Difference in Pricing Fine Art Versus Portrait Images

[angela_brown3]

<p>I am a portrait photographer and comfortable with my pricing structure for portait work, but unsure of how to price a fine art canvas.</p>

<p>I have a happy portrait client that has fallen in love with one of my travel images. She would like to purchase a canvas of it to be framed for her wall. My thought process is this: I've already captured the image and processed it through Photoshop, long before I met her. I think it should be priced less expensively than a similarly sized canvass from her portrait session, but not so inexpensively that it devalues my skill as an artist. Is this a reasonable line of thinking?</p>

<p>If my mark up on a portrait-session canvas is four times the cost I pay through my lab, for example, should I charge 2 1/2 or 3 times my cost for the fine art print? </p>

<p>I've never really promoted any of my travel/fine art images as they have mainly been for my personal pleasure.</p>

<p>Any help or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>

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[AJG]

<p>Have you paid for the trip yet? If you want to sell travel photography prints as a business, you have to make a reasonable profit just as you do for your portrait business, which means covering all of your expenses. Do you want to explain to your client how much of a mark-up you are taking on your portrait prints? Most people don't understand why there is as much of a (necessary) mark-up as there is for a professional print, and if you give a "deal" for a large canvas travel print, then why shouldn't you be giving a similar deal for your portrait work? I would stick to your current pricing system.</p>

[dd_toth]

<p>Yes, do not discount it. The value of the portrait prints would seem less if you do. The cost of your portrait session most of the time is paid separately. You have a session price then have product prices. The cost of the prints are increased to pay for the time you spent editing them, the cost of the print and stretching as well, and then business costs, etc... What you did to capture the image doesn't matter, it's the product she's buying, no matter what image she's choosing to put on there. If you went and made it more of a fine art print like applying textures and being more artistic with it, then I would actually consider charging more for it.</p>

[angela_brown3]

<p>Thank you for your help. You both have excellent points....I've now gone back to my regular portrait pricing. Thanks!</p>