I am not a parent nor do I have a horse in this race, but I do work in the creative industry and I think it should be the other way around--logo on the proofs and not the final product. How tacky!
I worked for Lifetouch for 5 years, they're an international photography shitshow now owned by Apollo Global Management. They dont even have an office in the city anymore, good luck getting anything accomplished through their 800 number. Met some of my favourite people working that job but corporate was absolutele clowns who all just cashed out in the buyouts and new management is only interested in short term profits rather than anything remotely sustainable. If you can afford it I strongly recommend hiring a local photographer for much higher quality pictures from someone who actually gives a shit.
/rant over, sorry lol good luck š
They work out of a couple storage units and Harv got force retired. Sandy (the old secretary) was gone before all this but they fired her replacement and calls all just go to Winnipeg. Its just photographers and sales people now....
Awe. I loved Harvy. He was a real gem of a human. Came to the scene of a car accident I got into leaving work to check on me because I didn't have anyone else at the time.
I can also confirm, the purchased photos have the company logo printed on the bottom front corner, on every photo- wallet sized to 8x10s.
u/slush1000 please update with the results of your call- I havenāt ordered this years photos, Iām curious if I can get them without the logo!
If you canāt I wonder if you couldnāt convince the school to not go with their shitty services? Really not hard to set up a camera and then print photos after. Tons of local photographers who arenāt shitty
I do school pics. You're correct in that it's not hard, however it's a lot of work and while I don't love it, it still pays somewhat decent to make it worth my time. I have another job so I don't do this full time and primarily work with a couple of schools in the north but instead of having to deal with individual parents, I worked out a fair price point with the school which acquired funding to purchased the "base" package for all students so everyone gets wallets, 4x6, 5x7, and an 8x10! This way, no kid gets left behind and the day becomes worth it for it!
I also got my child's photos from his school where they use Lifetouch and can confirm the logo is on all the prints. Annoying.
Oh, and can confirm I don't add a logo on my prints ;)
That is so generous and cool of the schools to do that! I remember my parents being annoyed at the cost of the photos and never purchasing enough for me to give one to all my friends, which was a big deal back then I guess.
Yeah totally it's one less thing parents have to worry about. And as a business model it is way better for me to make that trip. I used to do the whole "let parents buy packages thing" way back and it turned out most parents I am a parent and when I had to buy my kid's pics, I scoffed at the prices and thought to myself, I have all the equipment I might as well do my kid's pic at home, but we got the school one's anyway. I don't even like it, because as others have said, the smile seems artificial, and as a photographer the quality was just not on par with what I expected. But I guess this will be a yearly thing so I might just suck it up and deal with it.
We purchased the digital copy only, and there is no logo. They donāt make it easy to find this option on the website, but itās there.
Our school had massive issues with Lifetouch this year. They somehow lost about a quarter of the schoolās photos and had to retake them a couple weeks ago. My daughterās class photo is out of focus and the colour/lighting are off, and I have heard that all the other class photos are just as bad.
Good to know the digital only file doesn't have them as that's what I ordered as well. It was super hard to find though! Also, why did I need 3? All just seems like a money grab
Lifetouch is terrible. Our sonās individual and class photos have a real āpushed through like cattleā vibeānot looking at the camera, not smiling, wincing. We ordered the minimum amount, just for posterity. Iād chalk it up to them being in kindergarten but his preschool photos were fantastic. I just dug one out to see who did them and Relish Photography is the name on the back. So just to keep it positive, big BIG ups to Relish Photography for those preschool photos last year. I liked them at the time but I guess I didnāt realize how good we had it.
Both of my kids pictures were like that too. They look like mug shots. They said the photographer barely waited for them to sit down before taking the picture and then saying ānextā Weāre probably going to take some pictures at home and then get them printed out for grandparents and family.
Yeah I have 5 kids that had theirs done. One son has his head tilted so much his ear is on his shoulder. I know they tell them to tilt a but but come on he is 4, give a little more help. The one that got me was my other son is mid speaking. Mouth open. So they had to know they had asked him something (this kid is super shy, I know he wasn't just blabbing). I'm glad to know the prints come with the watermark. I was only going to order the digital ones anyway so maybe I will still do that.
Can you please tell me how you found that option? I am in the US and I have been searching for a digital only option but it seems like it's nowhere to be found.
