Composites
 

Who does your composites?

How much does it cost?

Since our founding we've not had it in the budget to do a composite yet because these companies seem to be charging quite a bit for them. Suggestions & prices would be appreciated.

Composites are WAY too expensive if you're a smallish chapter. We do a group picture in front of the house, or take random pictures of all the brothers from the scrapbook and put them in a frame- you can get composite style framing supplies with the windows at most any framing store.

Back when I was an undergrad (92-96), we used Vantine Studios from New York. They did a great job, and could even pull pictures from previous composites to fill in the gaps for guys who didn't get a new picture taken.

The cost was usually between $600 and $1000 (depending on the number of members).

Of course, this was several years ago, so their pricing may have changed. I think they have a website you can check out.

The chapter went with another company this past year, I think it was Fraternal Composites, Inc., but had a bad experience with them.

photos
 

we use valentino/vantine (sp? or w/e), and although i am unable to tell you how much they cost (because i do not know) i can tell you that they do a wonderful job. This year we were able to digitally see the photos immediatly after being taken for choosing out the ones we wanted which i liked very much.
I like the idea of taking a picture of the entire group, matting and framing it. That would look nice.
the individual photos you could do with the framing and you could get someone with nice handwriting to write the names on and make a frame for it. its some work, but i am sure it would look just as nice too. you could take the pics in front of a tree or something cool like that.

just my 2centz

Whatever you do.....please don't use Fraternal Composites!! They are horrible....we've been looking to change to a different company but we are under contract which is almost complete (thank god!!). They are rude, for example, we rented a room in the Student Center this past semester for them to do our pictures, Delts, and Theta Chi ALL day from like 9am-11pm. The guy didn't show up until 1 or 2 and could only stay till 8 and insisted that we have them done in OUR house (all 3 groups!). Mind you....it was a Monday of a Formal meeting so we had to keep someone upstairs with the guys while we went to meeting. It was an absolute mess. Another experience we've had with them is the lateness of our composite. We had our pictures taken in April 2001 and we didn't get our composite till January or February of 2002. They claimed that we owed them money and that is why it was late when in all actuality, we over payed them....then they screwed it up because they put one of our sisters down as Erik instead of Erika....so we sent it back.
Hopefully next year we'll find someone better!

We always use Vantine Studio from New York ... yup, so far they're the best.
I can ask our president about the cost, but all I know is that the big composite, which is nicely framed, cost about $350 (I know bc we still have pranks with other houses, "borrowing" big composites for Greek Week or Homecoming, and they always borrowing ours too!)

Oh, making a composite for your house is worthed all the way ... :)

We're a small chapter so we just use the Photo studio on campus. they handle all grad photos and composites for the university too. Cost wise we don't budget for it either so it costs about $20/sister when we get it done.
I suggest looking into some local studios in your area and shop around.

I built my sorority's first composite. It cost us less than $120. We purchased our own film and asked my roommate photograph the sisters. I went to a framing store, and asked them to make a custom matte. It cost about $3 per hole, and $30 or so for the large frame. I organized the cropped photos, and they placed them in the holes. I think it turned out nicely for an amateur job.

http://www.sigmaaepi.com/images/composite.jpg

The next year, someone else was in charge, but she fell through on her responsibility. Since then we have been using a professional company the charges way too much considering the quality of their work.

As previously mentioned, Vantine Studios does a great job.

Prices: http://www.vantineimaging.com/compos...s_20020409.pdf

URL: http://www.vantineimaging.com/

Why NOT??
 

At my school when yearbook pictures are taken and we take the organizational shots, they dressed in their drapes and pearls or whatever for the sororities and shirt and ties for the fraternities and the photography, (Olan Mills) simply takes the pictures after the staff scans them to a disk we give them to the organization, and most simply by the framework from Michaels or another frame shop and make there own composites. So all the organization has to do it buy the frame and do the writing. They don't have to purchase the pictures because the school pays for it.

When this thread first started, I PMed ktsnake about how our chapter used Vantine this past semester. They were really great...friendly, cooperative....it was a good experience.

This is the odd part...totally crazy! I got a call from my mom today, who lives in Michigan. She asked me if I ordered a large picture or something and had it sent to the house up there. I didn't order anything, but a package came in my name, so I started to freak out a little! My parents get the package, call me and tell me that Vantine has shipped the finished composite to my parents, in Michigan! This is just nuts! I am not the historian nor have I ever held an office, so why they sent it to my parents is beyond me! Now, my poor parents have this 5 foot by 4 foot portrait of girls they have never met!

So, other than this crazy shipping issue, I also suggest Vantine. Just make sure they are perfectly clear on where the finished composite is supposed to go!

