Has anyone had this problem at Walmart before with photos?

[Zummi Gummi]

I used the Walmart online photo center to get some additional prints made of my last trip to WDW. I wanted to get some enlargements of pictures with my friends and I and some of the characters. Anyway, I submitted my online order, no problems at all.

So, I go to pick up the photos and the woman is like, "We need to see the originals." I asked her why, and she explained to me that the photos appeared to be "professionally done" in a studio, with a "professional backdrop." I informed her that the pictures were taken with my $99 digital camera at a character greeting area in the Magic Kingdom. They were far from professional (however, I was flattered she thought my photos looked professional!!). I explained that these backdrops are the same for every person who goes through there, and surely, they've had other people drop off photos from Disneyworld before. I also had to tell her that I didn't have "originals" since these were taken on a digital camera and were uploaded to their website. Suddenly, she got very suspicious of me, and told me she would not be able to do anything. I asked to speak with the Photo Center manager and he was just as clueless. So, I asked to speak with the store manager, who was, not surprisingly, unavailable. I have to go back on Monday to speak with him. Until then, my photos are being held hostage in the Photo Center!!!

Has anyone else ever had this problem before?

 

[Since1976]

You'll find that some photo guys are sticklers about this, others not. TechTV (or was it their replacement, G4?) did a "study" on this, submitting professional looking photos -- some even with a stark watermark! -- and they were printed without question.

I suggest just going to another WalMart and see what happens.

 

[MissM]

There was another thread I think last year with this same kind of problem. Someone printed a photo they took while at Disney and the machine put a Disney copyright notice on the back of the image so Wal-Mart wouldn't do a reprint. I couldn't believe how a@@ it was that they put the copyright on the back of a picture that was taken by a guest.

Totally frustrating and stupid. :zipit: Good luck.
-m

 

[Dwarful]

do you happen to have any of the images still on your camera or saved elsewhere? I know you said you uploaded them to Walmart, but perhaps if you could prove even with just one image they would back down.

I hope you get your photos, gotta love the power of Walmart! lol

 

[Zummi Gummi]

do you happen to have any of the images still on your camera or saved elsewhere? I know you said you uploaded them to Walmart, but perhaps if you could prove even with just one image they would back down.

I hope you get your photos, gotta love the power of Walmart! lol

Unfortunately, I didn't, because every night, I would upload all of that days photos to my laptop. That way, the next day, I had plenty of space on my camera for new pictures.

 

[Dwarful]

Someone else started a thread about lost film. They took their disney film to walmart and it was 'lost'. They still don't have it. I am thinking, Disney fans should avoid sending their photos to Walmart!

 

[tigsmom]

There was another thread I think last year with this same kind of problem. Someone printed a photo they took while at Disney and the machine put a Disney copyright notice on the back of the image so Wal-Mart wouldn't do a reprint. I couldn't believe how a@@ it was that they put the copyright on the back of a picture that was taken by a guest.

Totally frustrating and stupid. :zipit: Good luck.
-m

I believe that was Laura22. She had a very frustrating time with them.

 

[dolbyman]

tell them to peek at the exif data ... so they can see the camera model ..

never heard of this ever .. I'd have gotten a "rofl" in front of that woman .. I'll have to try that myself (since I'm on vacation in the US right now)

 

[frankd1962]

I was a photo lab manager for Kmart before we closed them and I can tell you from experience that it can be tough on us and our lab techs.

There is a strict rule that if it looks professional done that we can reprint it on the Kodak Picture Maker. I had my people look at the paper (some paper will say that it is professional paper), look for trademark (like Olan Mills on the front and back) and any copyright symbols after anything on the picture.

This is because the store can get fined so much per print (last I heard it was about $10,000 per print), Kodak, store & employee could get sued by the holder of the negatives and the employee could be fired. So some of us took that seriously.

If I could look at it and tell that it wasn't done professionally then I let it go. But now a lot of people have scanners and will scan in the cute pictures to send to Grams across the country via a company owned photo site they are getting very cautious for the fines.

We have an Olan Mills at our store and the District Manager from them will go to places with the photo copiers, websites and such to see if they will make copies for her of known copyrighted pictures. If they do, she reports them to authorities.

So if the store got hit in the past or recent past by someone claiming a "professional" picture was done by them and they got burned then you can understand them a bit. But take it as a compliment as your skill as a photographer is that good

 

[Champion]

Unfortunately, I didn't, because every night, I would upload all of that days photos to my laptop. That way, the next day, I had plenty of space on my camera for new pictures.

