Print Markup Percent??

[D-B-J]

I've just done a few hours of math to figure out how much it costs to print/frame my photos for my upcoming gallery showing. Now that I know my cost; what percent to mark up? 60%? 100%? 25%? Like, to frame a 20x30 print (order from adoramapix...build frame, buy glass) it's about $46. A 100% markup makes that around $100 for a handmade frame and print. To me, that seems dirt cheap. So... How do you judge it? Do you use percents? Or a set dollar value? Or?

Any help is appreciated!

Jake

 

[tirediron]

I arrived at mine based on CODB calculations... mark-up varies from about 250% on large wall art to 1800% on a 4x6.

 

[D-B-J]

I arrived at mine based on CODB calculations... mark-up varies from about 250% on large wall art to 1800% on a 4x6.

Can you elaborate on the CODB calculations?

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

I've wondered about this before. I visited a gallery last year during a photo class and saw the prices of the photos. Many of the metal aluminumized prints were in the thousands of dollars and the canvas or paper prints were hundreds to thousands based on size. It can be so hard to decide prices that I still haven't come up with it prices for my shoots or prints. It is the only thing stopping me from soliciting business, getting my business license and publishing my website.

 

[D-B-J]

I guess my biggest worry is pricing myself out of business. Sure, 250% sounds awesome,
And so does the profit, but I worry that they'll become too expensive for clients to buy them. Ya know? I have no idea how to best strike the balance..

 

[tirediron]

Hard costs (Studio rental, insurance, gear purchases/upgrades, etc, etc) + salary for a month divided by expected # of sessions/month = desired per-session revenue. Per-session revenue - session fee = [hoped for] print sale revenue. Based on what prints people seem to buy, I determined a cost per product.

 

[tirediron]

I guess my biggest worry is pricing myself out of business. Sure, 250% sounds awesome,
And so does the profit, but I worry that they'll become too expensive for clients to buy them. Ya know? I have no idea how to best strike the balance..

Higher prices do not necessarily price you out of business; rather they can (and do) add a perception of value to the product. Which do you think will brag about more; the $3.50 8x10 Wal-mart print they did themselves or the "Oh it was expensive, but sooo worth it" $40 (and that's cheap) professional print you sell them?

 

[D-B-J]

I guess my biggest worry is pricing myself out of business. Sure, 250% sounds awesome,
And so does the profit, but I worry that they'll become too expensive for clients to buy them. Ya know? I have no idea how to best strike the balance..

Higher prices do not necessarily price you out of business; rather they can (and do) add a perception of value to the product. Which do you think will brag about more; the $3.50 8x10 Wal-mart print they did themselves or the "Oh it was expensive, but sooo worth it" $40 (and that's cheap) professional print you sell them?

Excellent point. And my father and I built/painted the frames I'll be selling, so I'd like to think that adds a bit of... Let's just call it "emotional" value... Right?

 

[tirediron]

I guess my biggest worry is pricing myself out of business. Sure, 250% sounds awesome,
And so does the profit, but I worry that they'll become too expensive for clients to buy them. Ya know? I have no idea how to best strike the balance..

Higher prices do not necessarily price you out of business; rather they can (and do) add a perception of value to the product. Which do you think will brag about more; the $3.50 8x10 Wal-mart print they did themselves or the "Oh it was expensive, but sooo worth it" $40 (and that's cheap) professional print you sell them?

Excellent point. And my father and I built/painted the frames I'll be selling, so I'd like to think that adds a bit of... Let's just call it "emotional" value... Right?

Absolutely - however I'll add that framed prints don't appear to be all that popular right now, at least in my area. Canvas gallery wraps, float wraps, and 'invisible hung' metal prints are what's popular.

 

[D-B-J]

I guess my biggest worry is pricing myself out of business. Sure, 250% sounds awesome,
And so does the profit, but I worry that they'll become too expensive for clients to buy them. Ya know? I have no idea how to best strike the balance..

Higher prices do not necessarily price you out of business; rather they can (and do) add a perception of value to the product. Which do you think will brag about more; the $3.50 8x10 Wal-mart print they did themselves or the "Oh it was expensive, but sooo worth it" $40 (and that's cheap) professional print you sell them?

Excellent point. And my father and I built/painted the frames I'll be selling, so I'd like to think that adds a bit of... Let's just call it "emotional" value... Right?

Absolutely - however I'll add that framed prints don't appear to be all that popular right now, at least in my area. Canvas gallery wraps, float wraps, and 'invisible hung' metal prints are what's popular.

Which makes sense. Sadly, they are prohibitively expensive to buy for a gallery showing in which I wholly expect to sell nothing. I mean, I did it as "cheaply" as possible and it still cost close to $500. My plan from here out is to slowly stockpile images (prints w/ frames, canvases, metal prints, etc) so if I ever run into this "hey wanna have a gallery showing in two months?!" Situation I'll be more prepared.