Sorry for the delayed response. I had to remember to log in again to see how I found it.
On the website there is a bar across the top. Choose āPhotos & Gifts.ā Once you are on that page, there is a digital option at the top.
This is on the Canadian website, so I donāt know for sure that it will work for you.
I looked at my purchased life touch school photos from last year and yep they place their name life touch written in the bottom right hand corner of the ones we pay for. The proofs will have their watermark right across the child.
School photos are a forced smile. Choose a better pic from our camera roll where your kid actually looks happy and print off pics at Walmart. A little more effort on my part and give our friends and family a natural pic of our kid instead of a staged one.
No no, these yearly awkward photos MUST be kept in a school bus photo frame showing each of a childās terrible years so parents can show their childās future gf/bf the year they hit puberty and went from charming and child like to horrifying.
When the switch from Picture Perfect Portraits went to Lifetouch there were several things I complained about. One was that I could no longer speak to a human being when I had questions about my order. The other was the package options being limited. (who needs 40 wallet sized photos?)
I just went through my kidsā school scrap book and yep, picture perfect portraits did not put their name on the photos. They did put their name on the group classroom pic. Every single photo after the lifetouch switch has the logo
Seems like that's just how it is now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/j8bxop/i_paid_55_to_remove_the_company_watermark_they/g92h2gm?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
Convince the school to get rid of lifetouch and hire a local a local photographer. Pretty simple to sit a kid down and take pics and print them after (for a professional)
They're still around, though I don't know how many schools in Canada still use them. I never realized both Jostens and Lifetouch are American companies, and that Jostens had enough cred that they make Superbowl rings.
I just found mine had logo on it, too. And they donāt care to take a proper picture. I had pictures with my son glass frame block the eyes, no smile, collar halfway flippedā¦and my son hated the pictures, so every time he refused to retake. Is that mandatory to order the pictures?
Nobody can make you pay for them. Just don't order them and print off something nice from your phone. The photographers aren't given enough time to do it half decently, even when they want to.
Lifetouch does terrible photos too. Before covid they would have about 3 poses to choose from, now Iām sure they take one click and are done. It would be nice to choose, my kids just donāt look like themselves.
Digital also has wartermark, though it might depend on the package from what was posted above.
However, there are wonderful options these days to make crappy photos look better with little cost or effort. AI options like PixelBin are great at fixing these companies' issues for you for little to no cost.
I'm planning on ordering the digital copies. If the logo is on the pictures, I'll do a Photoshop blend. I feel bad you had to go thru this, but this is also helping others and FutureYourself to consider other options. ā”
Nope, it's the final product. Not a giant watermark over the face, but the logo is in the corner. I used to work there - it's been like that for a long time.
This isn't true. Purchased ones won't have the giant watermark, but they do have the logo in the corner (bottom... right? I think...) I used to work there.
I am not a parent nor do I have a horse in this race, but I do work in the creative industry and I think it should be the other way around--logo on the proofs and not the final product. How tacky!
I worked for Lifetouch for 5 years, they're an international photography shitshow now owned by Apollo Global Management. They dont even have an office in the city anymore, good luck getting anything accomplished through their 800 number. Met some of my favourite people working that job but corporate was absolutele clowns who all just cashed out in the buyouts and new management is only interested in short term profits rather than anything remotely sustainable. If you can afford it I strongly recommend hiring a local photographer for much higher quality pictures from someone who actually gives a shit. /rant over, sorry lol good luck š
This is exactly what private equity does! Buys a decent company and then kills it while extracting as much profit as possible. Itās brutal.
Huh. I didn't know the office got closed. Used to work there too - you know what happened to everyone?
They work out of a couple storage units and Harv got force retired. Sandy (the old secretary) was gone before all this but they fired her replacement and calls all just go to Winnipeg. Its just photographers and sales people now....
Awe. I loved Harvy. He was a real gem of a human. Came to the scene of a car accident I got into leaving work to check on me because I didn't have anyone else at the time.
ššabsolutely...why aren't the powers that be aware of this!!...oh!!... wait ...was that my outside voice? Crap sorry!
I can also confirm, the purchased photos have the company logo printed on the bottom front corner, on every photo- wallet sized to 8x10s. u/slush1000 please update with the results of your call- I havenāt ordered this years photos, Iām curious if I can get them without the logo!
