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Author Topic: Do you sell your prints?  (Read 12629 times)

cottagehunter

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Do you sell your prints?
« on: March 25, 2012, 06:48:19 pm »

If so, do you sell them matted and framed but without glass or acrylic? If so do you coat the prints with anything?

Thanks
Pierre
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dgberg

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2012, 07:05:18 pm »

No mats or glass.

Canvas gallery wrap
Canvas or paper print on Dibond
Canvas on gatorboard with metal or wood frame
Canvas wrap in float frame.metal or wood
Canvas or paper print on multiply

All canvas sprayed with Glamor II or Timeless.
Photo and fine art prints sprayed with Clearstar FA 2000 solvent.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2012, 12:37:57 am by Dan Berg »
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langier

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2012, 10:13:24 pm »

Canvas with Clearstar liquid laminate always. Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper always with Desert Varnish or similar. Loose prints on Luster or Matt uncoated. Matted get framed and glass or acrylic.
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Ken

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2012, 10:21:13 pm »

Coated with one of the protective sprays, matted and framed. Non-reflective acrylic or glass by request.
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cottagehunter

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2012, 08:57:37 pm »

Thanks a lot guys.

New question what sizes  are the most popular sellers?
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bill t.

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2012, 11:02:56 pm »

Looking over my spreadsheets for 2011, my average frame height and width were 28.189 and 61.313.  Biggest piece by surface area, 50.75 x 103.5.  Inches.  That's sofa-sized, which offers an excellent return on time and resources invested that is IMHO much better than that from the prissy little froo-froo sizes most photographs mistakenly think they need.

Sofa-sized sells, amen.  Build your reputation around it, it will help set you apart from the throngs of photographers clutching miserably framed 13 x 19's  who line up at gallery doors every morning.  No mattes, no glass, no plex, no fooling around with trapped dust motes.  All you want is well mounted canvas and a sturdy frame like in the good old days when men were pure and fair maidens swooned easily.  It's a beautiful thing.  Don't forget the 44" printer.
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Light Seeker

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2012, 03:54:15 pm »

Sofa-sized sells, amen.  Build your reputation around it, it will help set you apart from the throngs of photographers clutching miserably framed 13 x 19's  who line up at gallery doors every morning.  No mattes, no glass, no plex, no fooling around with trapped dust motes.  All you want is well mounted canvas and a sturdy frame like in the good old days when men were pure and fair maidens swooned easily.  It's a beautiful thing.  Don't forget the 44" printer.

Bill, you crack me up!   :D

I'm curious. What part of the country do you sell prints in? What type of venue(s) do you typically sell through?

Terry.
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framah

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2012, 04:47:45 pm »

You can remember when you made a fair maiden swoon??? :o

I'm impressed!! ;D
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mstevensphoto

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2012, 07:06:11 pm »

New question what sizes  are the most popular sellers?


yes I sell my prints by order of popularity,
behind 6 or 8ply mat, framed with glass. I use lots of mat and museum white is the only option
canvas no frame
cold laminated rc paper with no glass no mat (have this outsourced so no idea what they use)
canvas on gator framed

behind glass no spray, canvas gets Timeless varnish.

I was told a while back that you can count on selling 2 sizes below what you show. Man it's 100% true. I switched my showcase piece in my viewing area from a 24x24 to a 36x36 and everyone points to it and says "I want that" before they were buying 20x20. Sofa size is an absolute for sure. I just sold a 7' print and I'm selling more and more at 40" and up, all because I show big. I bring people in and show a 60" image and say "now I know this feels big, but I've got a lot of customers in lofts with 25' ceilings and you'd be amazed how many tell me they wish they had gone bigger. for a 'normal' house how bout we look at this 'regular' big 40" print" and they all say "oh yea, that's way better." or sometimes they say "boy, I don't know, what's smaller?" to which I say "well, here's a 16x20, it's the smallest I consider 'wall size'" they immediately say, wow, too small, what's bigger than that?

