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Student outraged by unwanted yearbook photo editing

Posted by: admin In: Uncategorized 09 Jan 2015 Comments: 0 Tags: 2015, candid, candids, photo, photography, year book, yearbook, yearbook photos

A student attending an all girls school was shocked when she received a reprinted student card to find that her photograph had been retouched without her knowledge.  She posted the following comments to a popular web site:

I go to an all girls high school and today every senior got a new student ID. We had gotten one in the beginning of the school year and we were all unsure as to why we were given a second. After closer inspection we realized that our photos had be retouched far past smoothing out blemishes. Here is a list of changes made in my photo:

  • face smoothing
  • skin recoloring
  • lip recoloring
  • eyebrow smoothing and reshaping
  • face thinning

I was outraged! I have a round face that I have grown to love and now I get my photo back with a different face. The new photo no longer even looks like me but rather a prettier twin sister. When we go and have our photos taken we are flat out told that our skin will be retouched to hide blemishes. We are not told, however, that more drastic changes are made.

Going to an all girls school we are constantly reminded about positive body image and accepting ourselves for who we are. Having these changes made to make me appear thinner makes me wonder how must our school practices what they preach.

So how drastic were the changes?  See for yourself:

Comparison

These types of changes are more and more common in the industry, and in this case the photography company in question communicated these changes to the school, and the school failed to pass that message on to their students.  At this point, the school has opted to print the ‘untouched’ photos instead of the doctored ones.

After meeting with my high school it has been determined that the untouched original photos will be use in the yearbook. The edits were not made by my school but rather the company our school used. These changes were made with notification to the school. When our yearbook teacher saw the photos he was outraged along with all the other staff members of the school. They understood that the new edited photos are not what the students look like. I would like to thank all of the positive comments about how wrong this is and how there need to be changes in this. My school has proved that they are fully behind positive body image by printing the untouched photos. I am proud of my school and what they stand for. To sum it up, I want this issue of photoshopping to get the attention it needs but know that my school has realized that their students do not need to be “corrected”.

Templates

Posted by: admin In: Help and Tips, Videos, Yearbooks Desktop 22 Oct 2014 Comments: 0 Tags: 2015, candid, candids, desktop, help, photography, support, template, templates, year book, yearbook, yearbook photos, yearbooks, yearbooks desktop, youtube

Templates are a very effective tool that you can use to make your book look professionally designed.  We spent part of our development season working on templates, so now they look more professional, and are easier to use than  ever.  Coupled with our cropping tool, you can now crop each image to fit perfectly into your template on its way in.  Alternately, use the auto flow template wizard to flow templates to multiple pages, and automatically populate them with your favorite candid images.

 

Compromise Reached over Laser Cat Yearbook Photo

Posted by: admin In: Uncategorized 07 Oct 2014 Comments: 0 Tags: 2015, candid, candids, photography, year book, yearbook, yearbooks desktop

Draven Rodriguez made national headlines this month when he released a photo he wanted as his senior portrait for his high school’s yearbook.

The image is of Rodriguez holding his cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, accompanied by blue and pink lasers. And it’s pretty unique.

CatPhoto

He started a petition drive with the goal of getting 500 signatures. He has received 7,408 signatures on ipetitions.com.

School district spokeswoman Karen Corona told USA TODAY Network via e-mail in early September that it “would not be acceptable for the senior portrait section.” And students do not have to have an image in that section. But it could go elsewhere in the yearbook.

The high school in Schenectady, N.Y., reached a compromise last week.CatPhoto2_Sized

His principal, Diane Wilkinson, would also appear in the photo with their animals, and the photo will appear on the principal’s page in the yearbook, the Daily Gazette said.

“The school and I have worked out a compromise we’re all happy with. It’ll be in there, just not in the senior section,” Rodriguez wrote on his petition page website.

Both animals are rescue pets. The principal’s dog’s name is Vivian, the photographer, Vincent Giordano, said, and the goal is to raise awareness of rescue animals through the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Sign Up As A Publisher

Posted by: admin In: Press Release, Sales, Tech Support, Yearbooks Desktop 05 Sep 2014 Comments: 0 Tags: 2015, books, branding, candid, contact, desktop, discount, license, licenses, logo, photography, print, publisher, sale, sign up, value, year book, yearbook

Yes!  We’ve drastically lowered prices for stand alone registrations this season ($75 per license is almost unheard of in this industry), but did you know that you can get even more of a discount when you sign up as a publisher?SpecialOffer

Our publisher signup/renewal fee is still $250.00 per season, and as of this year you get a lot more out of it:

License Discount:

All of our publishers get a 25% discount on every license purchased.  Are you doing 14 books or more?  If you are, then signing up as a publisher pays for itself in license discounts alone.

