Framing/Pricing your work

j photog · March 5, 2007

I have a potential sale of one of my works.

It was framed rather inexpensively but nice (though I saw later that the frame has a few blemishes) and I didn't ask a whole lot for it for a few reasons:

I'm not famous. I like money in my pocket. I'm not sure what I'm worth. :rofl

Ok, so what should you do as best practice?

Frame your work expensively and charge more?
Or should you just frame it nicely but inexpensively and leave it up to the buyer to reframe it if they want to?

I know it is all relative in regards to pricing, and my ego doesn't allow me to charge more than like $200 for something being that I'm a no-name.

Any advice? Please feel free to add anything else in relation to this topic.

Halliday · March 5, 2007

I would figure out how much it cost in time and material and go from there. You paid for your equipment, right? Ever take any classes? I'd factor that in too.

Re frame: What's their budget? Let them decide how much to spend on the frame.

SloYerRoll · March 6, 2007

j photog wrote:

my ego doesn't allow me to charge more than like $200 for something being that I'm a no-name.

Every name starts out as a no name. It's completely up to you where you start your climb on the ladder.
If you act like you take 20.00USD shots. Your only going to have people pay for 20.00 shots.
Dig?

:soapbox
Personally, I over charge on most everything I shoot (for profit). Why? Because I'm only a serious amateur (I let ppl know this up front). I don't want to take away revenue from the pro's that are already having a tough enough time making it. I also am VERY picky as to what I shoot. I only shoot things I KNOW I have nailed down, and can give their moneys worth. How did I get to this point? Patient friends, studying, and culling through 1000's of crappy shots to find the few good ones.

Khaos · March 6, 2007

I used frame work for display but sell prints only. Every person's home is different and they should frame accordingly.

j photog · March 6, 2007

Khaos wrote:

I used frame work for display but sell prints only. Every person's home is different and they should frame accordingly.

that makes sense.

thanks everyone.

j photog · March 6, 2007

SloYerRoll wrote:

Every name starts out as a no name. It's completely up to you where you start your climb on the ladder.
If you act like you take 20.00USD shots. Your only going to have people pay for 20.00 shots.
Dig?

:soapbox
Personally, I over charge on most everything I shoot (for profit). Why? Because I'm only a serious amateur (I let ppl know this up front). I don't want to take away revenue from the pro's that are already having a tough enough time making it. I also am VERY picky as to what I shoot. I only shoot things I KNOW I have nailed down, and can give their moneys worth. How did I get to this point? Patient friends, studying, and culling through 1000's of crappy shots to find the few good ones.

I only kind of disagree here. You can have potential and still keep learning....and sell things as you learn. There isn't any reason to not share your work while you go through the process.
I work for a newspaper fulltime. I wouldn't call this a hobby though. I run it as a business and I know I have so much more to learn.

That doesn't mean I have to wait till I'm perfect to turn a profit.

SloYerRoll · March 7, 2007

j photog wrote:

I only kind of disagree here. You can have potential and still keep learning....and sell things as you learn. There isn't any reason to not share your work while you go through the process.
I work for a newspaper fulltime. I wouldn't call this a hobby though. I run it as a business and I know I have so much more to learn.

That doesn't mean I have to wait till I'm perfect to turn a profit.

That's why I gave that soapbox avatar.
I didn't mean for this to say that I think you should do it this way. Your post just stirred up those thoughts.
I'm one of those "master it then sell it" types. If we were all like me, this world would be freaking obnoxious! (hey wait!)
Best of luck to you and all your endeavors!

bsvirginian · March 7, 2007

I'm in somewhat the same situation. Although a little different. If we are photographers, than we aren't necessarily selling frames. My thought is to have a good matt and a presentable frame. Every potential buyer has their own taste and decor to deal with. Something that the seller cannot know.
My situation is that I am going to be in an Art Show and am encouraged to sell matted prints also. How much do you sell the "matted only" print? Say that I have an 8x10 print matted to 11x14 and framed priced at $ 225.00. What should I consider selling the matted print for? BS

Khaos · March 7, 2007

bsvirginian wrote:

I'm in somewhat the same situation. Although a little different. If we are photographers, than we aren't necessarily selling frames. My thought is to have a good matt and a presentable frame. Every potential buyer has their own taste and decor to deal with. Something that the seller cannot know.
My situation is that I am going to be in an Art Show and am encouraged to sell matted prints also. How much do you sell the "matted only" print? Say that I have an 8x10 print matted to 11x14 and framed priced at $ 225.00. What should I consider selling the matted print for? BS

Take what you would sell the print for and then add the materials cost for the matting marked up by 30%.

j photog · March 7, 2007

bsvirginian wrote:

I'm in somewhat the same situation. Although a little different. If we are photographers, than we aren't necessarily selling frames. My thought is to have a good matt and a presentable frame. Every potential buyer has their own taste and decor to deal with. Something that the seller cannot know.
My situation is that I am going to be in an Art Show and am encouraged to sell matted prints also. How much do you sell the "matted only" print? Say that I have an 8x10 print matted to 11x14 and framed priced at $ 225.00. What should I consider selling the matted print for? BS

Wow. I'm in that situation a little as well. I have the opportunity for an exhibit was was wondering if I even needed to mat for a show at a gallery? Is that kind of hokey??? And also if you keep selling at shows, do you keep printing? And numbering?

richtersl · March 7, 2007

bsvirginian wrote:

I'm in somewhat the same situation. Although a little different. If we are photographers, than we aren't necessarily selling frames. My thought is to have a good matt and a presentable frame. Every potential buyer has their own taste and decor to deal with. Something that the seller cannot know.
My situation is that I am going to be in an Art Show and am encouraged to sell matted prints also. How much do you sell the "matted only" print? Say that I have an 8x10 print matted to 11x14 and framed priced at $ 225.00. What should I consider selling the matted print for? BS

I exhibited in a show where the requirement was that all photos had to be placed in off-white 16X20 mats. No frames. The mats with 11x14 or 12x18 photos in them ranged from $75 to $125. I think like 20-30% of that went to the group who held the show.

j photog · March 8, 2007

SloYerRoll wrote:

That's why I gave that soapbox avatar.
I didn't mean for this to say that I think you should do it this way. Your post just stirred up those thoughts.
I'm one of those "master it then sell it" types. If we were all like me, this world would be freaking obnoxious! (hey wait!)
Best of luck to you and all your endeavors!

Thanks. That's cool. I understood your soapbox moment. And your work is awesome by the way.

bsvirginian · March 8, 2007

Hello again. If anyone is interested the images are all "Cat" related. All of the images I'm exhibiting are on my smugmug site and they are under "pets" and "big cats". I've asked some of the artist at the gallery the same question and they contend that they only reduce the price of an unframed piece of work a very little. Maybe 10%. Their contention is that their frames and mats are inexpensive to begin with. Therefore if I'm asking $ 225.00 for an 8x10 framed and matted to 11x14 then maybe charging $ 175.00 for just print & mat?
By the way I am the only full time photographer in this gallery and the artist, although friendly have a jadded opinion of photographers but they are coming to me more often than not for "jury" images or borrowing images to paint. " I ain't an artist, I'm a photographer!". BS

Khaos · March 8, 2007

bsvirginian wrote:

Hello again. If anyone is interested the images are all "Cat" related. All of the images I'm exhibiting are on my smugmug site and they are under "pets" and "big cats". I've asked some of the artist at the gallery the same question and they contend that they only reduce the price of an unframed piece of work a very little. Maybe 10%. Their contention is that their frames and mats are inexpensive to begin with. Therefore if I'm asking $ 225.00 for an 8x10 framed and matted to 11x14 then maybe charging $ 175.00 for just print & mat?
By the way I am the only full time photographer in this gallery and the artist, although friendly have a jadded opinion of photographers but they are coming to me more often than not for "jury" images or borrowing images to paint. " I ain't an artist, I'm a photographer!". BS

Quality frames and matting with non-glare glass isn't break the bank, but I wouldn't call it cheap.

hallv · March 9, 2007

bsvirginian wrote:

I'm in somewhat the same situation. Although a little different. If we are photographers, than we aren't necessarily selling frames. My thought is to have a good matt and a presentable frame. Every potential buyer has their own taste and decor to deal with. Something that the seller cannot know.
My situation is that I am going to be in an Art Show and am encouraged to sell matted prints also. How much do you sell the "matted only" print? Say that I have an 8x10 print matted to 11x14 and framed priced at $ 225.00. What should I consider selling the matted print for? BS

Hi everyone this is my first time on a forum, so please bear with me.

I am in the same situation as you, I am to be in a photo comp and at the end they are selling the photos. I have 2 photos entered one is 10" X10" once frames its 14"x14"; the other one is 15"x10" once framed its 15'x19".
They are double matted and I have no Idea how much to sell them for.
The gallery is putting 25% in the price for their cut.

Could anyone please help???

bsvirginian · March 9, 2007

Hi Keith

maybe you missed my point. If you sell a framed and matted image for $ 200.00 and the framing and matting cost $ 40.00 then proportionately that's not so much. I always contend that I'm not in the business to sell mats or frame but the image. BS

Khaos · March 10, 2007

bsvirginian wrote:

Hi Keith

maybe you missed my point. If you sell a framed and matted image for $ 200.00 and the framing and matting cost $ 40.00 then proportionately that's not so much. I always contend that I'm not in the business to sell mats or frame but the image. BS

Yep, it zinged over my head.:D

I agree, but the guy who does my framing recommends I add 20-30% to the price I paid him plus what I would sell the print for normally.

Framing/Pricing your work

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