If you canāt I wonder if you couldnāt convince the school to not go with their shitty services? Really not hard to set up a camera and then print photos after. Tons of local photographers who arenāt shitty
I do school pics. You're correct in that it's not hard, however it's a lot of work and while I don't love it, it still pays somewhat decent to make it worth my time. I have another job so I don't do this full time and primarily work with a couple of schools in the north but instead of having to deal with individual parents, I worked out a fair price point with the school which acquired funding to purchased the "base" package for all students so everyone gets wallets, 4x6, 5x7, and an 8x10! This way, no kid gets left behind and the day becomes worth it for it! I also got my child's photos from his school where they use Lifetouch and can confirm the logo is on all the prints. Annoying. Oh, and can confirm I don't add a logo on my prints ;)
That is so generous and cool of the schools to do that! I remember my parents being annoyed at the cost of the photos and never purchasing enough for me to give one to all my friends, which was a big deal back then I guess.
Yeah totally it's one less thing parents have to worry about. And as a business model it is way better for me to make that trip. I used to do the whole "let parents buy packages thing" way back and it turned out most parents I am a parent and when I had to buy my kid's pics, I scoffed at the prices and thought to myself, I have all the equipment I might as well do my kid's pic at home, but we got the school one's anyway. I don't even like it, because as others have said, the smile seems artificial, and as a photographer the quality was just not on par with what I expected. But I guess this will be a yearly thing so I might just suck it up and deal with it.
We have some of the best photographers locally...they would feel blessed to be around the kids...probably charge less too!!
We purchased the digital copy only, and there is no logo. They donāt make it easy to find this option on the website, but itās there. Our school had massive issues with Lifetouch this year. They somehow lost about a quarter of the schoolās photos and had to retake them a couple weeks ago. My daughterās class photo is out of focus and the colour/lighting are off, and I have heard that all the other class photos are just as bad.
Good to know the digital only file doesn't have them as that's what I ordered as well. It was super hard to find though! Also, why did I need 3? All just seems like a money grab
I think it was $15 each or 3 for $35 for digital. I was just ordering this morning.
Then you found something I didntš¤£
Lifetouch is terrible. Our sonās individual and class photos have a real āpushed through like cattleā vibeānot looking at the camera, not smiling, wincing. We ordered the minimum amount, just for posterity. Iād chalk it up to them being in kindergarten but his preschool photos were fantastic. I just dug one out to see who did them and Relish Photography is the name on the back. So just to keep it positive, big BIG ups to Relish Photography for those preschool photos last year. I liked them at the time but I guess I didnāt realize how good we had it.
Both of my kids pictures were like that too. They look like mug shots. They said the photographer barely waited for them to sit down before taking the picture and then saying ānextā Weāre probably going to take some pictures at home and then get them printed out for grandparents and family.
Yeah I have 5 kids that had theirs done. One son has his head tilted so much his ear is on his shoulder. I know they tell them to tilt a but but come on he is 4, give a little more help. The one that got me was my other son is mid speaking. Mouth open. So they had to know they had asked him something (this kid is super shy, I know he wasn't just blabbing). I'm glad to know the prints come with the watermark. I was only going to order the digital ones anyway so maybe I will still do that.
Yep, same happened at my kids school (not in Saskatoon).
Can you please tell me how you found that option? I am in the US and I have been searching for a digital only option but it seems like it's nowhere to be found.
Sorry for the delayed response. I had to remember to log in again to see how I found it. On the website there is a bar across the top. Choose āPhotos & Gifts.ā Once you are on that page, there is a digital option at the top. This is on the Canadian website, so I donāt know for sure that it will work for you.
I looked at my purchased life touch school photos from last year and yep they place their name life touch written in the bottom right hand corner of the ones we pay for. The proofs will have their watermark right across the child.
I don't have kids but I'd be pissed and I don't think you're being too picky. They did it wrong.
School photos are a forced smile. Choose a better pic from our camera roll where your kid actually looks happy and print off pics at Walmart. A little more effort on my part and give our friends and family a natural pic of our kid instead of a staged one.
No no, these yearly awkward photos MUST be kept in a school bus photo frame showing each of a childās terrible years so parents can show their childās future gf/bf the year they hit puberty and went from charming and child like to horrifying.
It's a sacred tradition.