Private Label Branding:

We used to charge over and above our publisher renewal fee to include your company’s logo and contact information in the software.  Now, we offer this to everyone who signs up as a publisher.

Electronic Submission:

This is a feature that’s available to all of our registered publishers.  Once your customer is finished designing their book, they can submit the PDF to you electronically.

PDF Security:

Lock your end user’s high resolution PDFs with the password of your choice.  Ensure that your schools print their books through you.

Call or email us to sign up as a publisher today!

Yearbooks Desktop 2015 Release

Posted by: admin In: Press Release, Sales, Yearbooks Desktop 02 Sep 2014 Comments: 0 Tags: 2015, clipart, desktop, download, Mac, photography, support, Windows, year book, yearbook, yearbooks, yearbooks desktop

Logo

It’s September!  As usual, we like to celebrate the back to school season with a new release of our Yearbook authoring software.  This development season we’ve primarily been working to keep the program up to date with the most recent operating systems, on both Windows and Mac.  We’ve also been working on updating our program’s interface, making it more intuitive to use, and with fewer errors.

 

Lower_PriceNew Price Point:

It’s no secret that we’re competing against a growing online market.  Even though the online solutions available today aren’t as reliable as our desktop solution, the convenience and marketability of them can make for a tough sale.  We’re pleased to announce that we substantially lowered the license costs for our desktop software.  As of this season, we’re selling individual licenses for $75 each.  Folks who are signed up as our publishers receive a discount on all licenses.  We hope that this makes it easier for you to market our solution to your schools.

 

YourLogo2Branding is Now Included in Publisher Renewal Fee:

We’ve always offered branding in our software, but until now we’ve been charging $500.00 for this service, on top of our standard publisher signup or renewal fee.  As of this season, we will begin offering branding (Your company’s logo and contact information) to all of our publishers, included in the regular publisher signup/renewal fees.  We will still be charging a premium if you need custom artwork, panels, or page sizes, but the charge for these will be much lower than previous years as well.

 

edgeeffectEdge Effects are Back:

Our customers spoke, and we listened!  Edge effects (The clipping masks that can be used on portraits and candids) have been added back into the page editor, and the panel flow wizard.  We still have the same draw problem where the transparent parts show up as white on the page editor, but the transparency is crisp and perfect in every PDF.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Major Bugs Resolved:Bug

Last season we released a new page editor, and as is typical with new technology, we did run into a few annoying bugs.  Thankfully we were able to work around these issues last season, but the better news is that we’ve resolved most of them for this season.  The PDF errors (Box size, and dropping backgrounds to name a couple of the majors) have been resolved, a few of the buttons have been rearranged to make things feel more natural, and a full round of testing has gone into the major features and functions.

Robin Williams Yearbook Photos

Posted by: admin In: Celebrities 25 Aug 2014 Comments: 0 Tags: 2015, candid, candids, celebrities, desktop, photography, year book, yearbook, yearbook photos

Williams, 63,  took his own life in his California home two weeks ago.

The story told by viewing Robin Williams Yearbook Photos during his days as a student, tells us that  Robin Williams wasn’t the class clown many thought he was.

Williams_3“No, no, I was president of the class,” he told the Detroit Free Press in 1996. “I loved school, maybe too much really. I was summa cum laude in high school. I was driven that way. I can’t say it was easy to fit in. I just went out of my way to fit in. It was a private boys school, Detroit Country Day, and I played soccer. I was on the wrestling team. Mr. All-Around, you know?”

Williams_2Williams’ high school sounded a lot like the Welton Academy in “Dead Poets Society.”

“I was getting pushed around a lot,” Williams revealed to The Oklahoman in 1991. “Not only was there like physical bullying, but there was intellectual bullying going on. It made me toughen up, but it also made me pull back a lot. I had a certain reticence about dealing with people. Through comedy, I found a way to bridge the gap …”

Williams_1It wasn’t until he moved to Larkspur, California, that he joined the drama club and discovered his talent as an actor.  He will be missed!

