Anyone else think Photopass quality is decreasing?

[stazmatic]

So glad I did a share this last trip - not only did I not find as many photographers - Many of the pics I did get were terrible. Out of focus, crooked, kids not looking at the camera, etc. etc. I know kids are kids, but I had a photographer do some shots of my birthday girl in front of the castle. One of the kids needed something so I didn't pay enough attention. Looked at the pics online and none of the pics were cute. One her hair was in her face, one her tiara fell and covered her eyes, etc. My daughter was excited to have pics taken of just her so she was definitely cooperative. Maybe I had just gotten lucky in the past? I figured I could trust the CM to make sure at least one shot turned out cute.
So glad I didn't pay full price.

 

[Bean786]

No I feel the same way. Last few times I've gone, I've said I should get a job as being a photo pass photographer. I feel like I'd care more.

 

[preemiemama]

There was a thread like this a little over a month ago after I had returned. I agree- it has gone downhill. Fewer photographers, fewer magic shots available, and about a 50-50 split of photogs who cared and got great shots, including candids vs, those who "mailed it in" and snapped the few posed shots. The great pics I got were REALLY great, but there were just as many bad ones. Plus, the person at Jedi Training somehow lost/didn't take a majority of the show!

My advice? Call or e-mail Guest Relations and tell them about your experience. It won't fix the pictures from this trip, but I would hope if enough of us express our disappointment they will improve the quality of the photographers. Again- not all of them were bad- there were some great ones out there. But they were much harder to find this last trip!

 

[DESKRoberts]

We just got back from our trip with PP+ and my husband and I agree. In addition to not having as many photographers, half of our pictures are missing. I will call tomorrow to see if they can find them, but for as much as we paid for this service I shouldn't be haveing so many problems. Especially since I tried to have them added several times while there.

 

[BattyMcDoon]

I can't tell you how many bad pictures were taken by the photopass photographers on out trip this past month! About half of them were of us mid sentence, way too dark, very odd cropping, not looking, moving or just in really awkward poses.

Not to mention when I got home half of the photos taken were not on the site even though I had added all of the cards and had to try to get someone to hunt them down resulting in some "lost" all together. On top of that the fact that most don't know how to use a dslr just makes me sad. Why ask a guest if they want pictures taken with their camera if you don't know how to work it? I had one lady tell me she took pictures with my camera, hand it back to me and none were on it...

 

[ArwenMarie]

I so agree. Not that many photographers, felt very very rushed, even at spots where no one else was waiting at all. I'd say one out of ten photogs were really trying. Glad I didn't pre-order PP+ this time. Just going to order a few small prints instead.

 

[tony609]

My may trip I had similar experiences. My shots by PP photographers were horrible. I wasn't looking, I even had to yell to get the attention of one at the character connection to take another pic when Pluto and I were interacting. I said to him can you take some more pics please. The photographers seemed more interested in chatting with the character handlers. Anyway I got home, looked at pics, I complained to guest services. They told me to order get the disc a d check out the pics then. I did, pics were still bad and the issued me a one time refund. It took nearly 2 months to get it though.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

My may trip I had similar experiences. My shots by PP photographers were horrible. I wasn't looking, I even had to yell to get the attention of one at the character connection to take another pic when Pluto and I were interacting. I said to him can you take some more pics please. The photographers seemed more interested in chatting with the character handlers. Anyway I got home, looked at pics, I complained to guest services. They told me to order get the disc a d check out the pics then. I did, pics were still bad and the issued me a one time refund. It took nearly 2 months to get it though.

I agree with everything everyone else is saying. How hard is it to have the people centered in the picture!!

So you were able to get a refund after you received the CD? I pre-ordered one for 2012. Never even ordered the CD. The pics were not great and the website is SOOOOOO SLOW to try and do anything, they expired. Saved it until this year and upgraded it to PP+. I had many of the problems everyone is talking about this year too but went ahead and ordered my CD. We've bought 6 CDs since 2007 but I think this may be our last year.

 

[PPFDDisneyLover]

Wow, glad it wasn't just me feeling this way. Very unhappy with our photos, and I did spend the money on the Photo Pass+, which makes me even more angry! I did notice that there seemed to be quite a bit more employees "Earring their Ears" than usual, this included the photo pass crew, this could have a lot to do with it .......

 

[revdon64]

Have been going through our PP+ pics the last couple days since we got home. I tend to disagree with most of the sentiment in this thread. Just about all of our pics were good and some were great. I only have two critiques - there was a pic of another family on our account (complete strangers who'll be disappointed that they didn't get their framed shot in front of the sorcerer hat in DHS), and the limited number of borders/frames to add. Oh, and some of the pics wouldn't let me add borders at all, so three critiques.

