GREENWOOD, Ind. — Almost every parent has probably forgotten about school picture day and regretted what their child wore to school when the photos came back for purchase.
Many parents in Center Grove are getting a good laugh from the digital photo proofs they received this week. School pictures taken on St. Patrick’s Day in front of a green screen created some hilarious photos with green clothing disappearing into the superimposed background.
Amanda Snow sent her kindergartner, Oliver, to Sugar Grove Elementary School on St. Patrick's Day ready for a green party, not a green screen.
"He had a dark green shirt on,” said Amanda looking at the digital photos proofs of her son where most of his body seems to have disappeared. “The top of his hoodie is green, so he turned into the fence here. He had lime green shorts on, so I guess the darker the shirt the more transparent the background comes through. And he had a green mohawk, but that is completely gone."
She can't stop laughing at the digital photos proofs she received from Inter-State Studio in an email link.
"So I posted in a local mom's group on Facebook like, 'Does anybody else have funny pictures from St. Patrick's Day?' And so many people do. So many good ones," said Snow.
Sugar Grove Elementary had perhaps a more formal, official picture day back in the fall. Spring Picture Day was postponed twice by bad weather and eventually landed on St. Patrick's Day, when, of course, almost everyone wore green.
"Honestly, I just couldn't wait to see other parents' pictures and it ended up being just a hilarious fiasco, just because it's just so funny,” said Snow.
There a girl whose shirt becomes one with the flower bed behind her. Boys’ heads appear to pop out of farm fields. One photo proof looks like a boy is cut in two by a dirt road with a pickup truck about to drive through his midsection.
Oliver Snow was confused by the photos.
"It was kind of hard to explain to him what was happening, because he's 6,” said his mother. “But as soon as he saw all the different options, he was just laughing because it looks like he's a fence, or it looks like he's a field. So, he thought it was really funny."
Inter-State Studio issued a statement:
"The green screen process involves taking a picture in front of a solid color (in this case green) and dropping that background out to be replaced with a background of someone's choice in post-production. We try to get digital proofs in front of people quickly, so this is an example of seeing it before it goes through that post-production process. Typically, this is caught in an earlier, automated stage. This image is not the final product because it gets fixed in post-production.
We appreciate the opportunity to respond to this specific instance - everyone has had such a good sense of humor about this!"
The school district is on spring break for two weeks, but Sugar Grove Elementary School Principal Kristin Rodman sent this message to families Wednesday afternoon:
"I hope that you are enjoying your Spring Break so far! As many of you may have noticed on your child’s spring pictures, it looks a little funny due to the green screen and St. Patrick’s Day. While I know you got a good laugh, the proofs are the only pictures that will look that way. The actual pictures if you order them will look normal."
But many parents might want a silly souvenir.
"I might reach out to the company and see if I can get the unedited ones, because honestly, they've brought me so much joy and laughter over the last day,” said Snow.