Print Pricing

[jonathonmiller]

I have finally gotten my act together enough to participate in my first art festival and I have what seems to be

a common question for any artist, what do I print my work at. The type of work that I have is

 

Digital 8X12

Unmounted,

Mounted,

Matted,

 

1 Digital 20X30

Mounted and matted

 

Black and White silver prints

8X10

Unmounted,

Mounted,

Matted,

 

11X14

Unmounted,

Mounted,

Matted,

 

Some of my sliver prints of both sizes are also sepia toned.

 

Any advice would be helpful and appreciated.

[duncanholmes]

As a first event you probably won't have a sense of how well/bad sales might be to hit the break even/profit point so price up rather than down so that 1 or two sales will break even and anything on top is pure gravy.

 

If you are close to the event organisers or other people who have participated in the past see if they can give you an idea of what (if any) sales can be expected from this type of event/venue.

 

Framed prints will usually command a premium in my experience, evidence of a limited edition or one off print wil also allow you to price higher. A print that is only matt mounted might not have the same kudos in terms of price point.

 

As an example I recently sold 3 prints relating to a wedding. 1 was matted and framed, the others were just matted. The basic printing of the 8/10 print cost X over and above my normal wedding services, as I did the matting this cost me additional time and effort which I valued at 10 GBP (I have some standard matts pre cut for certain prints/sizes and in this case this one matched so did not require additional work). The frame is done locally and cost me 30 GBP including my time to go and collect it etc.. So to break even I needed to charge X + 3 matts at 10 GBP each and 1 frame at 30 GBP =X+60 GBP. I do not have any studio or other overhead costs just amortisization on my equipment. Because I am a new wedding photographer still earning my trade I am not charging what a more established photographer would and not seeking to make a lviing out of this (yet) so I added on a straight 10 per cent premium over and above my costs because it was a straight sale to the bride and her family. But really in the case of wedding the real break even/profit point is the wedding fee itself, reprints are the gravy if they come along.

 

With fine art or other prints then you have room to price according to your "worth", wich totally subjective once the break even point is hit. I've seen a framed 8X12 print go for 30 quid and 350 quid. The difference was in the quality of the picture itself, the print and frame quality, and the artist.

 

At a local arts/crafts event there was a photographer selling prints (wildlife and landscape, fairly regular mundane stuff but good quality) so his various priced prints, matted unmatted and framed were priced more for volume of sales than for the art (about 10-20 pounds for an 8X10 matted print). He had one drop dead gorgeous sunset blown up to 20X30 ina fine frame for 200 quid. He also had prints of this one in smaller sizes so that the big photo increased sales of the smaller cheaper ones.

 

The frame alone probably cost about 60, the print another 20-30 so it was still not really that high a price point but he would be lucky to sell one of these at every dozen shows he did, he made most of his money from the smaller prints and sizes.

[Spearhead]

At an art festival, you can't use cost-based pricing. There will be some number of people with similar prints and you can't price significantly higher than them. If you can find a similar fair and visit, you should be able to get the general range. Unless the audience at the fair thinks a silver print is worth more, it's not going to be worth more.

 

The "right price" is the one at which products sell.