Anyone else think Photopass quality is decreasing?

[Tormania]

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.

I agree. We are going in Dec and I'm hoping all these horror stories are not the norm. The main reason I want to get PP+ is so our whole family can get in the majority of the pictures. I'll be taking my camera with me and will be taking plenty of "scenery" pics on my own as well as pics of my son as he experiences WDW for the first time. But PP+ for us will be to capture extra photos of all of us that we otherwise wouldn't get.

 

[mm1971]

We just got back and I will say that if you do not plan to do a lot of character meals and wait to see the characters at the parks, then I agree it is not worth the cost. If you have young ones and plan to visit the characters, I think it is still a pretty good deal.

As others stated, there were very few photographers throughout the parks. I seem to remember a photographer outside HM specifically that was not there this time. Only the basic entrances and iconic locations....Castle, hat, globe, TOT and tree. There also used to be a photographer in France on the bridge where we had pictures from the last 3 years and would have liked to do again, but no one there this time.

I will say that every photographer that we did have was excellent and we got the magic pics which was nice. Most of the pictures were clear and it's nice to have them. I just wish there was more opportunity to have pictures taken. I always got excellent value in past trips. It may be that my kids are finally at that age where we don't need it anymore. It was a positive experience, just not enough pictures for us this time around.

 

[DisneyFive]

Unless something has changed since Sept 2012, all three years (2010, 2011, 2012) of our photos have been very good.

I'll be interested to see if this year is different. The last three years we've preordered the Photopass CD, and this year moved up to PhotoPass +, so we're excited for the new options.

By the way, does anyone know if the Hoop Dee Doo Review photo before the show is included in PP+?

Dan

 

[GeneralTso]

YES!! 100% agree with OP.

We never bother anymore, let alone PP Plus! No way. Not worth the money.

I swear there are half the amount of photographers around anymore. You literally can't find one when you want one. They used to be posted up all over the place, lots of the fun "magic shots" and very creative posing, etc. Not now.

Not to mention the quality of the pictures is pretty bad. You occasionally get a great shot, but for hundreds of dollars, no thank you. I'll stick to my own camera. We use the PP just to see if their shots are any better than the ones we take ourselves and no, they are not. Some aren't really photographers I swear. Composition is way off. Too dark, just overall a crappy picture.

I think it used to be a great thing but it has definitely shifted. As for the borders, etc., that's what stickers are for.

 

[KapBoy77]

By the way, does anyone know if the Hoop Dee Doo Review photo before the show is included in PP+?

Dan

Yes it is.

 

[angierae]

Our pics in 2010 and 2012 were great, we'll see how it goes next month. But my advice to people is to always tell the PP photog at character meets that you've already paid for the CD, so PLEASE take candids. The candids are the best, if you ask me. Yes, sometimes we're mid-sentence or posed awkwardly but I love being able to see things like when Terrence was asking DD15 where in Michigan she was from, and she was pointing to his hand.

 

[DisneyFive]

Edit: Found my answer

 

[ArwenMarie]

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.

Try to take a good amount and you will get enough for it to be worth it. The prints are very expensive, so you will likely still come out ahead

 

[Dislover1991]

We last went in April 2012 and only ordered 2 photos online but all of them were great! I really wanted to get a cd of the photos but a $100 cd for 20 photos didn't seem too worth it to me.

I'm glad I came across this thread because we were thinking of ordering PP+ for our trip in December - it seemed like a good deal since we're doing the Ohana breakfast and like to buy ride photos. Plus with us doing MVMCP, we figured the photogs could get better photos of us with characters since it will be dark and my camera doesn't do too well in the dark. Now i'm reconsidering ordering the PP+ It seems like the quality has gone down over the past year.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Just curious about something, the posters that are unhappy with the quality in particular Are you ever stopping on your way out of the park and having the pictures looked at or are you waiting until you get home ? I always make the time to check to make sure a " must have" doesn't have to be taken again It's also a great opportunity to see if anything is terribly wrong

I am a big fan of photopass from the beginning and have to say I have been fortunate in all of my shots I also have found sometimes there doesn't seem to be enough of them around, but I have also found like a previous poster said, tell them you want candids I usually say, ' I bought the CD, go crazy". and they usually do I've never had less than 500 or 600 pictures probably more

 

[WishnDisney]

We had our first trip in June and we got PP+. I was actually very happy to get it since we had camera issues and our cell phones at the time took bad pics.

