Looking for pricing advice

Michael J. O'Connell

Hi everyone,

I shoot art photos and would love some guidance on pricing them. You can see my fledgling galleries at http://michaeljoconnell.com on SmugMug. Can you give me some input or point me to a site with pricing guidance?

Cheers,

Michael

jsinon

I just took a quick look at your site, and the one thing that jumps out at me is that you are pretty much giving them away. In my opinion, you prices are way too low. The thing is, do you place value on your art? WhenI was setting up my site, and just deciding to sell my images in general, pricing was the hardest thing for me to decide on. Did I want to blow them out at discount prices, or place real value in my vision and the images I create. I like to think I found a happy medium, keeping my "art" affordable, while not undervaluing it. One piece of advice I learned from following Scott Bourne and his Photofocus podcast is, "don't price your work for what you can afford."

I also feel art buyers are a funny bunch. If the price is too low, they wont think it is worth anything, they wont see it as valuable. In their minds, if it is cheap it can't be worth having hanging on their wall.

Hope this helps a little.

Earthwatcher

I too would like some advice. I have a potential commission to do some sports events and was thinking of charging a daily rate, allowing the client to use what images it wished to use in any way it chose. That way I know what I'm getting and don't have to worry about selling prints or charging reproduction fees or any overhead or hassle associated with customer service. The client would be responsible for all that. Is this a sensible way to proceed, and, if so, how much should I charge?

denisegoldberg

You might want to read the article linked in the first post of the thread Good read on pricing.

--- Denise

Michael J. O'Connell

Thank you

jsinon wrote: »

I just took a quick look at your site, and the one thing that jumps out at me is that you are pretty much giving them away. In my opinion, you prices are way too low. The thing is, do you place value on your art? WhenI was setting up my site, and just deciding to sell my images in general, pricing was the hardest thing for me to decide on. Did I want to blow them out at discount prices, or place real value in my vision and the images I create. I like to think I found a happy medium, keeping my "art" affordable, while not undervaluing it. One piece of advice I learned from following Scott Bourne and his Photofocus podcast is, "don't price your work for what you can afford."

I also feel art buyers are a funny bunch. If the price is too low, they wont think it is worth anything, they wont see it as valuable. In their minds, if it is cheap it can't be worth having hanging on their wall.

Hope this helps a little.

This does help. Thank you

Michael J. O'Connell

Thank you 2

denisegoldberg wrote: »

You might want to read the article linked in the first post of the thread Good read on pricing.

--- Denise

Thank you Denise. -- Michael

Pure Energy

jsinon wrote: »

When I was setting up my site, and just deciding to sell my images in general, pricing was the hardest thing for me to decide on. Did I want to blow them out at discount prices, or place real value in my vision and the images I create. I like to think I found a happy medium, keeping my "art" affordable, while not undervaluing it. One piece of advice I learned from following Scott Bourne and his Photofocus podcast is, "don't price your work for what you can afford."

This sounded like a good quote to know more about the context for which it was ripped from. So I went searching for it and discovered that Scott Bourne actually credits someone else:

"Denis Reggie once said, "Don’t price yourself on what you can afford. It was years before I could afford myself!"

I was hoping for more context but here's a link:

http://photofocus.com/2010/01/25/and-you-call-yourself-a-professional/

If there's a link with more to the story, please post it here.

However, in this link he is referring to some twitter posts from ?, so to be fair, the other part and side of the story seems to be missing too much context for me to make a good decision as to be for or against what Scott Bourne said... but judge for yourself:

http://pursuingphotoshop.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/what-a-professional-means-to-me/

Now, when it comes to pricing...

• I can't afford anything.
• I'd love to be broke because that would mean I am no longer in debt.
• I know what I would pay for a lot of prints.
• I know what I would pay for a really good, got to have 8x10 if that picture was of me.

And yet, I still don't feel comfortable with a one price fits all for my photography.