What to charge for prints of shots?

Shacklebolt · Apr 6, 2008

So I photographed an event last night, and it went very well. I put some of the pictures I took up on facebook, mentioning that I would do prints of the originals, and people are starting to take me up on the offer. Only problem is... I don't know what a standard price is!

That and a lot of the photos are cropped, so I'll have to finick with them to get them in 4x6, 5x7, 8x10 (which would probably be the max). But that's the lesser problem at the moment.

But anyway, any pros out there know what's a good price to charge for 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 prints, and the best way to do it?

Thanks!

aaronw1986 · Apr 6, 2008

Why not just use snapfish or a substitute for it.

Shacklebolt · Apr 6, 2008

Elaborate?

And I'm just wondering price quotes. As in, what _I_ should charge people for prints.

pcypert · Apr 7, 2008

Hard to say. We don't know your market, locations, etc. What was the event? Who are the potential purchasers?

The second reply was dead on. Use an internet based service. This gives you a reason to price things beyond "that's what I felt like". You can justify higher print costs because there's perceived service of shipping, online merchant, etc. Plus folks can use credit cards and buy more...

Paul

ipodtoucher · Apr 7, 2008

Shacklebolt said:
Elaborate?

And I'm just wondering price quotes. As in, what _I_ should charge people for prints.

Well you don't want to charge like $50 a picture. If you print it from Snapfish, etc. you will only pay no more than $2 a picture depending on the size. They have super cheap prints. I know you kinda want to make profit, but small prints like that aren't going to make you a millionaire hahaha. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...I would say $5...This way you get a start on selling, if they like it, they will come back to purchase more prints from you.

Hope it helps!

Shacklebolt · Apr 7, 2008

I dunno about not charging 50 dollars. No, I'm not charging that much, but from what I've read, a standard matted photographic print goes for around $1/square inch. I've decided that that's a bit much, so I've settled upon $.50/square inch, which puts it at

$12 for a 4x6
$17.50 fora 5x7
$40 for an 8x10.

Thoughts?

aaronw1986 · Apr 7, 2008

Shacklebolt said:
I dunno about not charging 50 dollars. No, I'm not charging that much, but from what I've read, a standard matted photographic print goes for around $1/square inch. I've decided that that's a bit much, so I've settled upon $.50/square inch, which puts it at

$12 for a 4x6
$17.50 fora 5x7
$40 for an 8x10.

Thoughts?

Seems kinda outrageous to me as you can get a 4x6 from snapfish for 9 cents.

Roy Hobbs · Apr 7, 2008

aaronw1986 said:
Seems kinda outrageous to me as you can get a 4x6 from snapfish for 9 cents.

Assuming you own the rights to the photo. Which you don't so the OP prices arent that bad

Digital Skunk · Apr 7, 2008

You can't charge high prices for prints in this digital age. Anyone has the ability to copy your images and print them for cheaper than you are going to print.

Best bet is to double the price it would be to make the print yourself and/or add twice the cost of shipping, and a lot of times that doesn't get you an amazing profit. I say charge what you think they will pay, or charge what you feel. In this world copyrights and photo credits don't mean a thing. If it's on the web and not protected through those means then it's up for grabs.

wheezy · Apr 7, 2008

I'd say .25 - .50 cents per square inch is a good price, remember, they're not just paying for the print. They're paying for your time at the event, your skill... everything. Sure, it costs 9 cents for a 4x6, is your time only worth 9 cents an hour? I know that's a little extreme, but don't forget the 'cost' of your time, talent, skill and equipment.

CanadaRAM · Apr 7, 2008

aaronw1986 said:
Seems kinda outrageous to me as you can get a 4x6 from snapfish for 9 cents.

and the water and coffee grounds that goes into your $2.25 cuppa Starbucks costs them about $0.06

It's not about the cost of materials. It's about the service.

ftaok · Apr 7, 2008

Pricing should also take into account what the buyer is getting. The OP said matted print ... what exactly is that? Is it a print that comes with a pre-cut photo mat, or a print on matte paper?

