When you first decide you would like to sell your photography in the form of wall prints, it’s a pretty exciting time. But I think most of us as artists, hit a bit of a brick wall when we realised we have to decide how much to charge. It’s something that photographers will often ask for advice about, and it’s obviously quite a big topic, so I thought it would be interesting to explore it fully, here. Pricing can be tricky, but I hope that this post provides some insight for prospective photographers out there, and helps provide a little clarity of method surrounding an otherwise thorny issue. If you’re not a photographer you're equally welcome along, to discover the thought processes behind my pricing, and the factors which make up the cost of a professional-quality print.
Pricing Fundamentals
I think there’s a common misconception about the cost of photography in the digital age, where billions of photos are taken and shared online every day. The proliferation of images creates an understanding that photos are abundant and cheap. And when it comes to prints, the expectation from a lot of people is along the lines of:
"He's already got the photo, and it won’t cost much to print,
so it shouldn’t cost me much more than that."
We'll cover direct print costs later, but it's also important to consider the costs involved in taking the kind of photo that people would want to buy and proudly hang on their wall. These are all factors, as is finding an audience that is not under the illusion that good quality imagery comes cheap.
Quality vs Quantity
We all know that when pricing, you can pitch your prices to sell more units for less money each, or fewer units for more each. Picture the people you plan to sell to, and your ability to reach them with your art. Do you have hundreds of buyers for cheap prints, or dozens of buyers for quality prints? Personally, I don't have the reach to sell prints in their hundreds each year, and those that I do sell, I want to look fantastic. So for me, that means a quality-first approach to printing and materials. I also want to be proud of the end result, rather than simply trying to move as much product as possible. However there’s still a balance to be struck; it’s very important to me that good prints remain accessible to as many people as possible, not just the wealthy.
Market Value
First of all, consider your target market and research that market.
Who do you see as your potential buyers?
How much money are they likely to have to spend on this?
Then look at your competition...
Who buys from them?
How much are they charging?
Are they actually selling much? Where are they pitching their work, in terms of quality/quantity/price?
And when I say your competition, I’m not talking about IKEA, who have enormous economies of scale, and sell millions of wall art items each year for very little each. I mean people offering a similar product of similar quality to you. Your peers in art/photography, who have similar resources to you, and who likely deal in the kind of numbers you aspire to achieve.
Don't Sell Yourself Short to Feel the Buzz of a Sale
Most beginners are longing for the approval and validation that comes with selling a print - for any money at all. We've all been there. It's incredible to know that someone is willing to spend their money on something you made, and that feeling doesn't wear off. But pitching prices too low is a trap that beginners commonly fall into, in return for making a sweet sales and revelling in a dopamine hit. But honestly, how rewarding really is it to sell something for cheap, knowing that you've sold yourself short?
What Makes a Good Price?
Like a lot of decision-making, I would divide the issues involved in pricing into two categories: the Head and the Heart. So I’m going to discuss each of those aspects separately below. Because I think you can only make a good decision when you consider both. Personally, I like to consider and define aspects of the Head (the numbers, costs, quality of the product) and then use that information to guide a decision ultimately made with the Heart (a more subjective process to arrive at a price I can stand behind).
I tend to come to a price using the following formula:
Price = [Printing Cost] + [Overheads] + [Profit]
Where:
[Printing Cost] is the immediate cost to you to print and ship the wall art product.
[Overheads] are the long-term costs involved in photography and doing business.
[Profit] is the amount of money you wish to earn from a sale, over and above what it cost you to produce.
The issue we have as photographers and artists is that although [Print Cost] for a particular type of print is objective, [Overheads] and [Profit] are subjective costs.
I want to research and understand the costs and values of all three components (Step 1), and then come to a figure based on that understanding (Step 2).
Step 1: Pricing With The Head
Pricing with the Head is all about establishing your baseline numbers and overheads, considering your expenses in creating your art, and your ability to get it printed and sent out to buyers so they can put it on their walls to enjoy for years to come. If you don’t know exactly what it will cost you to create a print, or what the market-value of that print might be, you really don’t have a solid foundation on which to make a decision later on.
Going back to the formula I defined earlier, let's dig into each of the three components; Printing Cost, Overheads, and Profit.
Printing Costs
Most of your customers have printed something at some point, so they will be somewhat familiar with the cost of home printing or using a local High Street printer. This can set slightly unrealistic expectations for the real cost of high-end prints, for quality wall art. Depending where you sit on the scale of quality versus quantity, the cost of your prints can vary enormously. And if you want to offer free shipping, as I prefer to do, then you also need to factor in that cost at this point, too.