Transfer some of the pictures back to your camera and bring the camera.

 

[maelstrom]

I have heard way too many stories like this about Wal-Mart. I know why they do it, but it's getting ridiculous. I do take photos that look professional. Know why? Because I'm a good photographer. All of the good amateur photographers out there are being punished.

 

[wdwever1]

i Had That Problem With Walmart....go To The Walgreen's Website And Upload Them To Their Site..they Gave Me No Problems At All. Walmart Is Out The Money For Their Prints And The Time They Spent...they Aren't Worth You Getting Frustrated Over!

 

[Laura]

I used the Walmart online photo center to get some additional prints made of my last trip to WDW. I wanted to get some enlargements of pictures with my friends and I and some of the characters. Anyway, I submitted my online order, no problems at all.

So, I go to pick up the photos and the woman is like, "We need to see the originals." I asked her why, and she explained to me that the photos appeared to be "professionally done" in a studio, with a "professional backdrop." I informed her that the pictures were taken with my $99 digital camera at a character greeting area in the Magic Kingdom. They were far from professional (however, I was flattered she thought my photos looked professional!!). I explained that these backdrops are the same for every person who goes through there, and surely, they've had other people drop off photos from Disneyworld before. I also had to tell her that I didn't have "originals" since these were taken on a digital camera and were uploaded to their website. Suddenly, she got very suspicious of me, and told me she would not be able to do anything. I asked to speak with the Photo Center manager and he was just as clueless. So, I asked to speak with the store manager, who was, not surprisingly, unavailable. I have to go back on Monday to speak with him. Until then, my photos are being held hostage in the Photo Center!!!

Has anyone else ever had this problem before?

Yes. This happens to me CONSTANTLY. Finally I put copyright release forms on file in several Walmarts across the country so now when they tell me my pictures are professional I tell them to pull out my release form, and then they give them to me. You have no idea how many fights I've had with Walmart photo labs over this! I guess if you get to the point where you can actually take a nice looking photo you get "punished" for it.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

You know, the funny thing is, I never thought the photos were all that good. They're just very basic photos of a group of us with Chip and Dale. I'm now uploading the photos to Walgreens, and will try to get them there. Who would think it would be this difficult to get pictures developed?

The picures we're talking about are very similar to the one in my avatar, fyi.

 

[bluefaery]

i Had That Problem With Walmart....go To The Walgreen's Website And Upload Them To Their Site..they Gave Me No Problems At All. Walmart Is Out The Money For Their Prints And The Time They Spent...they Aren't Worth You Getting Frustrated Over!

I agree. Go to walgreens.com and upload to that site. I've never had any problems getting reprints of disney pictures or of my professional photo shoot pics.

 

[MelBelle]

I work at a Walgreens and this does happen if your pictures are suspected of being professional most techs won't print them because THEY could get fined.

The only thing is though...if Walmart is the same as Walgreens (which it probably isn't) she should have given you a copyright release form which you could have filled out and handed back to her to say that you hold the copyright to those pictures. That relieves her of her responsibilty and you get the pictures.

And it is not a big deal at all to do this, some people make such a freaking fuss about having to fill these out because their "friend" took these. Honesly if those are legitimately yours or your friend took them then there is no reason you should have a problem getting a simple 1 page form filled and signed.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I've had that problem before. I had to sign a photo release too. Now I don't have a problem.

 

[lilmizpixie3]

That sucks

 

[coltow]

I'm very soory that this happened to you. I'm a supervisior at CVS and yes people do come in with professional pictures that we need to say no to, but most of my photo techs have seen enough Disney pictures that they almost never need to question these pictures. There is usually an obvious difference from the professional ones. In fact my photo manager has been to disney alot so if you had come to my store you would have had no problems.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I work at a Walgreens and this does happen if your pictures are suspected of being professional most techs won't print them because THEY could get fined.

The only thing is though...if Walmart is the same as Walgreens (which it probably isn't) she should have given you a copyright release form which you could have filled out and handed back to her to say that you hold the copyright to those pictures. That relieves her of her responsibilty and you get the pictures.

And it is not a big deal at all to do this, some people make such a freaking fuss about having to fill these out because their "friend" took these. Honesly if those are legitimately yours or your friend took them then there is no reason you should have a problem getting a simple 1 page form filled and signed.

I had no idea this was an option, because no one in the photo center mentioned this to me. I would have had absolutely no problem doing this, had they told me about it. I'm going to request one of these when I go back on Monday.