Also, are these prints on "professional" photo paper or something that you printed on an ink-jet photo printer?

For $12, I would expect a print that has the proper exposure, color balance, white balance (or whatever) that is printed on professional photo paper. I'd also expect it to be matted and ready to go into a standard frame. Maybe I'm unrealistic, but that's what I would expect for $12.

ft

Nicolecat · Apr 7, 2008

Right...if you want to pay pennies for a print.
Buy your own SLR and take the shots yourself.

There is overhead to consider.
...and he's not exactly using a common point-and-shoot.
Plus, someone wouldn't ask for prints from a photographer...expecting them to be cheap.

Goodness, they even charge you for sitting time (the amount of time you have them for), wardrobe changes, and sometimes even the number of shots that will be taken (depending on the package you want)
...and even still you don't own the rights to make reprints (unless otherwise stated in the contract, they could bring legal suit against you if illegal reproduction can be proven)

Digital Skunk · Apr 7, 2008

ftaok said:
For $12, I would expect a print that has the proper exposure, color balance, white balance (or whatever) that is printed on professional photo paper. I'd also expect it to be matted and ready to go into a standard frame. Maybe I'm unrealistic, but that's what I would expect for $12.

ft

This is what I think a lot of young shooter (not the OP as to say) miss when it comes to charging someone for a print or a job. Honestly, if you aren't a pro, then don't act like it.

I would slap a shooter if they wanted to charge me $12 for a 4x6 that wasn't "hang-on-my-wall" material. If it doesn't come already framed in a cheap frame even.

Is the work really worth that much, no matter what the shooter thinks it's worth because it could be worth millions in their eyes? Look at the print and be honest with yourself and and ask how much it's worth. Fifty cents an inch is reasonable, $12 is pushing it. As was said before, you have to know your market as well. Will the people trying to obtain said photo want to throw down $12 on a 4x6?

Plymouthbreezer · Apr 7, 2008

If you're not a full-time pro, $12 is too too much.

...I charge $1.25 for a 4x6 print, even if the picture is really amazingly great. The print costs me a fraction of that. I make money on larger prints... smaller prints aren't a big money grabber (for me anyway).

Shacklebolt · Apr 8, 2008

Digital Skunk said:
This is what I think a lot of young shooter (not the OP as to say) miss when it comes to charging someone for a print or a job. Honestly, if you aren't a pro, then don't act like it.

I would slap a shooter if they wanted to charge me $12 for a 4x6 that wasn't "hang-on-my-wall" material. If it doesn't come already framed in a cheap frame even.

Is the work really worth that much, no matter what the shooter thinks it's worth because it could be worth millions in their eyes? Look at the print and be honest with yourself and and ask how much it's worth. Fifty cents an inch is reasonable, $12 is pushing it. As was said before, you have to know your market as well. Will the people trying to obtain said photo want to throw down $12 on a 4x6?

I understand what you're saying Skunk. Firstly though, and I know this sounds crazy, but these _are_ hang-on-the-wall quality, _and_ I monopolize good shots of this particular show. I was shooting with a D300 mainly in ISOs from 800-1250 w/low ISO noise reduction, w/nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8, and did I think as well as one could possibly do in an 1100 person auditorium that's poorly lit and has no flash photography permitted. There was one other photographer there, and he was shooting at an ISO of 1600 with an 8mp Rebel and a 70-200 f/2.8, and all I could think was, "God... those are going to look terrrrrible."

That said, I did drop my prices about 50%, which made everyone (including me) happy. To answer someone else's question, no, it's not an inkjet printer. I'm bringing a CD of the full sized images to a printer and having them print them up. I really don't want to rip people off, but I don't want to be known as a discount photographer either. That and, this isn't my job, so I don't mind if the photos don't sell.

Nicolecat · Apr 8, 2008

Yup...make it worth your time.

