Percentage of sales that are large size prints

[brian_bahn]

<p>This question is for those that sell prints online of sporting events. I just started doing it this season and am feeling my way through what works and what doesn't. Currently I delete out the one's I definitely don't want to offer but still load some that could be better with cropping. I have been doing that in order to get them uploaded quickly so they are there within a day of the event. One thing I would like to do is to start going through my shots and cropping/adjusting to maximize the shot and offer more dynamic shots.</p>

<p>In order to do this though I will then need to limit the print sizes I offer. Say nothing more than 11x14, maybe even stop at 8x10. My question is for those that do this type of selling how much of your sales are actually prints above 11x14? Am I worried about somethign that barely exists anyhow? One way I could pull the time back in would be to set my galleries to offer only up to 11x14 and then note that larger sizes may be available depending the the individual image and I would need to be contacted before ordering. Using SmugMug BTW.</p>

<p>My plan would be to make sure that anything I crop could still be printed 8x10 at 300 dpi.</p>

<p>Thoughts? Thanks.</p>

[scott_stadler]

<p>I jumped into this thread to see if anyone was actually shooting sports with a large format camera like a speed graphic or something. I was confused by your heading, sorry. My initial thought was "probably 0%". :)</p><b>Moderator: Title corrected.</b>

[brian_bahn]

<p>LOL. Sorry Scott. I guess it could be confusing.</p>

[belman]

<p>Seldom do I sell prints to clients, through smugmug, that are larger than 8x10. I personally print up to 16x24 on a regular basis for display. However, I still upload files with resolution high enough to meet any size a client might prefer. </p>

<p>Most of my time is spent in post with Lightroom. That is where I make my adjustments, crop images, and export to high res jpegs. With my work flow, I can still get the images uploaded within 24 hours of the event.</p>

<p>The sports information offices I work with often produce larger size prints, but not through my online site.</p>

[nathan_meador]

<p>What level of sports..high school/college/pro? I wouldn't imagine there would be many large print sales for anything below college. I sell high school sports photos, mostly 4x6 and 5x7, but have had quite a few 8x10's but only 1 11x14.</p>

[brian_bahn]

<p>Mostly youth sports right now. That's why I figured I wouldn't be gettign much above 8x10 or so. I posted two games I did over the weekend last night going through and cropping as I saw fit(cropping a lot to 8x10 and 4x6 aspect). They definitely look better overall.</p>

<p>I noted in the galleries if a larger print is desired to contact me directly. That way I can review which one they want and see how large it can go.</p>

[shal_jacobovitz]

<p>I always crop and adjust the pics before I post, part of my workflow is to routinely increase the pic size with Genuine Fractals, it takes a couple of seconds and the issue you have goes away.</p>

[nathan_meador]

<p>I rarely adjust the crop, most of my photos are of multiple players. The ones I do sometimes crop are individual shots, usually cropped to a 4x6 ratio so if someone does want an 8x10, they don't lose too much. I too use smugmug.</p>

[brian_bahn]

<p>Shal,</p>

<p>Yes, I actually used bicubic smoother in PSE 7 for the one's that I cropped and dropped below 300 ppi for an 8x10. Most were falling right around 275 ppi so I didn't have to uprez them too much. I will be ordering soem myself to see hwo they look to make sure they are OK, they looked good on the screen so I'm sure printing will be fine.</p>

<p>Nathan,</p>

<p>One's I had of multiple players got slight cropping, individuals got more crop.</p>

[nathan_meador]

<p>Gotcha. The prints I've received thru smugmug come out real nice. I like the metallic prints, but don't think they are right for 'everything', but do look good when you've got bright/colorful jerseys in the shot. Most of my customers have bought the Lustre prints, which are also very nice. They do have a new lab that you can select, print types I've not heard of. Very expensive compared to their standard lab, I think one was a 'watercolor' print?</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

[pjmeade]

<p>I sell a fair number of prints that are 18x12 inches from sports event (polo).<br>

You can get very respectable prints at that size from ~30% of an 8 MP frame.<br>

this shot is probably no more than 25% of a 20D frame and looked pretty impressive at 18*12.<br>

<a title="Best dressed spectator by Peter Meade, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1408/1468892561_532254bf8e.jpg" alt="Best dressed spectator" width="500" height="333" /></a> <br />So I wouldn't worry too much about print quality at larger sizes. Why not print a few off just to convince yourself?</p>

[brian_bahn]

<p>Peter,</p>

<p>Good info, that's the kind of info I need to learn as I go. I will be ordering some to see the results, one's from different amounts of crops so I can see what is too much and what is good.</p>

<p>One more question though. Do you upsize the image? After I crop using PSE 7, I go into image size and if it falls below 300ppi for an 8x10 I've been using bicubic smoother to put it up to 300ppi at 8x10. Most of the crops I've done I'd say if it fell below it was usually right around 275ppi for 8x10. Should I not worry about upsizing it? Am I doing more harm?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[pjmeade]

<p>The print service I use takes 402 dpi, as a rule I set camera RAW to process RAW files to a 240 or 300 dpi jpg, so 402 is a bit of upsizing, but nothing drastic.<br>

I've had croped images from the 20D of the same magnitude as the photo above that were published as half page photos in glossy sports magazines and look very acceptable. I haven't had to crop a 10 MP frame that hard, but I'm sure that would look just as good (I'm waiting to hear if Vogue has taken one of my portraits from a polo event at the moment).</p>

[daverhaas]

<p>Brian</p>

<p>80% of my sales are 4x6, 15% 5 x7 and 5% everything else.</p>

<p>Collages are popular - the key is to let parents know you do them and that the price isn't that out of line!</p>

<p>Dave</p>