my sweet spot is 24x36 or 30x30.
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Johnny_Boy

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2012, 12:01:20 pm »


I was told a while back that you can count on selling 2 sizes below what you show. Man it's 100% true. I switched my showcase piece in my viewing area from a 24x24 to a 36x36 and everyone points to it and says "I want that" before they were buying 20x20.

my sweet spot is 24x36 or 30x30.

msteven, can you elaborate a bit for me? You mean people tend to buy two sizes smaller than the largest you show? So, if I show 24x24, 36x36 and 48x48, I will sell the most at 24x24 size? How is the sale at 36x36 and 48x48 then? Do you also sell the largest, or it that there to showcase and to drive the sales of sizes that are 2 steps smaller?

Definitively didn't hear about this. Thanks for sharing the tip! I might have to make a ginormous print at my next show, so I can sell a lot more sofa size prints :)
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Michael H. Cothran

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2012, 12:11:02 pm »

I sell at juried arts & crafts shows in the Southeast mostly. Best selling ready-to-hang are flush prints mounted to 3/16" warp-free Gatorfoam from Coda, Inc. The prints are laminated with a matte finish laminate, and a 3/4" spacer is placed behind the board for hanging and floating off the wall. 24x24" for square images, and 24x36" for rectangles. I also sell loose prints for those who want to do their own framing. I offer loose prints in a variety of sizes from 12x12/12x16/12x18 up to 24x36. I print on Epson's Hot Press Natural paper with a 7600 printer.
Note - if you look close at my avatar, you can see some of the gatorfoam images hanging on black Pro Panel walls at a show.
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mstevensphoto

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #11 on: March 28, 2012, 01:15:40 pm »

here's one thing that may be different, I only sell custom pieces, not at shows. When you enter my space to see your proofs I project them over a couch on a 90" wide screen. hanging on the wall immediately to the left is my one single 36x36" framed showpiece. We project at full screen size using ProSelect and then adjust to actual size. Even though I tell people that they're looking at actual size they can't visualize it off the screen so they always look left and say "what size is that?" to which I reply, "the print is 36x36 with about 4" of mat and another 3 of frame on each side."...60% of the people will then say "that's just a little big, what's below that?" so I show them a 30x30 and they feel like it's just right. some head down to 24" and feel that's just right....30% of people say "I want that" and point to the one on the wall...20% want something "better" than the average people so they ask me to show them something bigger.
When I first switched into doing fine art sales everything was tight so I printed smaller samples that I could afford and the results were the same. 60% went smaller, 30ish bought that size and a small handful went bigger.  done over I'd print bigger samples immediately.

I've always been told that your prices/offerings should be such that your low offering steers people up because no one wants to be at the bottom of the barrel (you'll still sell a couple, but that's not the point). Your sweet spot sits above that and you have a higher offering for those who need to feel premium and that they're getting something that fewer people get, then you have an offering that's the "impossible top" and it's goal is to make the next package down look good. you may never sell the impossible top, BUT there are the people who feel that they simply must have the most expensive of everything, so when they buy one you do a happy dance. If you sell your impossible top with any regularity move it up, it's supposed to be the elite of the elite.

one thing that I believe helps me make sales is that we never focus on getting something better or wouldn't it look good bigger. I'm on their side and I tell people point blank that I want their work to be appropriately sized for the space they put it in. That means different things for a hallway vs a 2 story entry way. I will occasionally talk people down in size because I don't want them to come back and say it doesn't fit or be mad that it doesn't fit and never come back. If someone wants a 30x40 for a single story standard hall I tell them that I believe it's too big BUT then I immediately say "now think about this, for close to the same money we could do 3 16x20's in a row - it fills the hall better and you can get more photos and you have the option of moving them later..." I don't believe that being on their side and not trying to push them up has worked more in my favor than against.
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bill t.

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2012, 03:11:25 pm »

A little pressed for time, but a few thoughts...

