Do posters really sell for £225.00...?

happy snappa

happy snappa

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Well there was i walking around a local market this weekend when i came across a shop i hadnt really paid much attention to in the past. In the shop being sold were what looked to me like canvas printed digi photography of things like Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge London buildings and general London life i guess you would say. Anyway these were poster size prints apprx 40x30 inch. Now i have to say apart from some framing work this guy apparently it seemed was relying on the sale of these prints to keep his shop running... ok he could well have owned the building in its entirity and just had to pay business rates as overheads etc but i was gobsmacked to say the least given that we ae talking prime selling space in the East end of London not far from Hoxton Market (Very popular for hob nobs galleries etc) featured on the apprentice! I found the guy has a webiste for his shop but am not if it would be appropriate to paste here? advice please

now my questions ...... 1. do people really pay up to £225.00 for these size prints of not really great quality?

2. Would it be viable to start up a business selling such items? (some of my photography is stunning in comparison)

3.Has anybody any experience in this ball park as i would love to do something like that just never had the balls to do it?

so i would appreciate any feedback in relation to my Q,s

Thanks in advance
 
i think you should go for it.

find out how much it would cost to to produce a canvas print and go from there.

ask this bloke if he would consider trying to sell one for a comision.

go on i dare you go for it

if you think your photos are good chances are someone else will too:clap:
 
Well thats what i figured Photomad however it just amazes me that folk are prepared to actually pay it if they do at all?

I have had a flick around on the net and have seen that i can get 40x30 prints done on 100% cotton canvas delivered for around £60.00 ish (less if i multiple order prints) thats a massive mark up if i were to charge £200 upwrds for such prints! Personally speaking i think its a rip off given the amount of work involved. I asked the missus for her opinion and she said "well why would i wanna pay 200 quid for a print when i have a husband who can do it for naff all" :LOL: constructive help eh :LOL: love her really :bonk:

Anyway i own a D50 what reasonable size could i blow that up to anyway poster size maybe without losing quality? am clueless

Thanks :D
 
:D :D :D :D im the same with weddings and portraits that i do.

i mean a 10 x 8 cost 1.50 to print on the high street and i charge 20..00 for a sitting and 10..00 for the photo

and i agree its hard to stop thinking that your ripping people off


but they are paying for your skill and time

you are not forcing them to pay 200 pound for it they will only buy it if they want it

gone on do it. double dare you
 
a 40"x30" would probably cost you about £130 to get printed, pre-stretched on batons and not framed. You could easily add another £50 onto that for framing costs, so the mark-up doesn't seem that good.

I'm sure you could get prices cheaper than that if you looked around though (those are from photobox)

People will pay good money for photography if it's a good shot and they like it enough to hang on their wall. I think my biggest sale was £600 for 5 framed a3ish sized prints, framed simply, with low reflective glass. Twas about £400 profit I believe.

If I could sell that everyweek I'd be a very happy man (and so would my picture framing mate!)
 
I'm sure that the more expensive things are, suckers will be more inclined to buy... all in the name of art, of course ;)

There is a stall in a shopping centre fairly local to me, offering canvas prints of family photos etc which start at about £60 for a small (maybe 12" x 12") print. I think you take a photo in and they will do it for you, or they can take your photo and canvas it up.

I'd research your potential market first, and if there is a need for what you are offering, then go for it.
 
ok cool thanks to you all for the advice has certainly opened my eyes anyway and think i need to do some serious research first on my market place etc so dont double dare me just yet Photomad! :LOL:


Terry :D
 
You all need to break that mental link between what something costs to produce and what it's worth.

People will pay good money for good art, not all the time and very very few people earn a living from art photography.... but it can be done.

You are not selling the sum of the parts, you're selling YOUR creation and it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay. How much does a bit of canvas and a smattering of oil paint cost? No-one ever seems to have a problem with paintings or sculptures being sold for hundreds, thousands or in some cases millions of ££'s.

These are your creations we are talking about here, they are unique, they are valid and deserve to be in the light just as much as anything else that might sell in a gallery. (y)
 
I do this for a living already. Prints on to Canvas / Gloss & Matte. Also doing mugs, t-shirts, caps, mousemats etc.

What you have to make sure is the canvas is of the highest quality, some of the places online only use 260gsm canvas which is quite light. I use 414gsm which is museum grade canvas and very heavy.

All my prints come stretched over the frame and ready to hang.

There are also a number of different thickness frames you can get, my particular framers uses 3/4inch (Standard) and approx 1.25inch (slightly more expensive), which my customers prefer as they don't stick right out of the wall.
 
dazzajl said:
You all need to break that mental link between what something costs to produce and what it's (perceived)worth.
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Just watched the end credits to The Tower, some rich bint advising her (boy)friend to buy an ex council flat when Berkleys put it back on the market.
Lewisham council paid the last occupant/owner about 200k but only offered 97k to buy back. No doubt these will be selling for £1mil plus.
 
