# I Pit Lifetouch School Portraits **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 15, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038 "2007-03-15T14:53:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![badkittypriestess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8baadc/32.png) [@badkittypriestess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badkittypriestess)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/1 "2007-03-15T14:53:51Z")
Once again Lifetouch fucked up our sons Spring picture. Don’t get me wrong it is a CUTE pic but it was taken side to side instead of horizontally! He got cut off at the chest and I’ve never had any of their school pictures turn out this way. So yet again we get to drive down to our Lifetouch office NEXT month to do re-takes. BASTARDS! They don’t come back to the school for re-takes of Spring pictures. Half my son’s class’ pictures were taken this way. So half the school must be done this way too. I talked to a customer service rep and she said the photographer’s aren’t supposed to take the picture’s this way! WTF! Who hires these ignoramus people! It seems like every year there was something wrong about our boys’ pics. I do know they try their best to get the picture to turn out right and take them again if eyes were closed etc but WTF is up with taking a close up pic side to side! I am pissed off at them. Anyone else ever have this happen with your child/children’s pictures from school? Thanks in advance for letting me vent! :mad: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/2 "2007-03-15T15:04:56Z")
If it’s any consolation, I’m sure they’re not happy about having to pay a guy to sit around and fix someone else’s screwup. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/3 "2007-03-15T15:17:04Z")
I’m not sure what you mean by side to side instead of horizontally. Do you mean landscape instead of portrait? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/4 "2007-03-15T15:27:27Z")
School portraits piss me off because now they do them twice a year and I’m expected to shell out both times. My kids haven’t changed that much in the last four months! ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/5 "2007-03-15T15:41:35Z")
Yeah, she meant landscape instead of portrait. She had to go before noticing the mistake and can’t post from work. We ordered 8.5 X 11 and got 11 X 8.5! WTF over? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/6 "2007-03-15T15:48:15Z")
What exactly is the point of those things? Can’t you just take pictures of your kid yourself? ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/7 "2007-03-15T15:50:12Z")
Man, I remember those bonehead photographers from high school. One year in particular, the photographer was obsessed with doing something _Artistic_– extreme angles, weird lighting, etc. Some kids liked that, and that’s fine, but I told him I didn’t want artistic; I wanted whitebread, look-straight-at-the-camera-and-smile normal. 🙂 I had to go back twice before he could manage to take a picture of me looking at the damn camera. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/8 "2007-03-15T15:56:15Z")
Schools take pictures seasonally now? Do the kids’ looks really change that much for the most part from one season to the next? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/9 "2007-03-15T15:57:24Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Yeah, she meant landscape instead of portrait. She had to go before noticing the mistake and can’t post from work. We ordered 8.5 X 11 and got 11 X 8.5! WTF over? 🙂 [/QUOTE] WTF over and out. Seriously, the portraits were done landscape? Was the guy drunk? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/10 "2007-03-15T16:00:15Z")
Dealing with Lifetouch is part of the tuition in the school of parenting. Yep, they’re a pain in the butt. I’d like to see them just send a photographer, take a few shots of the kid and send a CD in the mail. Choose your pictures and your lab and do the rest yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/11 "2007-03-15T16:11:11Z")
Last fall the school required that we pre-pay for picture packages, with the assurance that they would refund our money if we didn’t like them. Well, they couldn’t assure that my fourth-grader would remember his instructions to return his lousy pictures to the teacher so that we could get the refund, instead of sticking them in his desk and forgetting about them. They must have gotten a lot of complaints, or else not enough pre-orders, because I wasn’t asked to pre-pay for the spring pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/12 "2007-03-15T16:13:15Z")
We’ve only been dealing with these guys for 6 years, and when we only had the one kid in school we occasionally had a good picture. Seems to be about a 50/50 chance, so with two kids we get a screwup every time. And what the hell is the deal with two pictures a year? When did they start this? I don’t get the whole thing. I have at least a half-dozen digital cameras and can email the entire family a picture in seconds (for near nothing) but instead I’m paying $200 year to a company that’s been unable to avoid a screwup for 3 years in a row? Hell, I should pit myself for putting up with this! Oh, and ladies and gentleman, for a limited time only, I agree with everything **BobLibDem** said!\* 😃 - and on a bunch of other social issues too, but you’ll rarely see me admit it ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/13 "2007-03-15T16:13:15Z")
My son’s Lifetouch fall picture looks like a mug shot. Not just no smile, but serious attitude. He says he just forgot to smile. The spring photo has a nice big umbrella light right in his glasses. I know that glasses are tough to work with and reflections can’t always be eliminated, but this is just really obvious. My buddy is a professional photographer and we just had some done in the fall so we have no need for new photos. I’m not really upset about it, but I do feel your pain. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/14 "2007-03-15T16:26:42Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Hell, I should pit myself for putting up with this! [/QUOTE] Can you opt out? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/15 "2007-03-15T16:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Oh, and ladies and gentleman, for a limited time only, I agree with everything **BobLibDem** said!\* 😃 - and on a bunch of other social issues too, but you’ll rarely see me admit it [/QUOTE] I’ll take all the praise I can get, no matter how faint! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/16 "2007-03-15T16:31:17Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I’ll take all the praise I can get, no matter how faint! [/QUOTE] You’re kind of pretty. Lose the nipple ring. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/17 "2007-03-15T16:41:56Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] You’re kind of pretty. Lose the nipple ring. [/QUOTE] OK, maybe not _all_ the faint praise. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/18 "2007-03-15T16:46:53Z")
At our school the Fall pics are what we all remember and that’s what goes into his little yearbook and where we get the sheet of class pictures. The Spring one is a fundraiser and they offer all kinds of bullshit like key ring tags and bookmarks and something that looks like a 2 dimensional cellphone and it all has the year printed on it. Nobody wants that shit. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/19 "2007-03-15T17:03:01Z")
Lifetouch and Jostens are the biggest damn ripoffs I can think of. (Okay, slight hyperbole.) IIRC, every student has to get their picture taken, and then you basically get spammed with “offers” of prints. I think in four years of high school, I got one print of me and made copies elsewhere. I was also part of some dance pictures, and most of them sucked, too. Off-center, badly lit, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038/20 "2007-03-15T17:51:27Z")
[QUOTE=Caricci] The Spring one is a fundraiser and they offer all kinds of bullshit like key ring tags and bookmarks and something that looks like a 2 dimensional cellphone and it all has the year printed on it. Nobody wants that shit. [/QUOTE] Not until all the _other_ kids have them. :smack: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-lifetouch-school-portraits/396038.md?page=2)