Okay, well, how ironic is that... I see a topic posted here about 'business' and now I have that chance to have a little 'business'.

I have just a few questions on how much you would sell your photos for. I am not pro, I don't spend a huge amount of time on editing a picture, I just take these pictures for pure enjoyment and for myself. If others like em, that's awesome! I've had the question run through my mind so many times, but if someone wanted to maybe purchase a print of one of my photos, what is a fair price where both the customer and photographer are happy? I'm talking prints like 4 x 6 inches, 5 x 7 inches, and 8 x 10 inches. I don't even know how to approach something like this, and I can honestly say, I do not know of a fair price for something like this! I am in a rut. With someone curious about buying a couple of photos from me, it's so embarrassing to say "I am not sure" ... so ... I am asking for your advice.

Take note, again, I am no pro here, and don't intend to be. I don't want to ask for too much, but I don't want to be asking for too little, either... but how much is too little? Blah, it's just confusing. Someone clarify this up for me, in good nooby writing so I can read it.

Will you be printing these yourself or getting them done at a lab?

first off, get some business cards, that first buyer, give a few of those cards to him, when people ask him "where did you get that?" he can say "ive got the number/website right here"

I don't know if this helps but I recently did a corporate portrait shoot for a board committee at a golf course I shot in the past. We are pretty friendly, the General Manager and I, but there was no way I would shoot this for free, or for pittance. I thought I'd be generous though and offer him a considerable discount because I still get work from him. I shot 9 people in the space of 20-30 minutes (had my lighting/location all ready set up). Charged $90 per image, which included, of each member; a retouched high-res image, a resized copy for web and an 8x10 print. All in all I spent about 15 minutes on each shot retouching and an 8x10 costs hardly anything to get printed at my lab.

It's almost impossible to say how much to price your work at. I guess it is worth as much as what someone is willing to pay :/ One thing I will advise is to never sell yourself short.

Hmm, I don't think 4x6 or 5x7 are worth bothering with, they're quite small. 8x10 would be the minimum I'd offer to sell + you can offer framing. How much does your lab charge for the printing various sizes?

This post was edited by lithfkn on Mar 23 2010 01:56am

Very good topic!!!
I was reading the same thread and wondering the exact same!!

What kind of pictures are people looking for?
Should someone sell prints framed or not?
Where to start showing off our own pictures?

I am far from pro, and I don't even have a real camera, but I know a few of my pics are not too bad and with the proper editing, the quality can be improved a lot...

There is a beauty salon I know where every month they display a different artist with painting for sale for exemple...
I know there is a wating line to be able to get a month of display, but then again, I have always been to shy to make the first step..
And I have no clue on prices, and how to display properly pictures if not framed, cause framing is quite expensive!

Also the thing with frames, what if someone likes the picture but not the frame?
Would someone pay that much for my picture if it's framed?

A couple of things I always want to know about selling photos is this:

1) Do they want a print copy or do they want digital?

If a print copy, it's really valued at what they are willing to pay. But that doesn't usually help you. So some factors that might help are:

a) What did it take to get the photo? How difficult, could it easily be re-done by anyone? etc.

How good is the photo when you compare it to other like-photos. This is a little tricky because we are all usually either more or less critical of our work than someone else. But try to be subjective.

2) If they want a digital copy. Find out:

a) If they wish to purchase an exclusive right to use it. Ie, they are the only ones to use it from here through eternity.
The manner in which they intend to use it. Ie, will it end up in print as a photo that goes with an editorial OR will it end up in some form of marketing which will bring them income?
c) How long they intend to use it? Is it a one-time use or repeated usage?
d) Where they intend to use it? Ie, usage rights granted for the U.S. or International, or one state, province, one city, ... etc
e) will it be exclusively used in print media or on website, digital media, etc or both?

These are the main factors to balance out. Obviously, exclusive right = more worth, more cost to them. Repeated usage = more money. Broader distribution area i.e., worldwide versus U.S. = more money, using it for marketing or PR = more money than editorial.

Then factor in what you feel is the base cost of your work based on the difficulty of the subject to capture, whether it can be done again easily, etc.