Personally, I want to use the best printer I can afford, and create the best end-product I can. This means using a proper fine art print house, using best-in-class materials, which will create a product that looks fantastic from the start and will remain so long-term (100 years+). I use giclée printing; the finest print standard available, and medium of choice for art galleries and museums throughout the world. I use the best quality, sustainable, heavyweight papers. The prints themselves aren’t chucked out by a laser printer in a second or two. Large prints can take several minutes (half an hour or more) to print as the ink is precisely laid down in several layers.
Ready-to-hang products such as framed prints, canvas wraps, metal prints, and acrylic prints will take several stages of production, often over days, including drying times, construction, and protective finishes. And all of that comes at a cost.
Needless to say, it’s vital you understand your printing and shipping costs as an absolute minimum of your sale price. Bottom line: Quality prints cost good money to produce.
Overheads
What are your Overheads? They’re all the indirect costs incurred in the day-to-day business of photography. Everything from cameras & lenses to website-hosting. Here's a short list of what I think are the main considerations for long-term out-goings.
Kit
As a nature photographer I need a lot of expensive equipment. I’d love to say it’s all about the creative process, but in addition to that, I want to create the best quality photographs I can do, and that requires the best camera I can afford, the best lenses I can afford, and all of the required equipment from tripods to spare batteries and photo software. It's impossible to measure how much, in kit, an individual photo cost, but this is a factor to consider in your pricing decision later on.
Travel
Lots of nature photographers get their best photos close to home, and that's often the case with me. But other times I'm looking for something outside my local area. Some subjects involve flights, trains, hire-cars, accommodation, etc. But even the local ones require travel costs which add up over the multiple visits required for a project.
Your Time
Nature photographers know from the start that many trips & photo shoots end in a bust. Sometimes you can't find the animal you're after, sometimes the light's not right for what you're trying to achieve, often the animal simply doesn't play ball. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've wished a deer would take a couple of steps to one side, to elevate a shot from "OK" to "Wow!". Or lift its head up to look at me. It's rare that a shoot goes well, and I come back with the gold I set out for. And the time investment is huge. Every great photo I take is built on a mountain of failed trips and days when things didn't work out. That's nature photography. Not to mention the trips out just for research, in the early stages of a project, observing, learning patterns of behaviour, and laying the groundwork for successes to come.
Then, when you take some photos, they require post-processing time. Importing the files into your software of choice, poring through them, removing the deadwood, and polishing the gems. This is a process I enjoy, but it takes a long time for me to be completely happy with a photo.
Lastly, there's print-preparation, which is much less enjoyable, but a crucial step nonetheless. You can send files off for print as they are, but prints look a lot better when the file is optimised (scaled, sharpened, etc) for the print medium and print size in question, and this slightly laborious task is also another time sink.
Tax*
As disappointing as it is to have to give away some of your income, schools and hospitals don’t pay for themselves, and we all have to contribute. In the UK, the most likely tax you will need to pay as a photographer is income tax. However, if you’re new at this, you might be able to skate under the Trading Allowance (£1,000) to begin with. Otherwise, wherever you are in the world, you are likely to have to consider taxes as an out-going (perversely, unless you’re super-rich - then you can wield your power to leach off the rest of us and suck our blood dry to fund your maniacal rocket programme).
* I am not your tax advisor, etc, etc.
Profit
Your prints are worth more than their literal cost to create. In my eyes, there are two main factors determining how much profit you should set for a sale. The market value that you bring to your art, and the net financial gain of the transaction.
You
It’s very hard to put a figure on the value of your knowledge, experience, and unique creative eye. As a creative, your innate quality represents an intangible value that is an essential ingredient for pricing your art.
The reason that a master craftsman can charge so much for their work is not because they just picked up their first chisel and redefined sculpture. It’s because they spent years learning, failing, trying again, building upon previous attempts, honing their craft to the point at which they’re creating something interesting and meaningful, which other people aspire to own. In case you’re wondering, I don’t consider myself a 'master' of photography. But the skill and experience that I have learned in the last 15 years with a camera in hand has value. As does the creativity that leads my work. And so too, I hope, does yours. Exactly what that value is? That's for you to decide, based on your market, level of experience, quality of output, and demand.
Financials
Lets face it, we're not selling prints just to cover our costs. You have to feel like there's enough profit in the sale in order to be worthwhile. As much as I'd like everyone to have my prints for the best price possible, I'd feel a little slighted if I was the only link in the chain not getting paid.
Another aspect for me is the weight of responsibility I feel to every person who buys one of my prints. It's paramount to me that they get a fantastic print that they love, and the pressure I feel to deliver that is not insignificant. So the final price point must feel worthwhile to me, all things considered.
