I'd send them back for a refund. I don't think you can be expected to pay for something you haven't seen, so they must have a return policy.

There's certainly no need from the parents' point of view. However many schools use the school photos internally - they can go on pupil records, and supply teachers can be issued with a sheet of photos of the class they are taking.

If they're taking them anyway, then they might as well be offered to parents in the hope of getting some commission, but getting the best possible photos probably isn't the priority!

Sorry OP, you should be able to see a preview first. My dd's nursery pics were absolutely gorgeous beyond expectations and I couldn't not buy them even if I have plenty of nice pictures already!
I would complain to the school as they sound unprofessional / antiquated.

I have never come across a photographer who made you buy pictures without seeing them first? Why would you?? Complain to them and complain to school. They need a new company next year.

You have a point if you were not given the ability to preview. I would send a good photo of your daughter and a copy of the one the took and argue that they didn’t provide what they advertised, ie a professional photo, with the fair expectation that it would be as flattering as a home photo.

We used to take dd to max spielman. Tenner and the option for copies.
They take their time till you get the photo you like.

Yes, the thing I mentioned about them colour editing DS pale skin to the point it turned his blonde hair bright ginger. If they tried to lighten the skin of a non-white child there would rightly be hell on and cries of 'racism'.

We are very pale, the whole family are and always have been and it is in fact part of our genes/DNA/heritage. We are of course completely aware of it (we didn't wake up on school photo day and go 'fuck me, I'm suddenly white today'), we are also completely fine, happy and comfortable with being 'pasty' and feel no urge to be tangoed 'tanned'. Photoshopping us orange just looks bloody weird and unnatural.

I don't get why they think its ok to try and change someones skin colour as if there is something 'wrong' with us.

I wouldn't have bought them if we didn't get to preview. DD2 is the master of being the child looking in the wrong direction when the shutter button is pressed and DD1 tends to go straight from grumpy to gurn mode when asked to smile - so I buy them on years they're good photos and we all have a mutual giggle when they're terrible now.

As for emotionally scarring your kids - I survived a childhood of my mum always buying them because "if you ever get murdered I'll need an up to date photo for the police".

Very weird that there seems to be multiple people who have had school photos done with no previews - what companies are your schools using?!!

OP they would almost certainly have taken multiple shots of your DC and chosen the best one

If you're going to try and take your own photo I'd recommend doing it outdoors on a slightly overcast day - the clouds give a softer, flatter light and no harsh shadows.

Use portrait mode on your phone/camera and have DC some distance away from the background (ideally nice bushes/trees etc). If your phone has multiple lenses then use the middle one (mine has x1, x3 and x10 - x3 should give the best result). This will allow the camera to blur out the background and make your DC stand out - don't stand them up against a wall like a firing squad

Thanks for all your reply's.

I'm going to contact the photography company direct.
It says on their website however that they can only do re shoots at their offices - no mention where their offices are! So I could end up driving miles!

I'm also going to ask if there were any other shoots taken... like let me see if there's at least a better one. It's just unbelievable that they did not think to ask my DD to put her head up and straight!!! They have clearly just gone "click" "next".

The class shot is slightly better but not great. You can see the benches and there are gaps between the chairs..and a girl in DD's class who is not very tall - at the back on the side - not smiling as she can hardly see over the person in front!!!

I'm just absolutely pissed off that they charge so much money for this shambles.

Will report back!

Also thanks to those with the taking pics advice.
Will be taking some of our own and add to our other great photos.

Disclaimer: Haven't RTFT, just OP's updates.

Make sure you give feedback to the school. If they have a choice of who they use the feedback will be useful for next year.

@LadyMinerva I will do.

I know some on here think I'm overreacting but I cannot believe that a photographer would think it was ok to send a paid photo that had your child at a terrible angle so that they have a double chin a grimace.
Take another photo - head straight - ok smiling - ok click..
FFS!!!

School photos are a rip off! We had loads of nursery pix, those companies did better frames, multiple pictures and were cheaper.
I asked school photographers to see other images of my child as she was half blinking and looked awful and was gruffly told 'we only take one, we have too many children to photograph to take anymore or check they're not blinking

I'm amazed that school photos still exist!

I can't believe it was possible to buy expensive photos without seeing them first! Return for a refund.