School photography -costs, quality, service

SerialComplaint

Just wondering what other people are seeing by way of cost and quality of school photography?

We've been told by the school that it will be €65 for one 10x8 and two 6x4 prints, which seems like crazy money to me. Also, you'd think that in this day and age, there would be an option for providing digital copies, to allow parents to share the photo online.

What are you being quoted? Were you offered digital copies?

smelltheglove

I didn't buy school photos of my child, not only because I coulddo itmyselfbut they were quiteexpensive.

Rememberthough if you want pictures they do not haveto be taken at school, I often take appointments from parents who do not want to use the school photographer, providing instant prints and allowing theparents to chose which images they want. My nearest package to what you have mentioned would be €35.

deisemum

My boys primary school used to get a photographer (chancer more like) to do the communion and confirmation photos. Every year so many parents would complain but it was ignored until one year most parents did not take the photos so that solved that problem.

However the school secretary has a big interest in photography and she now takes the photos and they're far better than the previous guy. It's €10 per photo and the photos are of a good quality.

Sleepy

I wouldn't pay that sort of money without knowing the photographer's work first tbh.

Deliverance

SerialComplaint wrote: »

Just wondering what other people are seeing by way of cost and quality of school photography?

We've been told by the school that it will be €65 for one 10x8 and two 6x4 prints, which seems like crazy money to me. Also, you'd think that in this day and age, there would be an option for providing digital copies, to allow parents to share the photo online.

What are you being quoted? Were you offered digital copies?

I think that is a crazy price. I imagine that they do not give negatives (or the digital image) in the hope that you will have to pay for more copies if required.

What kind of school photos are you talking about in this respect? Simple uniform shots against a background (portrait)? Or whole class shots?

It is incredibly easy to create your own portrait shots at home and indeed print them off cheaply as well at good quality with a relatively small learning curve.

we'llallhavetea_old

my daughter just had her junior infant photos done.

one large, two medium, two small and four mini prints, a large (proper) frame and four of the cardboard frames cost €60. (and i thought that was shocking!)

i bought them this year because it's her first year and its nice to give family a photo, but next year i'll just be buying one. (which works out at an extortionate price :rolleyes:)

no digital option either and its plastered all over the frames that copying the pics is illegal.

smelltheglove

we'llallhavetea wrote: »

my daughter just had her junior infant photos done.

one large, two medium, two small and four mini prints, a large (proper) frame and four of the cardboard frames cost €60. (and i thought that was shocking!)

i bought them this year because it's her first year and its nice to give family a photo, but next year i'll just be buying one. (which works out at an extortionate price :rolleyes:)

no digital option either and its plastered all over the frames that copying the pics is illegal.

Thats a good price. There arent that many photographers that do supply digital images, mostly for portrait shots it would only be by request anyway. Unless the digital image is purchased then copying would breach the copyright.

we'llallhavetea_old

smelltheglove wrote: »

Thats a good price. There arent that many photographers that do supply digital images, mostly for portrait shots it would only be by request anyway. Unless the digital image is purchased then copying would breach the copyright.

well i see its a good price now! jesus the op was robbed! and the quality is very good as well. my friends and family thought the price was too much, apparently not

smelltheglove

we'llallhavetea wrote: »

well i see its a good price now! jesus the op was robbed! and the quality is very good as well. my friends and family thought the price was too much, apparently not

Going by my daughters school I think the op''s price is pretty average. I myself charge €15 for an 8x10 but print on the spot. I couldnt see the point in paying the price myself since I am a photographer and have all the equipment to do it myself.

I have heard of some schools arranging a percentage of the sales to go towards the school, not sure if it would have applied with ours but I would have thought if a school did that they would at least make sure the parents would know that this was the intention.

we'llallhavetea_old

smelltheglove wrote: »

I have heard of some schools arranging a percentage of the sales to go towards the school, not sure if it would have applied with ours but I would have thought if a school did that they would at least make sure the parents would know that this was the intention.

oh yeah, forgot that bit, it does say that a percentage of the money collected by the school for the photos goes towards the schools' projects.

alexlyons

there's a serious gap in the market for a photographer who has the gear who's finding it hard in these times to do these sort of school photo's providing digital copies etc at a reasonable price. I'd do it but I don't have the equipment or the experience!

smelltheglove

alexlyons wrote: »

there's a serious gap in the market for a photographer who has the gear who's finding it hard in these times to do these sort of school photo's providing digital copies etc at a reasonable price. I'd do it but I don't have the equipment or the experience!

