What's the best deal on professional pictures?

[crownline266]

Originally Posted by MrsPinecone They do put in 3 other sheets in hopes that you will pay $20 for them, but I never get them.

Thanks for the warning!! I think we'll do JcPenney for our 3-month photos and see how it goes!

[aimeejo]

WE've been doing Walmart. You get alot of pictures for under $4 and they really do come out great.

Here's a picture we had done of the kids over the summer



For some reason they look blurry on here but they really aren't

[2dles]

I do the JCP pictures too. I end up spending more than others though. I always do the Smiles by Wire which is $5 I think. They send you a link with all the pictures online and I can email that link to everyone I know. It is nice because we have so many family and friends spread out that I like to share the pictures with and then I don't need to mail out pictures every 3 months. I end up spending around $15 I think with everything and so far I have bought the extra pictures they have sent because they are always different ones than I have chosen and I like the poses they have picked. It just depends on the person. I know lots that don't. Good luck!!

[crownline266]

Another question, do I need to make an appointment for JcPenney or just go? It would be during the week when we'd go.

[willow78]

You should call and make an appointment for wherever you choose. I wouldn't risk getting all dressed up, only to find them with no time slots open.

[MrsPinecone]

Originally Posted by crownline266 Another question, do I need to make an appointment for JcPenney or just go? It would be during the week when we'd go.

They require an appointment.

[toppincl]

Whether or not you need an appointment with vary by location, but I always think it's better to make an appointment, that way you're sure to get your pics done without (hopefully) having to wait for an hour.

Our Target doesn't have a studio, so we've used Sears, JCPenney, Olan Mills, and walmart. JCPenney WAS our favorite, then their best photographer/manager left to open her own studio (which I can't locate!!) and now it's a nightmare--appointments rescheduled without a phone call, wait times of an hour or more even WITH an appointment, pictures not delivered when promised, etc. We took a break from studio portraits for a bit, waiting for them to get their act together. I'll probably try there again soon, though--I HAVE to order several poses, so for me, JCP is the best deal--$4 sheets with coupons, and I get to pick the sizes/poses that work for me. One of our Walmarts take good pictures, but I can't get out of there without spending $75-$100 as long as hubby's with me. Olan Mills here has decent quality, but in the past I've ONLY taken their 'specials', because anything else was so expensive. However, a friend told me that they've recently switched to the same 'order by the sheet' options the other studios have, so I may try them again eventually, especially since they give one free package for newborns. We used Sears for the first couple of sessions with my oldest (we had a boatload of studio portraits taken of him!), and they were a good price w/coupons, but the sears here has some of the worst photographers I've ever seen. They literally hire nearly anyone, give them a short 'this is how you use the camera and the computer' orientation, then turn them loose. Our last session there, the pictures were so poorly framed that they literally would not allow me to order 8X10's--the computer gave an error message because of the poor framing!! Again, that's definitely YMMV, but it will have to be an AWESOME deal for me to try Sears again.

Good luck!

[crownline266]

Mrs. P, how did you get 37 pics from Penney's? We just went today and got 2 8 X 10s (one free and one in the package) 2 5X7s, 4 3 1/2X5s, 16 wallets. Did I miss a better coupons? This was just a coupon I found and had several similar so I didn't bother looking in the inserts to see if there was anything better.

[MrsPinecone]

There are a bunch of billfold pics in that pack, too.

[crownline266]

Originally Posted by MrsPinecone There are a bunch of billfold pics in that pack, too.

I think my coupon said 6 billfolds, but they said they don't have those anymore. I don't know if that's a recent thing or if that's just my JcPenney or what. But that still wouldn't come to 37 so I was just curious. I'm happy with what I got, though!