BanjoBanker · Apr 8, 2008

I shoot the occasional children's birthday party, and I charged $1 per 4x6 print, $1.5 for a 5x7 and $5.00 for 8x10s. As previously posted, I don't make much on the smaller prints, but I do okay on the 8x10s and I have not had any complaints about the price. I also give the client a CD with all the unedited photos, they can print as many of them as they like. They can also do whatever post production on them they like ( if they know how!)

GoCubsGo · Apr 8, 2008

Shacklebolt said:
I dunno about not charging 50 dollars. No, I'm not charging that much, but from what I've read, a standard matted photographic print goes for around $1/square inch. I've decided that that's a bit much, so I've settled upon $.50/square inch, which puts it at

$12 for a 4x6
$17.50 fora 5x7
$40 for an 8x10.

Thoughts?

Can I ask if you were paid for shooting the event and if so, was a print package already pre-determined or are you shooting now and asking questions later?

I don't (can't) know if you're a pro and even if you are you could suck ass as a pro, frankly I've seen better photographers that aren't calling themselves photographers at all than some of the pros out there. That being said, were these posed shots or candids? $12 for a candid is high.

Shacklebolt · Apr 8, 2008

The prices I changed to were:

One 4x6 for $8. Two 4x6s of the same shot for $12.
One 5x7 for $12.
One 8x10 for $20.

I shot the show for pleasure, and posted the low res pics for all to see, but offered real prints for the above prices.

uMac · Apr 8, 2008

Shacklebolt said:
One 4x6 for $8. Two 4x6s of the same shot for $12.
One 5x7 for $12.
One 8x10 for $20.

I think these prices are reasonable.

pprior · Apr 8, 2008

Plymouthbreezer said:
If you're not a full-time pro, $12 is too too much.

...I charge $1.25 for a 4x6 print, even if the picture is really amazingly great. The print costs me a fraction of that. I make money on larger prints... smaller prints aren't a big money grabber (for me anyway).

The problem is that if you have cheap 4x6 prints, the customer nowadays will buy one and then go to costco or walmart and scan it and print out the 8x10 for under a buck.

My markup for 4x6 is way more than larger prints because I want to discourage this. Even better is just not to offer them (4x6) on better prints.

As to the original question, I use smugmug and have a pro account there. But it's costly and eats a fair percentage of profits as I just dabble in selling my work. However it's very easy and everything is handled by them.

ChrisA · Apr 8, 2008

Shacklebolt said:
So I photographed an event last night, and it went very well. I put some of the pictures I took up on facebook, mentioning that I would do prints of the originals, and people are starting to take me up on the offer.

So you are selling prints with image sof people on them. Did the people you photographed sign model releases allowing comercial use of the image?

Technicaly I think you may have crossed the line. I think it depends if you were hired by the person running the event to photograph it or if you were just out working for yourself as a freelance photographer. You should look into wether you have the right to sell the images.

Shacklebolt · Apr 8, 2008

Oh I'm not selling them on the internet at large. I posted them on facebook, let anyone distribute those shots (I mean, its facebook, the largest photo hosting site on the internet), but told them that I had high res shots that are actually printable. I don't even think I'd sell people pictures to folks other than themselves (without permission). And if someone tells me that it's not alright to sell them, then I will of course not sell it.

Nicolecat · Apr 8, 2008

ChrisA said:
So you are selling prints with image sof people on them. Did the people you photographed sign model releases allowing comercial use of the image?

Technicaly I think you may have crossed the line. I think it depends if you were hired by the person running the event to photograph it or if you were just out working for yourself as a freelance photographer. You should look into wether you have the right to sell the images.

This is not always true...Photographers (very often actually, esp when starting out) will attend a charitable event as an event photographer (even though there has been no money changing hands prior or an actual 'hiring phase'). Prints taken at these events can be sold to attendees and used for commercial use.

EDIT: normally, however they are invited to be the host photographer.

What to charge for prints of shots?

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