Haha, I've got it all, schools tend to stick with their resident photographers though. Maybe in a couple of years I may look into going up that route, at the minute though I'm building up my studio and reputation.

SerialComplaint

Thanks for all the feedback. Good to know that my concerns about the price are reasonable.

smelltheglove wrote: »

Haha, I've got it all, schools tend to stick with their resident photographers though.

I think the problem is that the person who makes the decision about the photograph (the principal) is not the person who is footing the bill (the mammies and daddies).

smelltheglove

SerialComplaint wrote: »

Thanks for all the feedback. Good to know that my concerns about the price are reasonable.



I think the problem is that the person who makes the decision about the photograph (the principal) is not the person who is footing the bill (the mammies and daddies).

Recently my sister in law decided to check out with her sons school if they had someone to do the photos, as it was a new school and he was the first class in the school they had never had pics taken and she was hoping to get me some business, at the stage I was actually building my wedding portfolio so probably would have been a bit busy anyway, but as it happens it was the parents association that decided.

They did ask me coud I cover the communion day, set up in their local GAA club where they would be having tea etc but as I have a clientelle in my location with communions that day I couldnt let down my established client base (even if I would have earned triple or more by going out there).

I suppose if you were worried about the price or service you were getting it would be best to approach the parents association and see if they can arrange something else, if they do have a say in it at all.

buzzymam

SerialComplaint wrote: »

Just wondering what other people are seeing by way of cost and quality of school photography?

We've been told by the school that it will be €65 for one 10x8 and two 6x4 prints, which seems like crazy money to me. Also, you'd think that in this day and age, there would be an option for providing digital copies, to allow parents to share the photo online.

What are you being quoted? Were you offered digital copies?

My dd's school has just had the photograpther in, the same deal as your describing was €30. €45 if you wanted a class group too. I didnt bother this year, not happy with one from last year. Some schools I heard allow you to view the pic 1st and then decide to purchase or not. Seems the best way to go i'd say.

kjenkinson26

I agree with smelltheglove, schools will tend to stick with the same photographer, even if you can give them more, for less cash.

The prices are very out of touch with the situation the country, and a lot of parents are in at the minute.

I work for a school photography company and prices don't come close to those listed, and you get more photos. If you send me a mail I will send you the direct link to the website, as I am not sure that I can put direct links on here.

Even if you google 'the school photography company' and click in Ireland you can find it.

Cabaal

we'llallhavetea wrote: »

oh yeah, forgot that bit, it does say that a percentage of the money collected by the school for the photos goes towards the schools' projects.

what percentage though? and who is paid directly the school or the guy taking the photos?

we'llallhavetea_old

Cabaal wrote: »

what percentage though? and who is paid directly the school or the guy taking the photos?

oh god i haven't a clue now... but i paid the school anyway.

SerialComplaint

Thanks for all the feedback.

kjenkinson26 wrote: »

I agree with smelltheglove, schools will tend to stick with the same photographer, even if you can give them more, for less cash.

The prices are very out of touch with the situation the country, and a lot of parents are in at the minute.

That is my experience too - we'll have to keep hammering on at the principal and board of management to get them to see the light. The current situation is not much use to the incumbent photographer either, as they are getting very little business at those high prices.

ike

As a photographer I agree its highly expensive charging €50-€60 for a 2-3 prints. - I've submitted a proposal to our local school targetting a pack of 7 different photos for €35 - this would include a decent donation to the school. Its not the most challenging of work for a photograher and I feel the costs should relect this.

Deliverance

ike wrote: »

As a photographer I agree its highly expensive charging €50-€60 for a 2-3 prints. - I've submitted a proposal to our local school targetting a pack of 7 different photos for €35 - this would include a decent donation to the school. Its not the most challenging of work for a photograher and I feel the costs should relect this.

