Ot: How Much did you spend on senior portraits for your child?

[disneychrista]

I think I spent under $75. Got the basic package, no out door, no clothes changes. Sitting was free. Got a small package I think an 8X10, couple of 5x7 and a few 3x5 and a dozen or so wallets.

I personally dont understand the various outfits, setting etc. And certainly wouldn't pay extra for it.

 

[Misty89]

Thank you all
I am glad that my $400 allowance is pretty much in line with others have paid. - i didi not want to be to chincy, but we do not want a ton of photos either.
we are going to have them taken in a studio - like someone said, you only graduate from high school once and she is my baby girl i want to get some great photos of her.
We have decided to use the photographer that takes the photos for the sports teams at her high school ( I am sure he is the contract for the yearbook photos too)~ very good photos. Her Cheer photos were the best photos she had even taken
thanks again for the help all

 

[Leigha]

We spent about $600. I'm frugal too but some things, I don't go cheap on. These pictures are forever and she won't want to do this often again. I did call around and price some photographers and went with one with a good price and great location. I wasn't afraid to throw my opinion in and said can we do this or that and we were happy. It included lots of credits that you could then split how you wanted. I let the grandparents buy what they wanted to help cover what was a big expense to me. I just couldn't afford to buy everyone what they wanted. A year later, I don't regret it at all. HTH.

 

[MichelleVW]

We spent about $600. I'm frugal too but some things, I don't go cheap on. These pictures are forever and she won't want to do this often again. I did call around and price some photographers and went with one with a good price and great location. I wasn't afraid to throw my opinion in and said can we do this or that and we were happy. It included lots of credits that you could then split how you wanted. I let the grandparents buy what they wanted to help cover what was a big expense to me. I just couldn't afford to buy everyone what they wanted. A year later, I don't regret it at all. HTH.

That's kind of how I felt about it. The studio that we had hers done at was amazing and I have spent hours looking at different senior pictures from around the country (I love photography so I am a little obsessed) and I haven't seen any that had the quality of work that this place does.

 

[brymolmom]

To cut costs try to schedule your photo setting early between May and July. Buy only one of each pose that you want . Don't order wallets size , they are so expensive. Scan the photos you get , and download them to one of the online photo sites like Snapfish etc.. There you can get 4x6 size prints for pennies a piece. They are larger than the wallets and fit nicely into the graduation announcements. This way I sent a picture to everyone that I sent an announcement to, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg to do it.I did this last year for my daughter.

You found a photographer who would sign off on this? Pretty sure this would be illegal with any of the photographers or studios around here. I KNOW it is when I get my kids pics done at JCPenney.

 

[sherry7]

My son is a senior this year. I browsed through his friends list on MySpace, for the kids that were a year or two older than him, and saw who they used for senior pics. We ended up with an independent photographer (grad student in photography), and she did a phenomenal job. We did outdoor pics at a local park, and indoor studio shots as well. The sitting fee was $100, and the individual pics are quite reasonable (example. $10 for a 8x10). We ended up with almost 400 pictures to choose from...I'm still trying to decided which ones to order. I like all but a few of them, so I'm totally overwhelmed.

Check Craigslist, under the Creative section. You'll find a lot of independent photographers there. But...make sure they have some type of gallery (online or otherwise) that you can check out first.

I would recommend the photographer we used in a heartbeat...in fact I already have. A co-worker hired her for her wedding later this spring.

 

[sherry7]

To cut costs try to schedule your photo setting early between May and July. Buy only one of each pose that you want . Don't order wallets size , they are so expensive. Scan the photos you get , and download them to one of the online photo sites like Snapfish etc.. There you can get 4x6 size prints for pennies a piece. They are larger than the wallets and fit nicely into the graduation announcements. This way I sent a picture to everyone that I sent an announcement to, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg to do it.I did this last year for my daughter.

That's a copyright violation, and it's illegal.

 

[jgraney106]

Don't know how your studio does it, but I was just send a letter from the studio that took my daughters photos a year ago ,saying I could buy the whole session on CD's for $75.00. I now have all 75 poses with all 3 outfit changes on CD's,to make copies of as I wish.
When I originally ordered a year ago I had a budget, so unfortunately there were poses I didn't get then that I also liked. Now I have them all.So the scrapbooker in me is very happy.

 

[Starlilly]

when i was a senior in high school we spent about $500 for an assortment of many photos with two companies...

I dont know if anyone outside of Utah deals with the company "Jostens", but i actually had my picture session with them and it was TERRIBLE. The photos were blase' and the "soft light focus" was so intense it made all the photos appear foggy and unfocused. It was a couple hundred dollars wasted!

I then went to another photography company and got beautiful results. It was actually a mom who operated an at home business and she did a wonderful job, if its possible, look into a smaller company to do your photos, as i beleive the results will be more personal and meaningful.

Im usually a cheapskate when it comes to almost everything, but this is one particular thing I would encourage you to spend more money on. The photos are well worth the money and it will be very meaningful for your children. Its a snapshot in time of when you are young and free and full of dreams, and they will be very valuable for the rest of your life.