See Ryan Reynold’s Yearbook Photo – Yearbooks Desktop

Posted by: admin In: Celebrities, Yearbook Photos 27 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: celebrities, photo, photography, year book, yearbook

Actor Ryan Reynolds is one of Canada’s most well-known young celebrities.  Born in Vancouver and beginning his career on TV on programs such as “Hillside”, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place” he made the transition to movies and has landed a handful of superhero roles including Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the Green Lantern.  He’s also starred or co-starred in over 25 different Hollywood films including 2013’s “R.I.P.D” with actors Jeff Bridges and Kevin Bacon.  Ryan has two older brothers in Vancouver, both of whom are employed as police officers for the RCMP.

Here’s Ryan Reynold’s tenth grade Yearbook photo from the 1992 Kitsilano Secondary School Yearbook.

Ryan Reynolds' 1992 Yearbook Photo

Ryan Reynolds’ 1992 Yearbook Photo

 

Check out the rest of our Celebrity Yearbook Photos.

John Wayne’s Senior Year High School Yearbook Was Bought For A Dollar On ‘Pawn Stars’

Posted by: admin In: Press Release 14 Nov 2012 Comments: 0 Tags: candids, john, john wayne, pawn, pawn stars, photography, stars, wayne, year book, yearbook

Following our recent trend of reporting on celebrity yearbook photos, we came across a story about a man who made a real find at an estate sale.

Man Bought John Wayne’s Senior Year High School Yearbook For One Dollar

A lucky man who picked up John Wayne’s high school yearbook for only a dollar brought it into the “Pawn Stars” to see what they thought of the rare item.

Wayne’s name was Marion Morrison back then, and the guys at the shop quickly discovered that he was all over that yearbook. The yearbook was from Morrison’s senior year, and he played football, was class president and was very active in the arts. And each photo of him throughout the yearbook made it a better and better find.

The shop was thrilled with the yearbook and made a deal with the customer to buy it for $800. Considering he’d spent $1, that turned out to be a great purchase for him. And he got to see a fun piece of a movie legend’s history.

Bob Dylan’s signed yearbook is for sale

Posted by: admin In: Press Release 07 Nov 2012 Comments: 0 Tags: bob, desktop, dylan, photography, student, students, year book, yearbook

Christie’s is hosting an exciting entertainment memorabilia auction this month, including rare items such as a smashed bass guitar from Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ music video, Indiana Jones’ whip, Mick Jagger’s performance outfit, and Bob Dylan’s signed yearbook with some advice to a fellow musician.

Dylan’s 1958 yearbook features a photo of then 17-year-old Robert Zimmerman, with a handwritten message to a friend reading, “Dear Jerry. Well the year’s almost over now huh. Remember the ‘sessions’ down at Collier. Keep practicing the guitar and maybe someday you’ll be great. A friend, Bob Zimmerman.”

The yearbook is expected to go for up to £6,000.(approx. $10,000US).

Nirvana’s Zen-On bass guitar was purchased by Krist Novoselic at a pawn shop for a nominal fee, knowing that it would be smashed to bits in the music video. Some of the guitar pieces were saved by an extra on set, and are now expected to fetch upwards of £25,000 (approx. $40,000US).

Mick Jagger’s flashy sleeveless white velour jumpsuit with silver metal details, designed by Ossie Clark, was worn by the singer at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on his 29th birthday, and is expected to sell for between £8,000 and £12,000 (approx. $13,000-$19,000US).

Keeping up with the times – QR Codes in Yearbooks!

Posted by: admin In: Help and Tips 02 Nov 2012 Comments: 0 Tags: 2013, candids, desktop, import, page editor, photography, QR, QR Code, video, year book, yearbook

Our team was inspired this morning, after reading a story about a Texas high school bringing their yearbooks a leap forward using modern technology.

The changes sparked by new Apple mobile devices on campuses can already be seen in a long-cherished print product, the McAllen High School Yearbook. The first page of the 2012 edition sports a QR code — a kind of barcode that can be scanned with a cellphone, often to pick up website URLs.

Each QR code in the yearbook takes readers to a video of a different club or sports team, all shot with iPads distributed last year.

Check out the full story here!

So, interested in using this innovative idea for your own yearbook?  We thought so, so we put together a short tech note outlining the whole process, from shooting the video to adding the QR code to your yearbook.

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