senior pictures

[abmitch01]

OMG, they are so expensive. And my son's didn't even turn out that nice. The cheapest group deal is $299! I'm just going to order an a la carte 8x10 and 2 sx7s. What a rip off. I wish I could talk him into going to a studio to get our own done but he won't do it.

 

[disney_me]

Did the whole senior picture thing last summer. Pictures came out great but to make sure everyone in the family got pictures we were looking at over$300.00!! here is what we did:

1. Called and complained to Life Touch. Did not make a difference but I wanted them to know how much they were ripping people!! Not sure if you knew this but you do not have to buy the pictures for your sons picture to go in the year book.

2. We found a groupon for JCPennys. We got to choose from 20 different poses and paid $25.00 for 3 sheets. As in 3 8x10.

3. I only ordered 1 picture from LifeTouch. It was the picture with my daughter in the black drape. That was $69.00.

Senior pictures are so over priced but what do you do?? . Try shopping around before you buy. I was told that I had until graduation day to order pictures. Call and see what your order time frame is. That might help as well. Also ask if the have a payment plan. Life touch was half now half now half later. Not that helpful if you ask me.

 

[lovegrumpy]

We just did my sons on Saturday. so far we have just paid the seating fee and have no idea how much pictures well be. I have hard that I can buy a cd of all the pictures they took. If that's is true i'm going to do that.

 

[JanaDee]

We had DS's done this summer. His sitting fee was $99 and his pictures were...well, let's just say a lot. We went to a local studio (we can go wherever we want to get the pictures done) and the photographer has been in business for over 25 years, is highly respected and awarded in his field and does a great job. His prices reflect that.

But they turned out great and they were worth the cost.

 

[texasroni75]

Oldest DD graduated from high school in Spring 2013. We opted to just buy prints from her senior portraits done at school for the yearbook (one regular pose and one cap and gown), since they came out really nice - and we mailed those to family. We spent about $65 and and we still have a bunch left over. The money we saved by opting not to do a private senior portrait session was spent on a new laptop for her as a graduation gift for college.

 

[jcano]

We paid $75 fee and had outdoor shots done at a local B&B. The photographer edited and sent us the disk with about 20 shots. We could take that anywhere to get developed.
There are lots of good photographers out there who do it part time for a reasonable fee.

 

[MSSANDRA]

OMG, they are so expensive. And my son's didn't even turn out that nice. The cheapest group deal is $299! I'm just going to order an a la carte 8x10 and 2 sx7s. What a rip off. I wish I could talk him into going to a studio to get our own done but he won't do it.

Almost everyone here does out of school senior pictures and the cost can vary greatly but they are so much better and personal. I know you said he wont do that but unless he is willing the foot the whole bill for all those senior year and collage expenses.....he would not get that choice here. Sorry but you got him financially and physically through 13 years of school.....a few picture is a fair trade off.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

My daughter didn't have a say where she had hers done, I was paying so it was my decision. She had the one with the drape done at school of course for the yearbook. We didn't buy it (it didn't even come out very nice), I think I had to pay $12 to have it done and they sent us a proof. I went with a local photographer I found on craigslist who was just getting her business off the ground and had a nice portfolio online. She met us at a park and did them outdoors and I loved them (we did clothing changes and everything). When it was all said and done we paid roughly $150 for sitting fee, prints and the cd with rights.

Her rates have gone up since then now that she has more exposure, but they are still much more reasonable than the studio the school uses and I will be going back to her for DS's pictures next year.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I just ordered my daughters school pictures today. Though not senior pictures, she's only in third grade. I got 4 5x7's and one 8x10 class pictures and it cost over $60! Ridiculous. I get her pictures done at JCP every year for her birthday and with the use of my coupons I paid a little over $7 and got two 8x10's, four 5x7's and sixteen wallets.

 

[usd2bmd]

we did this last year. The company that does the school photos came in over the summer and did the formal yearbook pictures. I ordered one small one. (to be put in the yearbook)

For the pictures we hired a photographer that charged us $250 for an hour and a half photo session with a s many outfit changes as we wanted. My daughter chose a park by our house for the session. The photographer touched up the pictures and we got all of them on a CD with all the rights to them. This way we could have them printed wherever we wanted.

 

[pklein09]

DD18 graduated this past June and DS17 will graduate this coming June. I didn't have to pay a sitting fee. I just pulled out the brochure they send with the proofs, and I can't ever figure out the pricing! They say Package 1 through Package 6 (different # of poses for each package), and they give prices ranging from $370 (5 poses) to $80 (1 pose), but they don't say how many copies you get.....you have to log on their website for that. Lors Studio is the company.

To top it off, when I did go online to pick a pose for DD18 to go in the yearbook, they didn't use the one I chose. So, for posterity, DD18 senior picture is terrible. It had to be the worst shot of her.

I was told you could go to an outside vendor, but another parent who tried said it was ridiculous the hoops you had to jump through to use the other vendor's photos.