 

[pyrxtc]

To cut costs try to schedule your photo setting early between May and July. Buy only one of each pose that you want . Don't order wallets size , they are so expensive. Scan the photos you get , and download them to one of the online photo sites like Snapfish etc.. There you can get 4x6 size prints for pennies a piece. They are larger than the wallets and fit nicely into the graduation announcements. This way I sent a picture to everyone that I sent an announcement to, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg to do it.I did this last year for my daughter.

It won't work out cheaper when the photographer sues you for up to $24,000 for each picture that you scanned and reprinted wihtout his/her permission.

 

[jgraney106]

It won't work out cheaper when the photographer sues you for up to $24,000 for each picture that you scanned and reprinted wihtout his/her permission.

The name was cropped off. I didn't tell them I did it. And I ended up paying $75.00 for the whole session on CD's last week , so I have them all now anyway.
I originally placed an order of $400 . I just didn't order alot of wallets. Yeah I printed them at Snapfish so I could give everyone a photo in the announcement!

 

[pyrxtc]

The name was cropped off. I didn't tell them I did it. And I ended up paying $75.00 for the whole session on CD's last week , so I have them all now anyway.
I originally placed an order of $400 . I just didn't order alot of wallets. Yeah I printed them at Snapfish so I could give everyone a photo in the announcement!

If the photographer or the place you printed finds out then you could get in a lot of trouble and so could Snapfish.

 

[jgraney106]

Regardless, I guess it's a mute point now, as I have the sessions on CD now that I paid for ,and they no longer have them to print me copies anymore.

 

[ZeroToHero]

My school required us to go through a certain company to get our senior photos, which was a pain, but I only spent 100$ on my photos... at most. I got a lot of wallet sized ones, and a few 5X7s, and that was all I needed. I still have plenty. I got two outfits and about 10 poses.

 

[brenalexacamp]

500.00 inclused sitting fee- a 12x14, 6 5x7's
the yearbook picture and the new gimmick- 3 photos for facebook.

That was the lowest package- all I realy wanted was the proofs. They don't do that.

The pictures are gorgeous though- inside and outside poses. it was raining and they were very creative. 2 clothes changes. he's a guy

 

[edk35]

We paid a 45 sitting fee and they took 8 pictures in her drape. The packages started at 200 for pretty much nothing. SO...we picked out one for the yearbook and called it a day. This was this past Oct. Fast forward ahead to Jan.

Then I took her to Sears in Jan. of this year. I spent about 100 bucks and got A LOT OF PICTURES. She wore three outfits, they also did the drape. They had the cute props and she had her private shoot that lasted well over an hour and a half. The girl that did her did a great job and it was fun. It was like a modeling session. She spent a lot of time with her. This Sears package also included the CD so I can take them to one of those machines and get more prints. I have plenty to put in the invitations and send off to relatives.We were very very pleased. We will do this for my son in 3 years too. Also, the original company that the school used ...kept sending me postcards and emails when they saw I was NOT ordering and FINALLY they send their "THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE" email this past weekend and they gave me a 15% discount on any order where as the other discounted postcards/emails were just for packages. So I did order an 8x10 of her yearbook picture. That one 8x10 was 54 bucks before the discount. I just felt like we should have the one that went into the yearbook too so I bought it with the discount.

 

[rockyroad]

I didn't buy the senior pictures for any of my three kids.

They were overpriced and they were not good.

I did pay the sitting fee...ripoff big time.

Here is an idea that might work for some.
If you can wrangle a cheap cruise, get some photos taken on the ship.
They did lovely formal portraits for a good price.
And you can get them redone every day of the cruise to be sure that you get some good ones.
It is easy to get a release to make your own copies too.

 

[MichelleVW]

I didn't buy the senior pictures for any of my three kids.

They were overpriced and they were not good.

I did pay the sitting fee...ripoff big time.

Here is an idea that might work for some.
If you can wrangle a cheap cruise, get some photos taken on the ship.
They did lovely formal portraits for a good price.
And you can get them redone every day of the cruise to be sure that you get some good ones.
It is easy to get a release to make your own copies too.

As expensive as my DD's Senior pics were they sure as heck were cheaper than a cruise!!!

 

[rockyroad]

As expensive as my DD's Senior pics were they sure as heck were cheaper than a cruise!!!

I don't know.
I have a 5 day cruise booked now that is less than $300 per person, taxes and tips, and the ship photographer sells portraits for $20 per 8 by 10, and the rights to copy are no charge.

What is important is that you are happy with what you got.
And it sounds like you got portraits that were worth the money.

The senior pics of my kids were not good.
And they were very overpriced for the quality.

But the ship's photographer took some lovely photos.

 

[ugadog99]

My daughter's was about $500. She had unlimited poses, outfits, and props. I was very pleased with the results. They weren't what I thought of as traditional senior pictures. It was more of a photoshoot of my daughter. My younger daughter and even the 16 year old dachshund were in some. Of course, she did do the traditional senior picture, but I really liked the other photos better because they were more "her." The photographer I used was someone starting her own business out of her home. She was, by far, the cheapest to use. Give me a bit and I'll try to post some of the pictures.