That said, we wound up with someone else's pics from AK (what do we do about that?), we have lots of posed pics in the same spot, no one we asked could do magic shots (something about a tripod).

Our best experience was our last night. My youngest was complaining that we already had our pics taken at the front of Epcot, so the photographer took some pics of just the boys in various poses that turned out great.

I'm happy we did it...was glad we got our pics from our rides, got some character pics (those were with me and my 13 yo!), our HDDR pics turned out great.

Also, in June we got a pic of the boys on the bridge by Paris, so perhaps a pp just timed it wrong.

Would I do it again? Not sure, but it saved our bacon this time around since we were having camera issues.

Lynne

 

[Tltorrez]

I don't think it has gone downhill. At least, not since I started using it in 2010. However, I do think it has always been hit or miss. It depends on the skill of the photographer, the lighting and how busy they are. We've had some truly horrible shots and I always carry my own camera, but we've also had enough true gems to keep me coming back to pre-order the CD every trip. I'm a scrapbooker so pictures are my souvenir.

Some tips:
(1) hit the photographers in obscure locations or when they're not busy. Having time to compose good shots make all the difference. I love the ones in World Showcase and there's always one on the bridge to Tomorrowland at MK. It's a beautiful shot of the castle from the side, and it's much less busy than the ones in front of the castle.
(2) If you don't have PP+ tell the character photographers you pre-ordered the CD. Usually this spurs them to start snapping the "interaction" shots and not just the posed. I have great pics from MNSSHP of my son dressed as McQueen with Daisy "driving" him around. Priceless!
(3) take the opportunity to get different family groupings. As the family photographer, I love being in the shots. My family is also trained to stop every time they see a photographer. And we mix it up a lot. I have beautiful pics of DSis and me. Pics of just DH and I. And several lovely shots of my parents on the bridge between France and UK. Again, priceless.
(4) hit the resorts at holiday time. Again, quality depends on how busy they are. Our GF pics were rushed. But we caught the AKL photographer at a slow time and he basically did a full family photo shoot with all the different family groupings. These are honestly the best pictures we've ever had taken - anywhere. I'll try to post some later.
(5) Ask for magic shots. There are new ones coming out but we have nearly all the old ones. My son loves them and we ask every photographer we see. Again, time and skill are a factor. They don't always turn out but we have some great ones.

On that note - I read that they're changing the magic shots to make them less location-based. That every photographer will have access to a bunch. And they're adding new ones. Can anyone confirm this? Have the changes rolled out?

For the first time, this trip I'm looking at not ordering the CD. We have 3 days in Nov. and I know I could make it worthwhile, but it's just not in the budget. If there are new magic shots though, I'm going to be sorely tempted.

 

[Dislover1991]

I don't think it has gone downhill. At least, not since I started using it in 2010. However, I do think it has always been hit or miss. It depends on the skill of the photographer, the lighting and how busy they are. We've had some truly horrible shots and I always carry my own camera, but we've also had enough true gems to keep me coming back to pre-order the CD every trip. I'm a scrapbooker so pictures are my souvenir.

