Pricing different finishes

jswoolf01 · March 31, 2010

Advice needed, please:

I have been selling pictures in a small way for a couple of years now. I take pictures at small horse shows & events, and sell them through my Smugmug account. I've decided I need to get a lot more serious about it if I'm going to make it pay. So I'm thinking a lot about how to improve my marketing, including things like the products I offer and how I set prices. I'm also making up a "price list" flyer for handing out to people.

While doing this, I bumped into something that bothers me: the multiple 'finishes' that Smugmug offers: Matte, Glossy, Luster, and Metallic. I'm not especially interested in metallic prints. I don't intend to offer the metallic finish, as I don't think it fits either the pictures I take or the clients I'm selling to. But I'm not sure what to do about the other three. So, my question is: How does the question of finish affect your pricing? Do you:

* only offer one finish? If so, which one?

* offer multiple finishes, all with the same price? If so, which ones?

* offer multiple finishes at different prices? If so, how do you decide the price difference?

-- Jon W.

takeflightphoto · March 31, 2010

Prints in Lustre only, and only in sizes that don't require cropping or the image at checkout.
Canvas, MetalPrints, and ThinWraps in sizes that don't require cropping of the image at checkout.
That way I control the compostion of the finished product.

Once SM gets a Bay Photo mounted print in the mix I may drop unmounted prints of my 'fine art' work.
I will always offer Lustre prints for weddings and portraits, to be mounted/framed by the customer.

jswoolf01 · March 31, 2010

Thanks for the quick response.

Hmmm...

takeflightphoto wrote:

Prints in Lustre only, and only in sizes that don't require cropping or the image at checkout.

Okay, next question: how do you arrange "sizes that don't require cropping?" If you have a photo that you want to offer in both, say, 8x10 and 11x14, do you create and upload two different versions of it, one in each aspect ratio? Or do you upload just one version that is composed so it can easily be cropped to either size?

-- Jon Woolf

tlphotos · March 31, 2010

I mainly do youth sports, so I would assume our client base is similar - unlike wedding and portrait photogs who gain a good personal relationship with their client and concentrate just on them for each shoot - we have many customers at a big group event who will be fishing through a gallery looking for their photos and we'll have a more acquaintance relationship.

For my galleries, since I am someone who likes options, I like to provide options to my customers too. I find that having options is a great benefit that many parents really like (but they are the ones that read directions when in the cart - they especially love the crop option) but can be troublesome for those that do not. The proof delay takes care of that though since my biggest problem is when someone purchases a nonproportional enlargement and do not pay attention to cropping - the proof delay saves the day. Many parents just go in and buy the cheapest thing, which would be a 4x6 glossy or matte so I keep my photos formatted accordingly.
My customers vary so much, that there is not a perfect answer. I lean towards my own personal taste of liking options, so I keep most of them available and keep proof delay to fix problems before they happen. Options also sets me apart from those that do not.
I figure why limit my sales opportunities - and noone has yet told me that they were overwhelmed in the cart and just could not do it. Those who would get overwhelmed probably would never get to my site anyway.

Here are a few notes from my experience to help with your above questions:

1. I have customers who buy from all finish types and come back and rave about metallic and lustre. Glossy is most common, but it is at the top of the list of options in the cart.

2. For print sizes available for ordering - I usually stick to the most common frame sizes because even I think the list of available print sizes is rather large. I have a note in the gallery that other sizes are available upon request - noone ever does.

3. I price different finishes so that my profit for that print size is the same. It also points out the superiority of the lustre and metallic finishes.

4. (from your question to TakeFlightPhoto) - Customers rarely read descriptions, captions, and notes in the gallery, so I think uploading different formats of the same photo in the gallery will cause you a lot of headache, although proof delay would catch them before going to print. I've had the experience of creating square format team posters, make notes in emails to the team and in the gallery besides the obvious visual of a square format when looking at the photo in the gallery - and still have someone buy a 11x14 print.
My guess is that TakeFlight only offers proportional sizes like 4x6, 8x12, and 12x18 - or something along that line. Plus they are wedding photogs who are actively involved with that client for that job.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Takeflight above

takeflightphoto · March 31, 2010

jswoolf01 wrote:

Thanks for the quick response.

Hmmm...

Okay, next question: how do you arrange "sizes that don't require cropping?" If you have a photo that you want to offer in both, say, 8x10 and 11x14, do you create and upload two different versions of it, one in each aspect ratio? Or do you upload just one version that is composed so it can easily be cropped to either size?

-- Jon Woolf

I do either tight in-camera crops or use a cropping template in Photoshop in the 2:3 ratio, so my offered print sizes are typically 4x6, 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30, etc.

If you want to offer non-matching ratios, you need to loosely compose or crop so when the client gets their hands on the image in the shopping cart, they don't butcher your intended composition. I guess you could use proof delay, but I am on the road constantly and don't want to carry original images with me on laptop or outboard drive, and have to rely on iffy internet connections for uploading new versions.

Pricing different finishes

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