Senior pictures!?!?!

[zachnsamsmommy]

Do you have the option of getting them made (for the yearbook) and just paying the sitting fee? Or just buying 1 5x7 or so...?

I am a semi-professional photographer (I have my certification), but don't own a studio and do portraits as time permits (I have a toddler).

I know that I've done senior pics and prom pics (outside) for those either unhappy with the pics or the prices. I don't make prints, just a sitting fee/CD fee of $75 with a release to make copies. I know there are lots of good student/new/ or photographers like me who love the business and take good photos. And Sears/JC Penney and some chains do a decent job at a reasonable price.

Anyways...just a suggestion...

 

[JamesMom]

It's true.

We did buy quite a few pictures for DS to give out, but he was not overly excited about giving out his pictures. He really did not give out many. Most of what he gave out was to the girls he knew because they wanted them.

Now...DD on the other hand... has stated that all of her friends have said they want lots of her pics. They all want one of each pose! I told her that was not going to happen. They will have to decide the one or two poses they like best. I certainly can not afford to buy one of each pose for all of her friends.

Isn't this why they have a yearbook to begin with? So you can have a snapshot of all your classmates and not have to hand out an individual picture to everyone?

Years later those pics will be tossed, but not the yearbooks that have the names printed to jog memories.

 

[disneyfan007]

My DS just graduated in June. At the end of his junior year he was asked to be a rep for his school (one of several) by the school photgropher. I got many extra deals by him doing this. He could of cared less about getting his pictures taken but he did it for his mom They were still expensive though. As far as announcements went, I ordered the minimum thru the school to send to family memebrs. All of our friends and his friends got ones from the local party store. Then his band went to Disney to perform and that was a huge setback. Yea, the senior year was the most expensive by far.

 

[vsimeone]

My DD graduated in 2006. I made a deal with her. I had a really fancy camera at the time and I asked her to humor me and let me try my hand at taking some photos and retouching them with Photoshop. I promised her that if they "weren't up to par" that I'd then take her to a professional but the prices were KILLING me.

She was fabulous and let me try but there was no way that they came close to comparing to a professional and we both knew it. I sucked it up and spent about $400.

My son is graduationg in 2010 and the one thing that I did different was call EARLY and get him into the ambassador program. He had to do a couple of things - submit names of 20 of his friends and hand out business cards for a few. He didn't mind.

We just picked up his pictures. I got the exact same package as I had purchased for my daughter but it cost about $100 more - inflation?

He did get some extras for being an ambassador - like a "portfolio" of four pictures, a MUCH longer sitting/session and a little video of his pics to post on Facebook.

DS's pictures aren't on the photographer's site yet but here's a few of DD that are still posted there:

 

[vsimeone]

My DD18 had hers done in North Dakota at an amazing studio. When it was all said and done, we probably paid about $800 or so.

She had a blast getting them done, and they all turned out great!

here's a couple of them...

These pictures and your DD are BEAUTIFUL!

 

[MichelleVW]

That's insane!!

I paid only $500 for my WEDDING pictures at Disney in 2001 and $850 for CASTLE pics! Did you get castle shots? LOL

Good thing I know how to use a camera.

Did you HAVE to buy the package or could you just do the one yearbook pose and be done with it?

We moved the summer of my DD's junior year and at the new school they had to use the school photographer or it wouldn't be in the yearbook. It was free to get the picture taken and we didn't buy any since we had the whole photoshoot senior pics taken in North Dakota.

Isn't this why they have a yearbook to begin with? So you can have a snapshot of all your classmates and not have to hand out an individual picture to everyone?

Years later those pics will be tossed, but not the yearbooks that have the names printed to jog memories.

Not always true, I still have a box of high school stuff and pictures and I still have the pics my friends gave me.

 

[MichelleVW]

These pictures and your DD are BEAUTIFUL!

Thanks!!! I think so but I am a little biased!! I love the pics of your DD too!

I love that photography studio, it's the one thing I miss about North Dakota.

 

[DCbride]

WOW- senior pictures are very different than what happens in South Jersey. DS graduated last year. He had a session at school and had a tux, suit, cap and gown and just gown session. We just bought 2 5x7 and it cost $35. They are still in the folder in some file. His yearbook picture was one in a tux. The school selected it, I think.

But I love the pictures that each of you posted. The sports one is great! I have never seen one like that. Our high school makes a poster of each senior who plays sports using a blended scene of an individual photo of any sport played senior year- they even make one for team manager. This is free

 

[pyrxtc]

I dabble in photography and the price you pay a pro is not for the portraits themselves it is for their skill and time it takes to create and finish the final pictures you see.

I do it by word of mouth only and have a lot of fun with it. I cannot doa plain Jane sitting and spend quite a bit of time in post processing to make it all perfect. I know my way around lighting enough but don't know it all. I only have a couple of lenses, nothing fancy. I am proof that you can take an off the shelf camera and make it work magic.

I charge little but you pay for the print. This link is to my last senior session. we went into Boston to have some fun. I LOVE taking pictures down there. The girl was very into drama and wants to be a broadway star so it made the shoot really fun.

Her mother was my DD's 5th grade teacher.

 

[ZeroToHero]

This link is to my last senior session. we went into Boston to have some fun. I LOVE taking pictures down there. The girl was very into drama and wants to be a broadway star so it made the shoot really fun.

I see my school!!!!

 

[NYCDiane]

It's absurd the way the school takes advantage of the parents like this... Basically forcing you to use "their" photographer so they can get a hefty kickback off what you spend. Even the "sitting fee" in the auditorium is ridiculous! $30... for what?????

I will not buy any of these graduation "portrait packages" when the time comes for my DD. The regular packages in elementary/middle school are already too much. When it comes to her graduation, I'm going to go the route of one of the previous posters. I'll get the pic done for the yearbook through the school photog and then take her to WalMart w/cap & gown to get a nice, inexpensive package. Of course, I'll also do some of my own pics (which usually come out great).

I hear about this "senior year" stuff every year and it boggles my mind.... trips, proms, expenive gowns, etc, etc etc..... All I can say is, my daughter better start saving her $$ when she hits the 9th grade (and have enough by 12th) because I'm not paying for ANY of that nonsense!

 

[MichelleVW]

I hear about this "senior year" stuff every year and it boggles my mind.... trips, proms, expenive gowns, etc, etc etc..... All I can say is, my daughter better start saving her $$ when she hits the 9th grade (and have enough by 12th) because I'm not paying for ANY of that nonsense!

You won't buy your daughter a prom dress?? lucky girl...

 

[pipermae]

When I was a senior in high school, we were forced to go to a specific photographer, but we didn't have to buy any pictures. (Which was good, too, because this photographer was having an off day or something but I looked awful in all of the pictures.) I ended up going to Glamour Shots (I believe) and got some wonderful pictures done for less than my drunk/high, badly lit, 1970s style looking pictures.

 

[Priorityonecb]

We let the school take the ones they needed for the yearbook, but didn't purchase those. We then took our daughter to Picture People and she had a *great time!! Her pictures are fabulous and we only spent $150. She had enough to give out to everyone she wanted, announcements, and we have tons leftover for ourselves.

 

[dixie lolly]

My DD is a senoir this year and they are supposed to use the same photographer for their formal shot. You do not have to buy any of them but they put one in the yearbook. They also have a photographer to come to the school and take informals at different locations for them if they are interested. This is also an option. Many of them use a photographer that they pick and do informals at a much less expensive price. I most likely wont buy the pics from school because if the price, 350 for the smallest package. My brother in law is a photographer so he will do her informal photos. The school also puts an informal that you submit beside the formal in the yearbook.