How to price a print?

Photography is a serious hobby for me and I have not sold any of my images before. I am fortunate to have a reasonable income from my day job and I am happy to donate all proceeds from my photography to charity . Recently, I was asked to donate a print to the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, which I am a fellow, for their art auction to raise funds for training pathologists from underdeveloped countries. I have sent them a 20 x 16 inch print of Stargazer (EPA 2011). I was asked to set a reserved price for the image but I have no idea how much. I intend to limit the number of prints of this particular image to just 5. I know there is not magic formula to price this but I want the College to get a reasonable return. Will be interested to hear how you price your prints or what you think the reserved price should be?

I create a spreadsheet (a separate one for paper prints, canvas prints, etc.) and put in the prices that numerous other photographers use for various sizes and then calculate an average. I use this as a starting point. I also compare that average with my total costs to produce the print. A general rule is to set the retail price at 2-3 times your cost. With this info, I adjust my prices till I'm happy with them and go with that.

Hi Gary, it's always difficult to determine pricing for our work. I follow the same guidelines as Phillip. I do keep track of my expenses and then multiply the total expenses by 3 and then adjust a bit upward. Since I am not a "professional," I don't feel I can ask $2-300 for a 16x20. Depending on the frame I use, most of my 16x20 framed prints sell for $110-$125 and that seems to work best for me. For other sizes I just adjust according to my expenses. Don't underestimate your work as it's absolutely beautiful. Let us know how things work out.

We price our art prints much as Phil, but without the spread sheet. It's very much a case of "what the market" will bear in terms of the prices clients are accustomed to seeing. And it varies from place to place.

Coming from the craft market (pottery) I was taught that you double your costs including all overhead, not just materials, and that is wholesale. Retail is twice the wholesale price. That said there is a lot of variation in how pricing is done. I've been told that my prices are too high and on the same day told by others that they are too low. There is a notion among some that if you don't put a high price on your work it signals the buyer that you don't value it, therefore they won't either and won't buy it. Then there is the philosophy that wants to make art affordable (Brooks Jensen of LENSWORK) that sells masses of prints at very low prices. I note that you are limiting the number of prints of this image which usually implies a higher price tag. I won't get into the argument over "limited editions" except to say I don't do it so I won't offer an opinion on how that should affect the price. In the end it's worth what someone is willing to pay. If you put too high a reserve on it and it doesn't sell, then the charity gets nothing.

Gary, my price for print in that size, mounted by Duraplaq http://www.duraplaq.com, is close to Barbara's, and for the same reasons. I wish I could charge more, but the market won't bear it around here. I just had a slightly larger print at a charity auction go for $160+; I don't know if there was a reserve price but I heard that the opening bid was $100 with lots of bidding. Since your bidders are doctors, maybe they will be willing to pay more :).

Hi Gary,
A severely limited edition of an award winning photo at a charity auction should go for a very high price. It should start at least at $150 U.S. and go up from there. A limit of 5 photos ever printed at that size is really tight. My unlimited framed photos of that size sell for $150-$300 at galleries in Massachusetts.
Good luck!

Gary,

I've gone by the same general thinking of 2-3 times your cost. I've also done "comparison pricing" with other togs with similar work.

Having said that, you mentioned a couple things and this really sounds like a somewhat unique situation. You're talking about charitable donations AND Limited edition. If you truly want to limit the lifetime making of a print to only 5, that should skyrocket the price theoretically. You will NEED a certificate of authenticity guaranteeing there will only be 5 prints; probably among other things. Typically the LE would be grouped by size, like a 16x20. You could easily set a price in the 3-figure range (thousands) for a limited edition of 5. I would think. This of course means museum quality materials and framing, etc., which increase your cost anyway.

The second part of this is the charitable donation part. You're donating and not set to make a profit. So you're kinda at both ends of the rope so to speak, one pulling against the other. I understand you don't want to set too high of a reserve for fear that the print won't get purchased and no donations will occur.

Personally, if you are truly going to list this as a Limited Edition print, you really should set a somewhat high reserve. Say $500 just to toss out a number. If you decide not to go LE, then set your reserve as low as you want since you're not expecting a profit, you are donating. The other thing is that you might consider and review past auctions, what other types of "art" are being donated and auctioned as well as who the target audience is.

With a beautiful piece of art like your image and an audience of people that potentially have deep pockets, it's highly likely your piece could go for $500 and more, especially if you go LE.

Your image and I'm sure the resulting print is just stunning. Congrats all the way around. Let us know how it turns out.

Lon

ps. btw, I have a "certificate of authenticity" I've used (adapted from someone else) if you're interested. Drop me an email.

You should also take into account how generous the buyers are at this event. If you have been to this auction before you should have a good idea. Do items go for at or above retail, or do they barely reach 1/2 retail. Also have they sold photos in the past and what did they go for? If you don't know ask the person asking for the donation. They may have done that same job in the past.

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments. This is the first time this organization is doing an art auction so everything is kind of new and no one has any idea how it will pan out. The print I sent them is done on metallic paper and looks really good. I am getting a nice frame done for it. As a group, the target audience is relatively well off, so I am going to set a relatively high reserve price of AUD 500. Also as I am not relying on photography for profit, I can afford to make this into LE with low copy number. The auction will be in mid March; will let you know how this turned out.

Thanks everyone. I learn a lot from these kind of threads.

Gary, hearty congratulations. I'll bet that photo in a metallic print is just stunning! For that and the tiny limited edition, sounds like you made a good decision. Will be eager to read of the results of the auction.