This has always been a dream of mine, not necesarily to sell... but something to keep for myself and frame etc.

I would love to produce art that I can hang on my wall etc.


However, from a business point of view... If you already have a full-time job and just want some extra money coming into the bank etc.

Get a few photos together and sell them on eBay... even create an ebay store.

Say it costs you £40 to get something on a medium size canvass. As long as you set your reserve to £40 - you'll be guarenteed to sell.

Either that, or find a local market that you can sell 2 or 3 of the same print too whatever they sell them for you can make a profit.

I'm only 19 which is why I'm not doing it right now.

But by this time next year, I hope to get a few of my photos (as canvas) onto ebay... even if I only break even - my work will be in peoples homes.

You can imagine it:

Viewer "Where did you get that from?"
Owner "Some guy from ebay?"
Viewer "Oh right, are there many?... who makes them?"
Owner "Uhm... there's something on the back of the canvas... ooh, www.get-your-print-here.com... it's by 'Dan Taylor'"

Wouldn't it be great :)
 
Thanks to you all for your replies and help

N01.. Amnesia at such a young age i am sure you will go far with a mentaility like that well done! aspirational to say the least

N02... Mark do you sell your products through a shop that you own? online?market? just curious
 
I have a website which has prices on and shows the canvas print.

I currently sell word of mouth really, the website is constantly being updated and will have a gallery attached shortly, then eventually a shop.
 
happy snappa said:
N01.. Amnesia at such a young age i am sure you will go far with a mentaility like that well done! aspirational to say the least
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Haha, thanks! :)
 
I think it is rather simplistic to think in the sense of if I sold it for £225.00 and take away the actual material cost, how much profit am I making. Some people are actually trying to make a living from this stuff, and you should think about it from that point of view.

Think about the cost of making the print, and the costs of making the photograph. Remember you have to buy or rent the camera, buy or rent the computer, not to mention travel costs to the place you take the photo, and any food or accomidation while on location. Also think about how many sales of a particular photo you need to make before you phase out that particular photo. Once you take all these things into account I think you will find that £225.00 for something this size is just barely breake even.

This is leaving out of the equation the possibility that you might have to support a family from the profits of sales. If you have another job to support your photography you might not think too much about these things.
 
Of course, the other thing to consider is that if you put your work into a gallery (for example, offering it to the shop mentioned in the first post) they are going to want in the region of 50%...hence the £200 asking price gets you £100...less the cost of the printing, and any carriage...and the time you spend organising the printing...and the time you spent taking the picture...and the money you spent on all your equipment....

I've never known a rich landscape photographer.....


Si
 
I don't think it's all about money anyway.
I don't think I would get into photography as a full-time professional anyway.

I wouldn't wake up one day and think "Today, I'm flying off to Country x. To take photos of this and that".

I think, it's an achievement in itself if you can get a photo, that you think is marketable. Create say 5 prints of it. Put them on ebay, or to a local shop or something... Of course you won't make great money, but you'll make some... and someone too can enjoy what you are talented in doing.
 
Amnesia180 said:
I'm only 19 which is why I'm not doing it right now.
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Don't take this the wrong way but what has age got to do with it? If you think your work's good enough just do it. The purchaser doesn't care if you're 16 or 60, it's just the output they're interested in and hopefully the value they place on your work will match what you think it's worth.
 
Hmm... I guess you do have a point.

I've just always grown up being told "You're not old enough for that" or "You're too young to try this" etc.

Personally, I don't believe my work is good enough to sell. I've posted a couple of photos around these forums, but they were more "experimenting" work.

At the moment, I still don't appreciate my own work quite enough to think others will.

Once I get some more experience in the bag, and have more of a portfolio, I'll go about getting some prints made and see how it goes.

On a side note to anyone looking to make some money or sell their work - What do you have to lose? If you have an image, you think looks nice. Why not spend the £60 getting it on a canvas? Or having a medium sized print done and framed?

Afterall, if no-one buys it from ebay, or a local market etc... you can keep it :)
 
Amnesia180 said:
I wouldn't wake up one day and think "Today, I'm flying off to Country x. To take photos of this and that".
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That would be so cool, I would love to be able to do that. But you have to be really good as very few people make enough money to be able to work like that, and I totally suck.

dod said:
like dazz says, it's all about perceived value, have a look at this and the selling prices, I'm making no comment

http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pid=11
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Hmm. I still suck but at least I have heard of ND grads.

Michael.
 