1. Requiring people to make choices just confuses them and often sets up contests between him and her which end in stand-offs.  Never show different sizes of the same piece at the same time.  Show them something great with the range of possible choices reduced to YES or NO.  I think most of my buyers appreciate such reductions to simplicity.  Keep it simple, keep it focused on the image rather than the choices.  If you do have a different size of a piece keep it out of sight unless the customer starts hemming and hawing, but try not to get them started on the long and perilous path of choices.   BTW I'm an artist, not a short-order chef.  Here's my art, here's what I charge.

2. At art fairs your competition will be loaded to the gills with smallish pieces.  Make your stuff big and impressive and price competitive and you will be the untouchable king of the hill for that weekend and every other photographer at the show will hate you.  Sell "statement pieces" that boldly go where no other piece has gone before, which is to say on the big bare clerestory wall, or above the sofa, or on the reception room wall, or some other featured location just begging for an amazingly impressive slab of art.  The client perceives they will be getting a really significant amount of prestige mojo for the price, which justifies the purchase in practical terms as well as aesthetic ones.  Nothing appeals to clients like a lot of prestige per $ spent, and that especially applies to business clients who have more bare walls to fill and more $ in their pockets than any body else.

3. And this doesn't mean you have to be a greedy jerk.  When I sense a customer is really having a hard time with a decision, I usually let them off the hook with something like "well, you can order one later."  I'll never see them again, but I don't have to feel I made somebody spend their last dime or buy something that wasn't truly moving them.  And I *almost* always tell clients they can exchange their pieces within a reasonable amount of time, or trade in for full value against something larger, and about 2 or 3 a year take me up on that.

4. And as a general observation, people are almost universally surprised to see that the piece looks smaller all alone on their bare walls than it did at the gallery or art fair surrounded by other pieces.

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Kevin Gallagher

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2012, 04:24:19 pm »

You can remember when you made a fair maiden swoon??? :o

I'm impressed!! ;D

+1   ;)
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Kevin In CT
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mstevensphoto

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2012, 05:45:39 pm »

   BTW I'm an artist, not a short-order chef.  Here's my art, here's what I charge.


4. And as a general observation, people are almost universally surprised to see that the piece looks smaller all alone on their bare walls than it did at the gallery or art fair surrounded by other pieces.



amen to both of those.
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JohnBrew

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #15 on: March 28, 2012, 05:52:02 pm »

I sell in galleries. Matted and framed behind glass, no coatings.

cottagehunter

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #16 on: March 28, 2012, 10:19:41 pm »

Wow guys lots of info here. I was lookin for popular sizes to sell at an art festival and you have given me many suggestions for now the largest I can go is 24 x ?? as I am trying to keep my costs down so will do my own printing. It appears that most if not all of you are several steps above me but I am striving. I now must research pricing of different sizes at an art fair as opposed to selling in a gallery.

Again I must thank all of you for your contributions.

Pierre
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mstevensphoto

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #17 on: March 29, 2012, 08:08:11 pm »

Pierre,
   one lesson I've learned and have seen others learn. don't start cheap with the intent of inching your way up. Your work is worth whatever you can convince people to pay for it. Start right off asking what you want you may be surprised that you get it. Sometimes it takes a little finding the right audience, but your business will be so much more healthy if you price based on what you want/need to earn and not what other people are charging. don't forget to calculate your cost of doing business and all of the back end stuff that has nothing to do with what other people charge. My photo life has been sooooooooo much happier since I took the stance mentioned above - this is my art, this is what I charge. I'm not ashamed of it, I can give you 15 reasons why I'm worth it (all without being a jerk). sometimes it really sucks to see someone walk from a sale, but often it's worth it for the ones who don't.
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Michael H. Cothran

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #18 on: March 29, 2012, 10:08:08 pm »

Didn't realize you were after art shows. Here's a link to the finest site online for art show photographers -
http://artshowforums.com/forum/
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Justan

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Re: Do you sell your prints?
« Reply #19 on: March 30, 2012, 10:45:27 am »

^Cool site^ Thanks for the link.
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