RSSLifetouch National School Studios Inc Fauxtoshop Gaffe … People’s Heads Show Up On Other Bodies
WTF!!! Imagine getting your high school yearbook only to find that your 
picture is really not yours. Then you look to see your best friend’s picture and her head is on a boys body. Stunned, you check out another friend’s pic and her head appears to be on a nude body. Is this the Twilight Zone? This is beyond bizarre and who knew that fauxtoshopping year book pics was a non-firable offense.
What was Lifetouch National School Studios Inc thinking when they altered students photos and actually switched heads of students to other students bodies. The result was a ruined high school year book for McKinney High School. Spokes people for Lifetouch claim that it was not done maliciously. What else could it have been? Lifetouch has taken full responsibility for the incident and will pay for the reprinting of the yearbooks.
Besides the head and body switching, some necks were stretched, one girl’s arm was missing, and another girl’s head was placed on what appeared to be a nude body, with the chest blurred.
A spokeswoman for Minnesota-based Lifetouch National School Studios Inc. said the alterations were “an unfortunate lapse in judgment” by an employee but didn’t believe it was malicious.
The high school had required Lifetouch to make heads the same size and eyes at the same level in all student photos, company spokeswoman Sara Thurin Rollin said Saturday. The request was “unusual and definitely very particular, but that’s not to suggest what happened here is acceptable,” she said. (FOX News)
In a faxed statement, Lifetouch officials acknowledged the school’s high marks in previous publications. Lifetouch misinterpreted the specifications … BS!!! How can anyone print this many pictures and “misinterpret” what was asked for?
“McKinney High School enjoys a well-earned reputation in excellence in yearbook design and presentation with many local and national awards. Unfortunately, Lifetouch misinterpreted the specifications and guidelines requested and an error in judgment was made to alter and adjust some photos. It is not the Lifetouch standard practice to alter images for yearbook publications.”
Listen to the spin and back peddling from a Lifetouch spokesperson. Lifetouch also has refused to say whether the employee who was responsible for this was fired or reprimanded, only that it was “an unfortunate lapse in judgment.” Lifetouch, way to hold your employees to any type of standard. This was much greater than a lapse in judgment.
A spokeswoman for Lifetouch National School Studios Inc. said Saturday that the company sometimes touches up photos to cover blemishes and the like.
“What’s different in this case is that Lifetouch staff altered the images they sent to the yearbook company,” spokeswoman Sara Thurin Rollin said. “That doesn’t happen.”
Metro firm apologizes for yearbook photos
Some girls’ heads were plunked on boys’ bodies, and vice versa. Necks were stretched in some photos and clothing altered. Several students are wearing the same outfits. One student’s arm is missing, and another girl appears to lack clothing altogether.
Officials at the school, in an upscale suburb north of Dallas, were reportedly appalled by the changes. All told, 39 percent of the 1,486 photos were changed, according to news reports.
Posted May 18, 2008 by Scared Monkeys Bizarre, Child Welfare, Education, Fauxtography, WTF | 6 comments |
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6 Responses to “Lifetouch National School Studios Inc Fauxtoshop Gaffe … People’s Heads Show Up On Other Bodies”
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a lapse in judgement!!
that almost sounds like something the stupid officials of aruba would say!!
They dont even make sense how can you make such an error and call it a lapse in judgement….
this is totaly outragious…
My guess … they probably bought some fancy computer program that put 75% of their employees out of work and was supposed to be a miracle cure.
Surprise! It screwed the whole thing up.
Typical for razzle-dazzle computer garbage, I say.
Anyway, in my case I wish this sort of thing had happened … anything would have been an improvement over my actual photo.
I just ordered from this company. It sounds to me like this company has some very immature employees playing practical jokes. The same immaturity will close LifeTouch…………….
The employee was probably a relative of the owner…………….
They’ll pay a heavy price for a screw up like this.
First they’ll have to refund this school to try and make amens.
Second they’ll lose future business from this school and most likely all schools in this district not to mention the lost business from other schools in the country.
What school offical in their right mind would do business with a company like this again?
You know, I wonder if the school signed a proof approval on the book. If they signed off on the proof, I wonder if Lifetouch is actually responsible for any changes after this? Even after altering the original photos and all.
But, still… this is not “an error in a fancy photo-correction program.” People who watch CSI may think you can push a button and heads will be generated on false bodies semi-seamlessly. No… somebody spent a few hours (minimum) altering hundreds of photos in Photoshop to do this.
Maybe this was an internal prank that accidently got swapped for the final file? That’s a possibility.
If Images were linked instead of placed on pages it could be a similar issue where the wrong master folder (the one with prank/practice photo-manipulation) was associated.
Unless it’s a disgruntled employee who had a LOT of time on their hands (I can think of better pranks with photoshop), I don’t see this being purposeful, but until the company really explains their actions, they have a SERIOUS Public Relations problem on their hands.
i work for lifetouch and have never heard of anyone altering anything for this kind of request or mistake. we have a retouching dept that if the customer requested can remove blemishes or change pictures to where we may have a previous year on file and that one is replaced as the current. also the way they watch things at my plant i would assume they would of caught this well before hand. the pictures are all viewed for color and size and if they requested a specific height requirement the quality lab would of adjusted all the cropping to fit then sent to retouching for any other fixes but if no request were made for something to be removed which it costs extra to do that then the person who worked it in retouching most definately doesnt work there any longer. i have been there since september and havent even heard of this story so i dont know anything about it i do know however that sometimes when we alter color to make the faces look good retouching gets prints with the wrong clothing color but that is after proofs have went out and been returned so most yearbooks are proofs and arent prepaid so this was weird that the books were printed and shipped without a look at the final product. doesnt sound anything close to the company i work for.