Needless to say, I didn't purchase any pictures. I have so many photos of my kids, I don't need a formal one in a cap and gown (where it looks like they're wearing a bib that has the year embroidered on it) or drape/tux. We took a cruise on the Fantasy this summer, and I paid $350 for the photo package. We had over 100 pictures taken, I got all the prints, and I got the digital copies for distribution to family. Granted, the cruise was pricey, but I feel like I got a much better deal on the photo package on the ship.

 

[danygirl]

Remember that school photos are a fundraiser for schools not sure what they make off senior pics - and those prices are outrageous- but they may make up to 50 percent on the regular ones.

 

[pklein09]

Remember that school photos are a fundraiser for schools not sure what they make off senior pics - and those prices are outrageous- but they may make up to 50 percent on the regular ones.

That's the first I've ever heard of it being a fund raiser. Is this typical?

 

[JanaDee]

Oldest DD graduated from high school in Spring 2013. We opted to just buy prints from her senior portraits done at school for the yearbook (one regular pose and one cap and gown), since they came out really nice - and we mailed those to family. We spent about $65 and and we still have a bunch left over. The money we saved by opting not to do a private senior portrait session was spent on a new laptop for her as a graduation gift for college.

Our school has nothing to do with senior pictures. Seniors pick whatever pose they'd like for the yearbook and ours was sent to the school for the yearbook for free.

There are no cap and gown or drape pictures, it is whatever the senior chooses to wear (usually multiple outfits).

Remember that school photos are a fundraiser for schools not sure what they make off senior pics - and those prices are outrageous- but they may make up to 50 percent on the regular ones.

Our school makes nothing off senior pictures, since they have nothing to do with them.

 

[Zim]

I'm just glad I didn't take them up on their $20 for extra outfits / backgrounds / poses.... I would have felt taken for that extra sitting fee when I saw just how much their packages would cost. As it was, the sitting for the black gown shot cost nothing, and we only paid for one digital download of our favorite pose and that cost us $95! But at least we can reproduce ala Walmart prints for everyone to get a photo. I wonder how much money they lose out on by raking a smaller percentage over the coals...

Senior year is such a rip and right before the cost of college! I'm just glad my DD did a fast track through the community college with their media program. There is no love lost from the high school - we'll get her yearbook and this one photo. The yearbook produces these 1/8 to full page senior layouts for the parents to design in the back of the book. I thought that was a nice idea, until I saw the full page cost $300! Good gawd, there must be some rich folk in our little town....

 

[mjkacmom]

I just ordered my daughters school pictures today. Though not senior pictures, she's only in third grade. I got 4 5x7's and one 8x10 class pictures and it cost over $60! Ridiculous. I get her pictures done at JCP every year for her birthday and with the use of my coupons I paid a little over $7 and got two 8x10's, four 5x7's and sixteen wallets.

Senior pictures make school pictures seem like a bargain (and ours are done by the same company). I only bought a 5 x 7, and it cost $65.

 

[HM]

We did not do senior pictures at all.

My son just bought copies of his yearbook picture (fake tux) to go in his announcements.

My daughter decided that a casual photo a friend's mom took would work for her announcement....she opted not to buy the official school one and made one of her own on Snapfish.

 

[lucyem]

I gave up on school pictures when my oldest was in 2nd grade. My DS made a face and no one checked. I was sent a $50+ packet of photos of my DS with his tongue out. I sent them back and got a refund. That same year a number of photos were being sent home that were off color and just downright bad. The school has kept the same studio and the issues continue year after year. Since then we started taking our own. Its cheaper and the quality much better. I would do the same for a senior photo and it would be worth jumping through any hoops for the yearbook.

 

[ceecee]

We did ours at Disney! We had them taken at the Beach Club where we were staying. (Disney Fine Art Photography) we had Daniel and he was great. We did them all around the resort inside and out even on the beach area, he even did one of DH and I for our 25th anniversary as well as several family shots. We got over 80 photos on a USB for $99.00. I ordered the large ones from Disney Photography and got the 5x7s in a book and the wallets from Snapfish. The copies up to 8x10 turn out very nice from Snapfish. Very reasonable and FUN!!! We also had her Graduation party (for our FL family) there! The cake was wonderful too!

 

[rszdtrvl]

I took some of my son using our digital camera and had them developed at www.mpix.com to see how they would turn out.

He had a sunburn, but other than that they turned out great. I just had a fellow Dis'er retouch the sunburn, and we can get up to a 5x7 of that print.

I have total confidence that I will be able to take my son's senior year pictures. And save a bundle.

He is not a patient kid and absolutely hates to get his picture taken. Just taking the ones I did (we did them locally under a historical monument) was not enjoyable for him.

The quality of the mpix photos was amazing, PLUS they have the curved edges on the wallets - just like the senior photos that most kids get for $$$$. And no company name on the wallets.

If I were you, I would tinker a bit with a digital camera and local areas, to see if you think it would work. For less than $20 (getting a few prints developed to see how they would work) we realized that we could do it on our own.