 

[tony609]

I agree with everything everyone else is saying. How hard is it to have the people centered in the picture!!

So you were able to get a refund after you received the CD? I pre-ordered one for 2012. Never even ordered the CD. The pics were not great and the website is SOOOOOO SLOW to try and do anything, they expired. Saved it until this year and upgraded it to PP+. I had many of the problems everyone is talking about this year too but went ahead and ordered my CD. We've bought 6 CDs since 2007 but I think this may be our last year.

Yes I got the physical cd, downloaded the pics and looked at them as advised by guest services to me. The pics were still awful. I had to return the cd bug I did get a refund of full purchased price.

 

[OThopeful35]

We were at WDW during the first week of August and we did not see that many Photographers. Some of the character meets did not have a photographer so the cm just used my camera and we have pics with the characters that we wanted. I'm glad I did not pay for photopass this time because I would have gotten a refund when I got home. So, yes I agree that the quality has decreased.

 

[Disney38Girl]

Wow, glad it wasn't just me feeling this way. Very unhappy with our photos, and I did spend the money on the Photo Pass+, which makes me even more angry! I did notice that there seemed to be quite a bit more employees "Earring their Ears" than usual, this included the photo pass crew, this could have a lot to do with it .......

A large portion of the CM's "Earning their Ears" were probably College Program participants. They arrive in August for the Fall program (Photopass Photographers included). Hence, lots of trainees in one relatively small time period.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

This is our first visit and I feel like I am bothering the photogs when I ask them to take a picture. I thought they would be seeking us out more asking to take pics. Of course I don't know how the photos have turned out yet. The character meet cms seem more interested in getting good shots.

 

[AmyB2006]

I tend to agree. It's gone downhill.

But, keep in mind, these "photographers" aren't highly trained or professional photographers from what I've been told. There regular ole college kids, retirees, or regular people taught how to operate a camera and a tripod. Again, at least from what I've been told.

I've run into every gamete of photographer since I've been doing photopass. Grumpy ones, pleasant ones, ones that just want to get the job done, ones that go over the top and great shots. I've never had blurry or not viewable pictures though. So I guess I can't really complain until that happens.

However, I will say that when I give them my camera to snap a shot with, they will always change the setting from Automatic to something else and the shot never comes out right. I've mentioned this on here before, but this always happens to me. When I give them my camera (and keep in mind my camera is a Canon T2i DSLR so it's JUST LIKE THERE's LOL) they will always be crappy pics. But I do it anyway just in case I get a good one.

 

[4myboyz]

We took very few PP pics, maybe because we were hardly approached. The ones on the site were just OK but the pictures that the "photographers" took with my camera were down right laughable.

 

[LilyWDW]

These are not professionals. They are normal cast members who have been handed a camera. They are not supposed to change any settings on the camera and most wouldn't know what they do anyway. All they can really do is zoom in and out.

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

Y'all have got me scared for our upcoming November trip. I have already purchased PP+, hoping for some good shots of DH and I together, as well as ones of all four of us.

 

[Love Tink]

These are not professionals. They are normal cast members who have been handed a camera. They are not supposed to change any settings on the camera and most wouldn't know what they do anyway. All they can really do is zoom in and out.

They are, by definition, professionals. They get paid to take photos. It's their job.

Whether they are talented or could be professional photographers outside of Disney World is another question (and, in most cases, no).

We just got back and I'm pretty happy with our PP results. We found no shortage of photographers, especially at MK. We found six or seven different places to have magic shots done. Most photographers took multiple shots and most took time to compose the photo. Sometimes the shots are too wide for my taste, but I assume that's because they are leaving room to add borders. We got a couple bad shots, a couple really great shots, and a couple hundred fine/good ones.

Are they transcendent, glorious photographs? No. But, for us at least, it was a good way to take posed shots. Having it also meant I didn't have to carry a DSLR and I could still get decent photos of the low-light character interactions.

 

[ariane37]

We went in May, pre-purchased PP CD & actually were extremely happy w/ results. First time we've ever used PP other than having a few character shots taken which we never buy. In some cases we did ask where we'd find the photographers, just so we didn't miss any, and we had a mix of being approached by some but having to tap others on the shoulder who weren't busy w/ other guests, just ......daydreaming?? LOL just about all were pleasant. As PP's have said, some went above & beyond, taking tons of shots and posing us different ways. Others took one shot. Some offered Magic Shots, and we asked others if they could do Magic Shots. We ended up with about 7 or 8 different ones which I was happy with, although I'd been hoping for some I'd seen on the DIS that we didn't get. Wonder if its just gone downhill the last few months? Or we were just lucky Not sure now if I'll bother fr our Feb. trip.