Are School Pictures Typically THIS Bad?

They should have a retake day for kids that missed the day and for kids
whose parents do not like what they have. If you keep them 20 years from
now you will look at it and chuckle and it will bring back warm and fuzzy
memories.

Last year my Kindergartener was barely even in the frame, seriously.

Do the retake. I plan to again this year, my sons are not as bad as last year, but still, not good.

J.

We had the same company but ordered only after we saw the photo. As mentioned, retakes are also an option.

Oh my gosh. You would faint if you saw some of my kids pictures and I have pretty beautiful kids.
There's got to be at least one crappy school picture in everyone's life so maybe your son was just getting it out of the way.

For my 3rd grade picture, I slept on uncomfortable rollers the night before. My mom carefully brushed ringlet curls into my hair and warned me I better not mess it up until AFTER my pictures were taken. Well, I was standing in line waiting my turn and this lady came up with a hair brush and ran it through my hair. I was horrified! I said, "PLEASE don't touch my hair, it's the way my mom wants it." I reached up and patted it. I told my mom some crazy lady came after me with a brush, but I had defended myself.
Well, my pictures came back and I was afraid to take them home. One side of my head looked like it had been caught in a weed eater. My mom wasn't mad at me and put the picture up just like she had done all the other ones.

My daughter. She went through a phase of blinking when they took the pictures. She told me the photographer tried different tricks and finally gave up. He had made a comment to go with her batch of pictures that he picked the best one. Frankly, I would rather have had her look sound asleep as opposed to stoned, but I guess that's all he had to work with. One year, after another bout of blinking, I told her to try closing her eyes and when he counted to 3, she could open them instead of reactively closing them when he counted. Oh God. Her pictures came back looking like she'd grabbed an electric fence.
My son's first school picture was in pre-school and he had a huge bruised scabby garf on his forehead.

We have a sense of humor so it wasn't the end of the world. School pictures are expensive though, so it's kind of a bummer when they don't turn out great.
Give it another whirl on make-up day.
It's not the end of the world.

Best wishes.

lol!!! Just wait, you will have YEARS of this! My kids are 15 (spec needs), 12 and 9 and the school pics every year are ridiculous. Last year my son (9 yo) had half of his collar out, half under his vest. My spec needs daughter they took hers with her jacket ON...HELLO, for the retakes the teacher decided to give her a funky new hair do, which we didn't know until we got the pics from the photographer, I freaked out and told them what happened and asked if we could have the ones with her jacket on, at least her face looked good in those. Both my sons and daughters hair is usually sticking up or something. When we were little I remember them giving us little combs to comb our hair and we got to keep them. and there was someone there making sure our shirts were tucked in and our pig tails hung just so. I just laugh now and figure that's part of childhood. But yes, they are expensive for what you get. We only get them once a year even tho they offer them for both fall and spring. So you have lots of years ahead of you to experience this! =)

Yes, school pictures usually are bad. Look at it this way, the photographer has to take hundreds of pictures. He only has a minute or two with each child. Most schools will schedule a picture retake day.

I would only buy the most inexpensive package so I could have a class photo and a photo of my child.

I hate the way they make the kids smile.......fake and corny. I instructed my daughter before hand how to smile naturally.....and they still tried to force her to snare her teeth like a vampire.

I would tell them that you don't like the photos and ask about retakes or a refund. I had the lights glaring in my glasses once and got retakes that were still not great, but better. My DH dislikes school pictures so much we rarely buy them. I take DD to Kiddie Kandids when they do their $7.99 promos.

There should be a picture make-up day so maybe you will have better luck then. But I would agree, you would think with digital photos they could just take enough until they get a decent one - and know how to get the kids to laugh and show a more natural smile. Do ever watch Ellen Degeneres? Her segments on "Bad Paid-For Photos" are hilarious (you can see them on her website too)! Maybe you'll have some material to submit!

don't they let you do reshots? Ask them.

Remember they are only on the stool for a few seconds the photographer says Look here, Smile, click.. Next!

We've done the retakes before. You just return the ones you don't like.
I'm not familiar with the company you mentioned.

Oh my gosh, mom, I understand. Kindergarten pics are not the best. The kids can be nervous, etc. I bet you though, that when you guy is older, you will love these pics! Anyway, your school, if it is a good photo company should offer "do-overs".

Just out of curiousity, what was the company that did them? I like Lifetouch myself but our school prefers to put money savings over pic quality. Our present photo company doesn't offer do-overs because but Lifetouch did.