Wow!
 

SigmaJoy. . .

That is a WONDERFUL looking composite for an "amateur" job!!!!! Very, very, nice!! I do photography as a hobby, and I just can't get over how well that turned out!!:)

OK, I'll quit gushing now!!! (I just thought it looked awesome and deserved some praise!!)

We also use Vantine and they're awesome, plus I really don't feel the prices are too high for how professional looking they turn out. Rarely have a seen a bad pic from them! hehe :)
SigmaJoy- how is the tv show going? From your perspective? Can we get the lowdown? hehe ;)

My undergrads used Fraternal Composites for the past couple of years and have NOT been satisfied with their work yet!

The worst was this past spring. First the company didn't want to schedule a date for when they would be here...they just wanted to "show up" one day and do it on the spur of the moment. The chapter president argued for weeks with them until he finally got them to agree to schedule a specific day they would be here.

The president got all the Brothers to sign up for specific times they would come by the house for their picture. The photographer was about an hour late getting there, which threw off the whole schedule of appointments! And what was even worse, the photographer was totally unprofessional and rude adn didn't even apologize for his tardiness. He acted like it was OUR fault that he was late and behind schedule.

But to top it all off, about two weeks later they called and said that they had lost ALL of our pictures because the film was bad! I'm sorry, but when I had my advisor picture taken, it looked like the guy was using a digital camera, and it was my impression that digital cameras do not use traditional film!! At any rate, they wanted to just send someone down like the next day to retake the pictures...and this was totally out of the question because it was the end of finals week and everyone in the chapter was getting ready to leave for the Spring Formal!

The chapter president told them they would have to reschedule at another time, more than likely in the fall. I told the president that he should ask for compensation (like getting the composite for free) due to all of the problems.

I'm hoping the chapter can get back with Vantine soon!! They were always VERY professional and we NEVER had any problems with them.

old composite thread
 

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...s=&threadid=45

From what I remember, there were good & bad experiences w/ both Vantine & Fraternal Composite. I think a lot depends on the photographer. My only across the board rec is THINK LONG AND HARD BEFORE SIGNING A LONG TERM CONTRACT. Many of them lock you in for a minimum amount of composites and if for any reason you should lose a lot of members, you're royally screwed.

My chapter has had problems with Vantine. Last spring, we had our pics taken (April 2001). They promised us that we would have the pictures in a short amount of time. We didn't get our large composite until Jan. 2002 (it came to the advisor over Winter break). We are looking for a new photographer, but its hard b/c we are in a rural area.

*Blushing* Thank you PsychTau. :D

KDambular, as much as I would love to answer your question, and let the world know how I feel, I am prohibited from doing so without proper clearance. Sorry to disappoint. :(

As the saying goes, if you want a job done right, do it yourself!
That composite is beautiful and you can't even tell that it was a DIY job! Good for you! :D

My Sorority uses Greek Composites. DO NOT USE THEM!!!!! I was in charge of the composite this year and the owner is rude, unhelpful and misleading!! We have been trying to break our contract for years but we are unable too because of some strange rules. They are way to expensive, and then they give incorrect information which to have fixed cost a ton of money. The owner treats you like you are some stupid, uneducated child that is unable to remember things 5 minutes after he said it! For the past 3 years we have been very disappointed with the quality of our composite, as well as the company not doing what you say and deciding how they want the composite, even if it means not putting people in the correct spot because they think that a graduated Sr. looks better in the row with the New Members!! So far we have paid around $2000 for a compositewith a little 81 people in it, and we still we more money! Once again DO NOT USE GREEK COMPOSITES the are located out of California, in the Huntington Beach area. We are not the only house that feels this way about this company, many of the other sororities on my campus used to use them, however they were lucky enough to be able to break there life-long contracts!!!

That is TERRIBLE!
 

DGGirly,
My sorority sister, maybe you should consult a lawyer, but in any case, I would break my contract with that company! It sounds like they are failing to provide satisfactory service. You should definitely make a detailed list of everything that they have done wrong (including putting a Senior with New Members), as this will serve as ammunition. I would ask the lawyers on this board what you can do: lauradav and valkyrie and there are surely a few others!
You should not be putting up with that nonsense!
:mad:

CutiePie2000-
We are looking into our options of what we can do. We are definatly breaking our contract but it is costing us a lot of money(which we don't have). They have done this to us so many times and I am the first person who really decided to do something about it! I just wanted to warn everyone else out there in the Greek Community not to use Greek Composites! Thanks for your concern CutiePie!!!

I would love to know if anyone is actually happy with the composite company that their chapters use, and if they are satisfied, why?