Jake

 

[SpikeyJohnson]

For those of us who are still only doing a few shoots a month the pricing would be crazy if we went off desired salary. At least until we are booked full or past a certain limit that allows us to go full time, what would you consider a reasonable amount to charge for say a session on location or in the woods for about half an hour to an hour?

I feel my work is getting pretty great (I need to post more for critique but have been having a professional critique it from my school (don't worry he books and shoots regularly, ie not just a teacher)) and people like my work I just don't know how to set a price that can be competetive but also value my time.

 

[tirediron]

I guess my biggest worry is pricing myself out of business. Sure, 250% sounds awesome,
And so does the profit, but I worry that they'll become too expensive for clients to buy them. Ya know? I have no idea how to best strike the balance..

Higher prices do not necessarily price you out of business; rather they can (and do) add a perception of value to the product. Which do you think will brag about more; the $3.50 8x10 Wal-mart print they did themselves or the "Oh it was expensive, but sooo worth it" $40 (and that's cheap) professional print you sell them?

Excellent point. And my father and I built/painted the frames I'll be selling, so I'd like to think that adds a bit of... Let's just call it "emotional" value... Right?

Absolutely - however I'll add that framed prints don't appear to be all that popular right now, at least in my area. Canvas gallery wraps, float wraps, and 'invisible hung' metal prints are what's popular.

Which makes sense. Sadly, they are prohibitively expensive to buy for a gallery showing in which I wholly expect to sell nothing. I mean, I did it as "cheaply" as possible and it still cost close to $500. My plan from here out is to slowly stockpile images (prints w/ frames, canvases, metal prints, etc) so if I ever run into this "hey wanna have a gallery showing in two months?!" Situation I'll be more prepared.

Jake

A gallery showing is a slightly different animal; for that I would want consistency, so all prints would have the same frames/mattes (colours as appropriate to suit the print), so that all of my work had a common look and feel to it.

 

[D-B-J]

I guess my biggest worry is pricing myself out of business. Sure, 250% sounds awesome,
And so does the profit, but I worry that they'll become too expensive for clients to buy them. Ya know? I have no idea how to best strike the balance..

Higher prices do not necessarily price you out of business; rather they can (and do) add a perception of value to the product. Which do you think will brag about more; the $3.50 8x10 Wal-mart print they did themselves or the "Oh it was expensive, but sooo worth it" $40 (and that's cheap) professional print you sell them?

Excellent point. And my father and I built/painted the frames I'll be selling, so I'd like to think that adds a bit of... Let's just call it "emotional" value... Right?

Absolutely - however I'll add that framed prints don't appear to be all that popular right now, at least in my area. Canvas gallery wraps, float wraps, and 'invisible hung' metal prints are what's popular.

Which makes sense. Sadly, they are prohibitively expensive to buy for a gallery showing in which I wholly expect to sell nothing. I mean, I did it as "cheaply" as possible and it still cost close to $500. My plan from here out is to slowly stockpile images (prints w/ frames, canvases, metal prints, etc) so if I ever run into this "hey wanna have a gallery showing in two months?!" Situation I'll be more prepared.

Jake

A gallery showing is a slightly different animal; for that I would want consistency, so all prints would have the same frames/mattes (colours as appropriate to suit the print), so that all of my work had a common look and feel to it.

Which is what I'll have. They are all the same print material (Kodak endura Lustre) all in the same sized frame [emoji106][emoji106]

 

[tirediron]

For those of us who are still only doing a few shoots a month the pricing would be crazy if we went off desired salary. At least until we are booked full or past a certain limit that allows us to go full time, what would you consider a reasonable amount to charge for say a session on location or in the woods for about half an hour to an hour?

I feel my work is getting pretty great (I need to post more for critique but have been having a professional critique it from my school (don't worry he books and shoots regularly, ie not just a teacher)) and people like my work I just don't know how to set a price that can be competetive but also value my time.

Set prices which are based on calculations that assume you are doing it full time. In other words, if you would need to shoot 30 sessions a month and realize a minimum of $500/session to meet CODB & salary expectations, then use those numbers. That allows you to set numbers which are reasonable and appropriate, and don't have to be constantly adjusted as business builds.

 

[jsecordphoto]

Which makes sense. Sadly, they are prohibitively expensive to buy for a gallery showing in which I wholly expect to sell nothing. I mean, I did it as "cheaply" as possible and it still cost close to $500. My plan from here out is to slowly stockpile images (prints w/ frames, canvases, metal prints, etc) so if I ever run into this "hey wanna have a gallery showing in two months?!" Situation I'll be more prepared.

Jake

That's what I started doing, slowly building a good inventory that way if I needed to hang photos somewhere I had enough on hand. I feel like my prices are a little too cheap though, I have a few 10x15 prints, matted and framed to 16x20 for $149. $100 for a framed 20x30 is really cheap though, I see most photographers in my area charging more than $100 for just a 20x30 print on their site, nevermind framing