Through my website I sell prints, actually zenfolio does them for me, you purchase right there and mpix does the printing and ships which simplifies my life. But an 8x10 print is $7 ... that's for someone to put on their wall. A 16x20 is $49, a 24x36 is $136.

One last word on printing. Definitely send it to a professional lab to get done. I recommend MPIX. They have fully calibrated machines and have personally never steered me wrong. I've had people rave more about the print than looking at it on the computer screen.

I hope this helps some and if you have questions please post.

edit:
the cool smileys above are supposed to be the letter b ) ...

Also, most of what I write here is covered thoroughly in detail in John Harrington's book, Best Business Practices for Photographers. Though his blog is not his book and his book is not his blog, his blog is still worth checking out because I consistently learn stuff from it about business.



This post was edited by Solarves on Mar 23 2010 08:48am

This. I like the book.

I will be doing them at a store where they print photos themselves. I don't do my own prints.

The person I am selling this to isn't some guy at a committee... it's someone I work with. I won't be selling to people I don't know (for now), in other words.



Ah, well, you see, I won't be doing anything like this... the person told me what he wants ... he wants a few 4 x 6 photos of mine and he wants a season theme, like summer, winter fall etc. He offered to buy them. I could tell him they look much better 8 x 10 so it would be worth actually selling them... see I just am not sure... what exactly is selling myself short? I've done some family portraits for some family I know, and they gave me maybe 20-40 dollars for the whole thing. But unlike you, I didn't have the equipment for the best lighting, and I had nothing to set up with except the settings on my camera. This is all just basic photography with nooooo equipment helping me out. This is all me. I don't have one hundred umbrellas floating around to make my portraits look better.

MY lab is Wal-Mart, actually. See, I don't need anything fancy for myself here. I can't say for sure how much they print, I would have to find out because I can't remember. I spent 16 dollars on five 8 x 12 photos, if that helps. So an 8 x 10 would be slightly cheaper.





And you have some good questions! People are looking for alllllllllll kinds of photos, depending on who the person is! Maybe they want something to put on their wall at home, maybe they want a theme such as flowers, nature, etc. I guess you could show off your pictures to your family, friends... that's what I did!



Well, the photo I am selling is no where near this professional. I don't intend to sell the digital copy, this guy just wants it for his home to hang up. I get free advertisement out of it . And I think the other reason why he's interested in buying a copy is because he knows me. It's not like he went out there to search for a photographer with this particular photo, I am sure that would have cost him more.

It's nothing huge, really. I get my photos printed at a good photo place here when it comes to bigger photos like 16 x 20. Other than that, I just use a very keep it simple retail store.

This post was edited by Chantal7 on Mar 23 2010 12:31pm

Fair enough. Word of mouth is a powerful tool though. Make sure you get this guy to show your work around, you never know who else might be interested



Selling yourself short it undercutting the cost of your work just to get work. For family stuff I guess it's irrelevant though.

I'd push for larger prints as you can make more money out of it. Maybe charge $40 for a print? You would want at least a 100% markup on what it cost you. There is nothing wrong with using Wal-Mart for prints. I gather they would have commercial grade equipment at their disposal

The best lighting isn't always unnatural by any stretch of the imagination. I only shot this job with flashes because of the nature of the gig and the look I wanted (corporate) Family stuff can be done very simply and on the cheap, it's all about utilising the light you have available to you. I don't harp on about window light for no reason haha Do you have a reflector and/or speedlite?

Oh he will definitely get my work shown! Especially by people that visit his house... he's a pharmacist, I don't imagine he'd be pretty unpopular muahahahaha.

Yeah, I have honestly never had any problems at wal-mart. They do a great job and I prefer going there than any other place. The only bad thing is that they don't print very big. Although I've only printed a 16 x 20 once, so it's not often I print big like that.

I don't have a reflector, but I do have a speedlite flash Again thank you for the input!

Edit: Oh, I forgot to ask... what if my customer does not want a bigger photo? What if they only want maybe 4-5 smaller ones? How do I approach that?

This post was edited by Chantal7 on Mar 23 2010 09:44pm