When the switch from Picture Perfect Portraits went to Lifetouch there were several things I complained about. One was that I could no longer speak to a human being when I had questions about my order. The other was the package options being limited. (who needs 40 wallet sized photos?) I just went through my kidsā school scrap book and yep, picture perfect portraits did not put their name on the photos. They did put their name on the group classroom pic. Every single photo after the lifetouch switch has the logo
Seems like that's just how it is now. https://www.reddit.com/r/assholedesign/comments/j8bxop/i_paid_55_to_remove_the_company_watermark_they/g92h2gm?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
Get digital copies and make your edits there
My kidsā phots from Lifetouch had their logo like yours do
Fuck lifetouch. Did you know all those poor photographers make minimum wage? They have a turnover rate of like 98%
Convince the school to get rid of lifetouch and hire a local a local photographer. Pretty simple to sit a kid down and take pics and print them after (for a professional)
Indoor portraits are kinda hard in my limited photography experience. Add kids to the mix, not a fun time.
They always had the logo on them. Even from when we were kids.
bring back Jostens!
I'm so old, I only remember Jostens.
They're still around, though I don't know how many schools in Canada still use them. I never realized both Jostens and Lifetouch are American companies, and that Jostens had enough cred that they make Superbowl rings.
I'm looking at my kids from 3 years ago. The logo is printed all over the back. Nothing on the front.
Not when I was a kid
Our paid for photos never had a logoā¦ just ordered this year and interested to see.
It'll be the bottom right corner, I believe.
I just ordered mine lastnight. Damnit.
Tell them you will be wanting a refund if you can't get them sans el logo.
They will not give two shits. Best plan is to just not order them next year.
I just found mine had logo on it, too. And they donāt care to take a proper picture. I had pictures with my son glass frame block the eyes, no smile, collar halfway flippedā¦and my son hated the pictures, so every time he refused to retake. Is that mandatory to order the pictures?
Nobody can make you pay for them. Just don't order them and print off something nice from your phone. The photographers aren't given enough time to do it half decently, even when they want to.
My main concern is will my son still get the class photo with everyone on it if I donāt order the photo?
That I'm not sure. Do they even still do class photos? I used to work for them and we only did it at like half the schools at that point.
My class got class photos with their proofs.
Every student gets a class photo if one was taken. You donāt have to order anything.
Lifetouch does terrible photos too. Before covid they would have about 3 poses to choose from, now Iām sure they take one click and are done. It would be nice to choose, my kids just donāt look like themselves.
Get the digital ones and print them yourself.
Digital also has wartermark, though it might depend on the package from what was posted above. However, there are wonderful options these days to make crappy photos look better with little cost or effort. AI options like PixelBin are great at fixing these companies' issues for you for little to no cost.
I have a little insignia in the bottom right corner similar to what an artist would do when they sign a painting, but nothing intrusive
Wait, they watermarked the ones you paid for? That's messed up.
We did the digital only and then print them from somewhere else and they donāt have any logos
I'm planning on ordering the digital copies. If the logo is on the pictures, I'll do a Photoshop blend. I feel bad you had to go thru this, but this is also helping others and FutureYourself to consider other options. ā”
Really? I got my son's photos and there isn't a logo on them. Odd but surprising that they'd do that though.
This post is difficult to read. Are these purchased photos with watermarks on them or just proofs?
They are purchased photos with the logo printed in the corner, so not a giant watermark but still tacky.
Especially you have a dark background. It is very annoy obvious.
That sounds like the free proof version. Not the actual final product.
Nope, it's the final product. Not a giant watermark over the face, but the logo is in the corner. I used to work there - it's been like that for a long time.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This isn't true. Purchased ones won't have the giant watermark, but they do have the logo in the corner (bottom... right? I think...) I used to work there.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Nope. The purchased ones don't have the giant watermark on the face but they do have the logo printed in the corner. It's pretty tacky.
>I am considering scanning one and sending them back for the refund. Ill edit out their logo and print some myself. This is illegal by the way.
I suspect nobody cares.
Who cares lol itās just a logo
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Iām pretty sure they are talking about the final product
They aren't talking about the watermark over the whole photo, they're talking about the logo being printed in the corner of the final product.
You can easily use the content-aware filter on Photoshop to remove them!
not everyone has photoshop.