Parents filling out school portrait order forms face a familiar dilemma: Is picture day really worth the price?
As costs continue to climb, families are turning to AI to make school-style portraits at home or remove watermarks from preview images they never purchased, but legal experts say those shortcuts create risks that go far beyond the cost of a photo package, USA Today reported.
Here's what to know
According to USA Today, social media users are utilizing two main approaches to save money.
Some parents begin with a phone photo of their child against a plain wall and ask ChatGPT or a similar tool to turn it into a school portrait.
@carlieb0nd School pictures x3 kids?? In this economy? 😂 So we took our own and let my good friend Chat help us out 🤭 And honestly… I'm not mad about how they turned out 😂 #SchoolPictures #MomHack #MomOfFour #ChatGPT #MomLife ♬ Bow Bow Bow - Zeddy Will
Others upload preview proof images and tell AI to remove the photographer's watermark. One TikTok account summarized the latter trend.
"Parents, if you wanna save some money, get your children's school pictures and [upload] them to ChatGPT. Ask [ChatGPT] to remove the logos and bam! Thank me later," a user advised.
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Capturely estimates families typically pay $25 to $60 per child for professional school portraits. USA Today cited examples of families paying $43, $60, and $65 for packages that included various print sizes and digital downloads.
But Chicago attorney Erin Russell of The Russell Firm told USA Today that removing those watermarks is not a harmless shortcut.
"I know people think sometimes, 'Well, it's a picture of my child,' and the problem is that the copyright belongs to the person who pushes the button on the camera," Russell began.
"The moment the image is created, the person who takes the picture owns the rights to the picture, unless they explicitly transfer those rights to somebody else."
Chicago attorney Daliah Saper of Saper Law Offices told USA Today that copyright cases can become costly very quickly.
Statutory damages can start at $750 and rise to $150,000 if a court finds willful infringement, though the higher total is unlikely for any individual case of this nature. Still, like with Napster and music, it's hard to be certain whether a school photos company might pursue litigation someday if it saw its profits bottoming out.
Changing a self-taken photo to add a background that looks like a school picture should be fully legal, though it may not allow for the child to appear in any yearbook photo sections. Most schools allow the official school photo to appear in the yearbook without needing to pay for any of the images, though.
More background
The price of school photos reflects much more than the few seconds it takes to snap the image.
Companies also handle color correction, cropping, background standardization, yearbook preparation, printing, sorting, packaging, and delivery. Some schools also receive a commission from photo sales.
Another concern centers on what happens once a child's image is uploaded into an AI system.
"Anything you put into ChatGPT is not privileged. It can absolutely be subpoenaed and people subpoena ChatGPT all the time for stuff," Russell told USA Today.
"Even on the simpler level of families doing it, everything people put in ChatGPT is out there and they have no control over where it goes. I think people act like ChatGPT is in their phone. That's not how that works. It is very much not contained," she added.
Photos remain in ChatGPT until a user deletes them, and OpenAI's retention policy allows deleted chats to stay on the company's systems for up to 30 days.
USA Today cited reporting from Wired indicating that images of people can help train future AI outputs, raising questions about how children's photos could be stored or reused.
What can be done?
For families trying to save money without creating new legal or privacy problems, the safest options are far more traditional.
Consumer Reports recommends ordering the smallest photo package, since many families end up with extra prints they never use.
Another option is to buy only the digital download and print copies independently — but only after checking the photo release to make sure that is permitted. Parents can also skip the official package entirely and take their own portraits at home, whether against a white wall or outdoors.
USA Today also highlighted services such as Capturely, which connects customers with a photographer who helps stage and shoot a studio-style headshot through a smartphone video call.
That service was priced at $79 for three edited images.
"Depending on how AI is training on the materials you are uploading and the nature of the AI you are using, whether it's a closed or open system, then yes, you're basically seeding your child's image into a large language model and who knows how that can be manipulated or used to train or create future images," Saper warned.
Where can I learn more?
Questions about school portraits are part of a much broader debate over AI image tools. These related stories cover a landmark copyright dispute and growing fights over dangerous synthetic images.
• The viral monkey selfie copyright dispute helped shape modern arguments over who owns images.
• At xAI, investigators found millions of explicit AI-generated photos, underscoring risks around image tools.
• Teenagers sued Elon Musk's xAI over nonconsensual image-making tools, sharpening scrutiny of AI platforms.
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