What's the largest print you'll mat and frame with glass.

[Kirk Gittings]

I sell my framed canvases at around 6x cost of production as calculated in a realistic, beady-eyed way that would make any bean-counter proud.  Gives me 5x profit on direct sales, or 2x profit from gallery sales, which is above average for most artists.

The market for large canvases includes the enormous demographic of people with large wall spaces to cover.  The nice thing about those folks is that they can rationalize the purchase of large art from a pragmatic, home-improvement or reception-room-statement point of view.  That market is many, many times larger than the market of people such as collectors and aficiandos who buy art for its own sake.  I have no qualms about that at all.  My clients are thrilled to have the pieces, and I'm thrilled to have an art product that allows me to make a living from photography during recessionary times.

Does that include your time for making images? Just curious how far you drill down on this. I used to try and calculate that and as a commercial photographer too I know what my shooting time is worth. But I realize that on some images while I may make some sales  it may be years before I actually cover my shooting efforts. An example is Shiprock. I have made numerous trips there over many years and have yet to get my "definitive" image. When I do get it I should really calculate in all the costs of the failed attempts. I sell 8x10 inkjets for $400 matted and sales are brisk this year (2012 second best year I have ever had). But at that price (if and when) it would take some time to recover all my costs pursuing some difficult images.

[bill t.]

Part of my formula is that I only shoot images in the Albuquerque area, where I live.  As anybody who travels for photography can guess, that's a big money saver!  Although I have driven repeatedly to a single location in the afternoon every day for 2 or 3 weeks in a row sometimes.

I'm over 1000 pieces each on 3 of my best sellers now, so I don't begrudge the time spent getting the shot.   Have never stayed in a motel in my entire post-retirement photo epoch.  I pay myself $100 per hour for production time, which is factored into the cost of production.  Net profit is on top of that.  Also included in the soup is everything from mileage to and from shows and galleries, including the Egg McMuffin sandwich-only and cup o' Java purchased on the way, up through equipment amortization.  One thing is certain...my biggest investment right now in my old age is bodily wear and tear and I'm going to have to find another way of dealing with those oh-so-lucrative art fairs pretty soon.

Kirk, you're lucky to have good print market!  My mostly decor-oriented market responds best to large framed pieces, and sometimes it's a motivational PITA to make those things, even though I can knock 'em out pretty fast.

[elolaugesen]

Peter:  re.  the unframed paper images. How do you finish them off???   Special varnish or what product do you use for pigment inks??

[Graham Clark]

Is there a particular reason for frame/glass over frame/plexi at this size? If not, frame/plexi is good!

Museum quality plexi mounted onto acid-free Sintra board is another option for the 40x60 size range, which usually runs around $950 for the print and mounting.

Graham