Step 2: Pricing With The Heart
After Step 1, you should have a solid understanding of your costs, and a reasonable ball-park price range of your market value. Now you have a rough idea of where your prices should sit. Pricing with the heart is all about taking those practical aspects and considering the emotional impact of different price points, in order to come to a decision that sits well with you.
If this is starting to sound a little airy-fairy, then forgive my clumsy vocabulary - The point is that you have to be happy with the price you set. You have to stand behind it, and remain so even when clients walk away. Whatever price you set, some people will think it a bargain, and others a rip-off. You have to trust your instinct and find a balance that feels right to you.
Ultimately, I strive to pitch my prices at a point that offers a genuine value proposition for both me and the buyer, and one which leaves both of us happy with our trade.
It's hard to put this process into words, but I'll do my best...
A Thought-Experiment
Imagine the following scenario:
Somebody contacts you because they like your photo, and would like a print.
How would you feel if you gave them the price, and then:
They went ahead and bought a print from you.
Excitement? Pride? Contentment?
Responsibility? Regret?
They baulked and walked away because they felt that the price was too high.
Would you feel that you’d been too greedy? That you’d over-valued your skill?
Or would you be comfortable with people walking away, because to lower your price would be to undervalue your efforts?
The answers to the questions above will all depend on the price you set.
These two scenarios, and my emotional reaction to them, are the fundamental factors behind how I decide on a price. It might sound shallow, but remember: we've already considered the baseline costs and rough price range, so at this point we're using those along with our own subjective thoughts to land on a price we're comfortable with.
This is the real crux of my method...
What we want to find is the sweet spot where:
If the customer buys the print...
You do feel:
Happy with the profit you achieve (considering all the factors from Step 1).
Pride in yourself and your work.
It's worth the time, effort, and feelings of responsibility that it will cost you.
You don't feel:
'Mugged off'; naïve or taken advantage of.
This order isn't worth the time & effort you will have to put into it.
Regret that you should have asked for more (a missed opportunity).
If the customer walks away...
You do feel:
You were right to hold out for a good/fair price for your work.
Pride in yourself and your work.
At peace with the world (or at least, your pricing-strategy).
You don't feel:
You were trying to 'mug them off'; take advantage of them and get more than you really think is fair.
Regret that you should have asked for less (a missed opportunity).
Note: Although we're using a wall art print for this example, this method equally applies to an ad-hoc request for commercial use (e.g. a book cover, billboard, or website graphic).
The GW Pricing Contentment/Regret Trade-Off Scale (AKA the Regret-Me-Not™)
Behold, my cumbersome attempt to put these questions and feelings into some short of visual representation...
This chart spans both the [Overheads] and [Profit] portions of the formula (covering the realistic price range you think you could achieve, according to Step 1). The green line tracks contentment with the outcome if you make a sale at that price. The red line tracks contentment with the outcome if the buyer walks away at this price.
The horizontal axis (Price) starts at [Printing Cost] (your short-term break-even), on the left, and extends off-screen to the right, to an infinite treasure-trove of riches, sadly beyond our reach. But somewhere in this chart (and it may not necessarily be in the middle) lies a sweet spot, where a balance can be found between contentment and regret for different outcomes. That balance represents the compromise between various factors such as quality, affordability, pride, responsibility, value, and reality.
If this all sounds like the process of a person whose decision-making is etched with anxiety, like the words running through a stick of rock - Well done, you've been paying attention. Ultimately, in order to feel at ease, I have to come to a satisfactory decision that is going to sit well with me. Considering those feelings, with the research from Step 1 baked in, enables me to arrive at a price I'm comfortable with, whatever the outcome.
Conclusion
To sell a print is the highest compliment. It’s both a great feeling and a felt responsibility. And although it’s disheartening when people baulk at the price, good photos don't fall out of cameras for fun, so it’s important to know your worth.
I hope this blog post hasn't been as much of a ramble as it feels like it may have become. I primarily wanted to share my methods in Step 2, of using the hypothetical Thought Experiment and Regret-Me-Not™, to lead you to find a price you feel is right. If you do your research and consider your pricing in this way, you should be able to rest easy at night, knowing you've struck a balance you are happy with.
Of course there are plenty of other considerations I didn’t have time for here. I think I’ll write a follow-up post soon, about additional pricing tactics such as sales, discounts, and limited edition prints, as they’re also inextricably linked to your pricing model (in short, I’m not a fan, but we’ll come back to that another time).
To have a closer look at the kind of prints I offer, you can read More Information About my Prints. Or to have a look at the photos I have available for wall art prints, you can take a look at my Photo Galleries.
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George
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