Some tips:
(1) hit the photographers in obscure locations or when they're not busy. Having time to compose good shots make all the difference. I love the ones in World Showcase and there's always one on the bridge to Tomorrowland at MK. It's a beautiful shot of the castle from the side, and it's much less busy than the ones in front of the castle.
(2) If you don't have PP+ tell the character photographers you pre-ordered the CD. Usually this spurs them to start snapping the "interaction" shots and not just the posed. I have great pics from MNSSHP of my son dressed as McQueen with Daisy "driving" him around. Priceless!
(3) take the opportunity to get different family groupings. As the family photographer, I love being in the shots. My family is also trained to stop every time they see a photographer. And we mix it up a lot. I have beautiful pics of DSis and me. Pics of just DH and I. And several lovely shots of my parents on the bridge between France and UK. Again, priceless.
(4) hit the resorts at holiday time. Again, quality depends on how busy they are. Our GF pics were rushed. But we caught the AKL photographer at a slow time and he basically did a full family photo shoot with all the different family groupings. These are honestly the best pictures we've ever had taken - anywhere. I'll try to post some later.
(5) Ask for magic shots. There are new ones coming out but we have nearly all the old ones. My son loves them and we ask every photographer we see. Again, time and skill are a factor. They don't always turn out but we have some great ones.

On that note - I read that they're changing the magic shots to make them less location-based. That every photographer will have access to a bunch. And they're adding new ones. Can anyone confirm this? Have the changes rolled out?

For the first time, this trip I'm looking at not ordering the CD. We have 3 days in Nov. and I know I could make it worthwhile, but it's just not in the budget. If there are new magic shots though, I'm going to be sorely tempted.

Great tips! I'll definitely keep these in mind if we decide on the PP+ package!

 

[Bean786]

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.

Nobody said they were but its not hard to say 1.2.3. Cheese. I'm not talking about pictures where I might be picky and not like how I look or candid. I have pictures where I'm still setting up the kids. I'm taking, they are talking. Eye closed. As a photographer they should know to check those things. I'm not asking them to hold the camera at x angle to make me look the skinniest but can you make sure I'm not talking and my eyes are open?

 

[mkymouse40]

This is one of the reasons I am glad I participate in a Photopass Share group through another fan site. My share is usually $25 - $30 and I don't feel as bad if I have some bad shots.

I agree with everyone about this, especially with night photos. Our one and only time we went in December most of the night time photos were too dark. This was very disappointing because we wanted our pictures by all of the large Xmas trees lit up.

I also wish they had more borders and cute things to add to the pictures. If you go year after year, you are basically getting the same borders over and over.

Step it up Disney!!!

 

[GoHerbie]

BINGO! I agree 100% with the OP, glad it wasn't just me thinking so. During our trip 3 weeks ago, the Photopass experience was much worse than our 4 prior trips. There were less photographers, and the ones we did find were less experienced than prior trips. This past weekend I finished editing our photos and calendar and as usual the website performance was terrible. The overall in-park and website experience was bad enough that I'd seriously consider skipping photopass on the next trip, whenever it might be.

I just saw a mouseplanet tweet about a new "Mydisneyphotopass.com" which is only open to resort guests starting today, so I can't even see if they've fixed some of the prior problems. More likely is that they added a flashy new interface that will perform even worse than the current photopass website.

 

[Overexcited]

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.

Me too! We go in 13 days, I hope we get some good pics. This is my first time ordering the CD ahead of time!

 

[Hayes76]

I just received my photo pass+ package in the mail yesterday. I hear of a new website today that needs new login info. After all the posts I've read today I'm getting worried. If I have to set up a new profile, how do I get my prepaid PP+ CD after my trip. Arriving in 9 days! Excited and now nervous.

 

[chs27]

My DH loves taking pictures of people with their cameras. The first few people asked him, now he offers when he sees people taking turns photographing each other.

 

[elgerber]

I agree also. I used to love our pics, but the last couple of years, they are pretty mediocre. Thank goodness for the cropping feature, so I can at least move us to the center. None of our pictures are great. And I also found a couple of times, in the Character Spot at Epcot, and meeting Mike and Sully at DHS, that they snapped the pictures before I had even fully turned around to stand next to the characters, then put the camera down, so we could move on.