Have you seen the Calvin & Hobbes series on school pics? My favorite strip was the 'crisco' one.

Love. It.

((There should be a retake day))

find a way to take them back or find a phone number. that is NOT normal, and especially if you are paying up front- COMPLETELY ridiculous. don't take that T.. good luck!

My son's pics have always been great except for the one year he had this "blah" look and horrible hair style but it was not the photographer's fault. Also, his senior pics were not as good as I would have expected.

Retakes are always an option.

Usually they have a retake day. Do that. I have learned that I just don't want to fork over the money for school pictures anymore! I have a ton of pics of my kids throughout the year and they look great. I ordered my son's class photos and paid $10 a kid. If I feel the need for professional pictures, which I am pretty sure I wont, then I can get them cheap at Sears, JC Penny's, Walmart, Target.
L.

I would think they would let you choose a picture. But then I haven't seen my daughters yet and no one has asked me to choose one. I would call the school and find out which company took them. Maybe they have a better shot of your son or they will let you retake them.

We see a proof- and then get to order what we want... Ask if your photographers can do the same. It is awesome.

HA - we must have the same school! Altho my daughter's came out pretty good this time - that's because I didn't pay for that round. OF COURSE!! I had forgotten about picture day and didn't send the money, so we'll do retakes next week or in spring... My kids have came out looking crazy too - my son looked like he had been drinking! Like I said, when I don't pay... they come out good. What's funny for us is that my dad photoshop fixes them and sends the touched ups back to me - after I send him his school pics of the kids. He's crazy!

Wow - our school has had amazing school photos and we don't even have to pay before! I think at schools that don't, get the parents lobbying for a better option. I can't imagine there aren't photographers who wouldn't love to get a school contract.

I had the same problem with Herff Jones and my daughters preschool pictures. I wasnt expecting perfection, but when she has a big rats nest hair do on top of her head that was incredibly obvious, I was not happy. She had a huge scab on her nose too, which I was ok with. Seriously though, they have volunteers that should help with the hair. They didnt have a retake day either. I ended up going in to their studio and getting them redone. It was a bit of a pain, but I didnt like the first one they took there so they redid it. They turned out great. I found out they only have 45 sec per student to take the pictures. Definitely call and set up an appt. Sometimes those are the funniest pictures though too (just not the ones you want to send to family members).

If it's any consolation, years from now, it's the bad school pictures that are always the most fun to look at. :)

Exactly why I only bought the most inexpensive package. For my older son's senior pics, we just got the free one in the year book and I took the others. For my younger son, we are using a college student who did some family shots for us last year. They were better than anything we ever have had done by a professional
The last Olan Mills photo that was taken for our church directory was really horrible. My younger son who was such a beautiful child looked like a little vampire. My hair was hanging such that it looked like it was 8 inches longer on one side than the other. I don't think they even pay any attention to the shots.

When my daughter was in Kindergarten and 1st grade they took photos in the fall and spring. They were SO BAD! They just don't take the time. One, my daughter looked scared. Another she had allergies and well, you could tell. ANother she looked downright angry. None of her friends pictures were any better. I didn't keep the Kindergarten ones and had taken a picture the same day which looked better so I used it. If you have a digital camera, read some tips online, practice a bit and I BET you would get better pictures. Or take your son to the mall to picture people, sears or penney's.

There should be a picture retake day! Our school always uses Lifetouch, and I have always been happy with them. They have a retake day in case you don't like them. And, if you don't like the retakes, they give you your money back. Look in to these options. If a school is using a service that doesn't have retakes or money back guarantees, then they should consider changing.

I asked to have free retakes and they were better though not Olan Mills good.

I also found it strange that we had to prepay for kindergarten photos. My son's picture was ok meaning his eyes were open and he didn't look goofy, but he is by no means even smiling with much enthusiasm. We paid extra for a specific orange color background and they gave us red. I am considering returning the pictures for the correct background. I'm with you on the quality. I'm not willing to risk the so-so picture thinking a retake might be worse. But if you really don't like yours, they will probably take those pictures back and do a retake or give you a refund. Don't settle. Also, our school does spring photos, too, but they don't offer a reshoot in the spring.

Yes, Herff Jones takes horrible pictures, yet I purchased them again this year :( They will do re-takes if you need them. My husband is a photographer and he takes pictures but once in awhile I would like a school picture because of the backround. Last year they didn't put in the scene I checked so this year I added a note asking to please put the correct backround.