Good for you. The economy needs less greedy people and more clever people to see the niches that are available and take advantage of them to provide service at a reasonable price whilst at the same time giving something back.

That is what the economy should be about and not the previous endemic greed that has happened.

LegacyUser

I used to pay 35 for 1 large and 2 nice sized pictures in previous years. But this year I got a shock as for similar package it costs 48 euro (it does include a disc) and as its my last one is school would have to pay that again for the 3 of them together. I was totally outraged only calming down now. Parents committee are taking over next year thank god.
they do give you a digital only option of 38 per photo per disc but you are told its top quality. Either way to get a picture for the grandparents is going to cost me. so going for 1 of each at cost 25 each. Really mad at the school as they know quite a few people have not got that kind of money this year. Using the excuse that they get a percentage doesnt work here. The parents committee in this school are wonderful and pay for loads of things.

BostonB

Our kids school has upped the price of photo's massively too. It used to be an ordinary print, or prints paper frame. Now its tea towels, keyrings, and all sorts of options, and sizes some which aren't available to buy on their own. I expect the current photgraphic wants to make a bigger margin. But we refuse to buy it, as its completely unnecessary bloat. I think the photography took all the photos first, then found many people didn't buy them. The solution is to get people to prepay, or at least track how many pay each year. But I expect this new bloat will kill it completely.

ash23

Ours went up drastically this year too. We were sent home a proof copy of the picture so we could see it and then we send back in the money with the pack of our choice.
I went for the two keyrings at 10 euro.

I never understood the logic of taking the photos towards the summer when the uniforms are raggedy, the shoes are scuffed and usually( in my daughters case anyway) the uniform is getting too short at the arms and legs.

I take a photo of her the first day of school every year where her uniform is brand new and fits (albeit on the big side).

SerialComplaint

It is madness to see prices going up in the current economic environment. You should really have a word with the Principal to explain that people generally have less money these days. It is good to see some photographers issuing digital copies - provided these are high-resolution, you'll be able to print your own copies at minimal cost.

Deliverance

I imagine that a good idea for the schools might be to involve a skillset that does naturally exist i.e. parents of kids of a particular school. These parents may already have photographic skills in this case.

If the schools were able to effectively tap into and provide the existing parents with the ability to provide these skills on a voluntary or lower paid basis then it could provide a working oppurtunity for the parents with the right skills. This could equate to other areas as well such as technical implementations.

I wonder would it be conceivable to have this kind of open source idea existing as a network of interested people / parents given the opurtunity to provide said skills to their own schools in other areas as well it would be a more efficient use of resources that exist from a socially interested level i.e. parents.

Getting this to work would need a school to try it out, nothing to lose really in trying it out as a test. I think that the network is there, it just needs some kind of initial test bed to get it started i.e. a list of skillsets from parents provided to the school which the school could pool as a resource and co-ordinate and use as needed.

that is a rough idea which needs more work, appreciate feedback on this as it is a fresh idea that I am working on .

SerialComplaint

Deliverance wrote: »

I imagine that a good idea for the schools might be to involve a skillset that does naturally exist i.e. parents of kids of a particular school. These parents may already have photographic skills in this case.

If the schools were able to effectively tap into and provide the existing parents with the ability to provide these skills on a voluntary or lower paid basis then it could provide a working oppurtunity for the parents with the right skills.

It is a nice idea, but you will still encounter resistance. I had a local professional photographer lined up to work for free for one day, to create a major fundraising opportunity. This would have allowed the school or Parents Association to sell the photos and get nearly 100% of the price (less printing and processing costs) as profit. But the principal still wouldn't go for it - she was sticking to her regular photographer with his poxy prices and poor quality photos.

Orion

Our school has a professional in next week to take photos. There will be four pics taken and different options given to parents. One 10*7 of each image is €45 total. One 7*5 and two 5*3.5 photos is €25. All four photos in HiRes on CD with unlimited licenses is €50. I can send you on the sample proof if you want to show it to the principal. This is from an excellent photographic studio based in Celbridge.

I can guarantee you that if you shop around you will get great photographers climbing over each other with deals.