If we as photographers struggle so much with whether we think out work is worth the money, how are we ever going to convince others that they should pay for it?

I used to work for Venture, and whether I agree with their way of getting in customers and the whole 'mass market' feel of it or not, they have done fantastic things for peoples perception of how much photography is worth. The average order in some Venture studios is about £5k! And part of that is that they are thoroughly convinced that the portraits are worth that money. (its just sometimes a shame that the customers they get have no idea how much things are until after their session!!)

Becoming a great photographer requires either a lot of hard work and training, or if you're really lucky a lot of talent, and a lot of work behind the scenes if you're to make your business a sucess. On top of this equipment is expensive and constantly updating, then there's the cost of travel to all the locations etc etc. I think all this should add up to prices that reflect this work/costs. The raw materials are almost inconsequential (after all whats the point in the materials to a non-photographer if they don't have something to put on them) - the images you sell should reflect the photographers skill. It's up to us to convince the public that this is true.

So I think you should take up all the dares and show off your skills! Good luck!
 
dod said:
like dazz says, it's all about perceived value, have a look at this and the selling prices, I'm making no comment

http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pid=11
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The Photographer's Gallery is just around the corner from my office. The prints are excellent and have a real impact at 30" plus. But there must be market. For example, I like Martin Parr's work but sometimes I think he's having a huge laugh: http://www.beyondwords.co.uk/Book.aspx?id=5539
Have faith and believe in yourself!
 
Amnesia180 said:
On a side note to anyone looking to make some money or sell their work - What do you have to lose? If you have an image, you think looks nice. Why not spend the £60 getting it on a canvas? Or having a medium sized print done and framed?

Afterall, if no-one buys it from ebay, or a local market etc... you can keep it :)
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Why print it before getting a sale?

Print it after and all you loose is the couple of pounds advertising it on the bay. Wait until someone buys the print then send it off (or if you are lucky take it to a nearby store). Photobox only takes a day or 2 max so the person buying the print will only have to wait about 4 days maximum to get their photo.

You win and they win, but if you loose you only waste a couple of pounds.:)
 
dod said:
like dazz says, it's all about perceived value, have a look at this and the selling prices, I'm making no comment

http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?pid=11
Click to expand...

Oh my lord, I've deleted better looking photographs then those and charging £450 for a A4 pic of those is simply outrageous. :cautious:

(starts to rummage through his recycle bin to make himself a millionire)
 
I dropped by the Photographer's Gallery today to see these landscapes printed up at to quote "70 x 80" signed c-type print, from an edition of 3, £4000 excl. VAT & framing". It's a big print and obviously there's more detail in the larger print but I can only assume that beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
 
Those pictures do absolutely nothing for me. But I paid £25 a piece for two large poster print shots of European mountains and then another £40 getting them framed. They now hang in my bedroom and make a real feature / talking point. Something is worth what you're prepared to pay, and £70 + travel time was worth it for two pictures that I've never seen anywhere else and that fit in to my room style nicely.
 
im an economics student and we are always taught as the price rises for a good, the demand falls, simple? but in the case of artwork and or photography which are seen as high status "luxery" goods, as price increases, the prestige of the pruduct increases, and so people are willing to pay that high price.

It's and odd, and complex acception and hard to exsplain.. but in short, if you put a price saying £5000 on your work, people with that money to spend are likely to pay it. However, with a small price tag, say £60 people are less likely to buy it as it is perseaved to be "worse" and therefore the oportunity costs are more faverouble.

Hope that makes sense, if not ask?

also would love to see what would happen if that work had no price tag, and people had to put in a price they would pay.. because i imagion for alot of "high price tag" work, people would only enter 3 figure numbers.

Sorry for my poor spelling.
 
dod said:
Don't take this the wrong way but what has age got to do with it? If you think your work's good enough just do it. The purchaser doesn't care if you're 16 or 60, it's just the output they're interested in and hopefully the value they place on your work will match what you think it's worth.
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Got to agree there...actually photography is one of the few professions where age really doesn't matter. I'm 23 and this year I'll be going to the Rugby World Cup, I already went to the UEFA U21 European Championships in Holland in June, and 2 of the Cricket Test Matches.

I know guys who are 21 and 20 who've been doing this since 17-18 professionally. It's not an "old man's" game you know. In fact, when I was in New York last week the papers were going crazy over some 14yr old kid who was working as a paparazzi in LA. Get out there and do it. Screw the age issue. If you can get the shot, then don't let anything else hold you back.

James.
 
Happy Snappa - If your really are thinking of going for it check around see how long this site / place you mention has been going and maybe others as you don't run a business on fresh air for long. You might want to consider as an alternative to using some of the photos on this (permission and payment pending of course) in a portfolio, those that came free give a percentage to the forum.
 
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