A question for those of you who sell prints

[Sarahleigh]

As you know, I tend to do portraits more than anything else. But I noticed at the weekend that a local garden centre sells paintings/photo's in their cafe. I wondered if it was worth seeing if they would be interested in selling some of my garden related photo's (there's nothing similar there at the moment - just some dog pics).

Do you think this sort of photograph is good enough to sell as prints?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2574/3983767766_a846f30121.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2670/3983026463_7647ac8ff1.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2584/3983033623_023b6c9499_m.jpg

If so, how much do you think I could charge? I was thinking of aiming for £12 for a 10x8 print mounted to 14x11???

Also, is it OK to print them as photographs at a pro lab then mount them? I don't think I'll ever sell loads, so I thought it would be easier to get them printed as & when rather than print a larger stock.

Obviously, I'm never going to be going out to a wider market/craft fairs etc with these so I hope you don't mind me asking for advice.

Sarahleigh

[PrincessPrudence]

Hi Sarahleigh,

My husband is a professional photographer selling prints, and I hope you don't mind me saying, but £12 seems rather low for a 10x8 mounted print. Will you be making enough profit from that to make it worthwhile? I think it is a wonderful idea to approach the garden centre if you have some garden related prints, what I would suggest though is that if there is space ask if you can display some of your business cards near the pictures since if people can't find what they are looking for, they may want to look at your website for more.

I hope this helps.

[Sarahleigh]

Thanks for the quick feedback. The thing is, I take childrens portraits as a rule so don't know this market at all & don't really want to over price the prints if they're not really 'good enough'. I have a real confidence 'issue' and don't want to end up looking like a plank - lol.

The pics up there already are a bit of a mixture & no creative photographs as such (a few dog snapshots & some paintings).

That would cover my costs ok, especially if they can be printed as photographs (rather than having to do a larger print run). As for profit - well, I'm not really great about making much of a profit yet as anything I make is used to feed my photography 'habit' & buy more lenses etc.

S

[Seahorse]

I think its a fab idea but dont undersell yourself and your skill.
I see fantastic nature pictures in shops and they seem very popular.There is a close up of a rose picture that I think most people have a picture of it.My friend has a big picture of 3 stones on his living room wall so never underestimate the power of bits of rock!!
I dont think you can go wrong with nature.
Your butterfly pictures would be a great seller, you could try the slugs, they seem quite quirky, may look good in a conservatory.
Even your pictures of the Peacocks and the jellyfish(did you do jellyfish or am I making that up?)would be a good subject too.Id love a big dramatic picture of a peacock in a living room!!
Go for it!!

[onlyme]

I personally think your photographs/prints are beautiful, and I love the lone tree!

[indri]

Your photos are stunning. I can certainly see those selling. You should give yourself more confidence in your photos. You could do shots of lush grass, flowers.... almost anything will probably sell. Go to the garden centre and see what they say. I have no idea what would be a fair price. How much are the other pictures instore?

[tipsylipsy]

Sarah they are lovely, perhaps you might get a better response with something the mass market would like. The pictures you have of the butterflies and the tree inparticular are really good, I love the snails too but tbh can't imagine putting one on my wall but thats just me.

As a 'customer' of yours I can vouch for the quality of your work and professionalism I say go for it what have you got to lose but I would definately up the price a little.

[Carl Martin]

I think those pictures are truly stunning. But I have to agree £12.00 seems very modest.

[Sarahleigh]

I love the snails too but tbh can't imagine putting one on my wall but thats just me..

LOL - yes I know. I can't imagine having them on my wall, but thought they might be a nice quirky thing to put in the garden centre. But then again, gardeners hate snails, don't they!

I have loads of flowers I can work into prints so I'll have a go at a couple of those too.

OK, and I'll up the price a bit :D

Thanks everyone.

S

[lightphase]

Your way off you mark with yout pricing, if you put stuff for sale in a garden centre they are not going to do it for free so your £12 would be come about £6 after there comission etc. Remember if they sell it and charge vat etc then they will pay it on your sales.

I would print at say 8 x 12 mounted to 14 x 11 for around £20 or maybe just a bit more, depends how much comission you agree with them. some places at the mo want around 40 % miniumum

[Sarahleigh]

Thanks Lightphase & everyone else.

Plenty to think about. I definitely think it'll be worth taking some prints in & seeing what they say then. If they take them then I may even try some other places. I'll let you know what they say.

:)

Scatterbrain

[Daesul]

The pics are stunning. If you had more like that there's no reason you can't sell them at craft fairs. I go to a regular Sunday one and our photographer stallholder sells local shots and some nature ones like yours. He does unframed prints for £10, card framed ones for £20 and properly wooden framed ones for £30. He does a roaring trade every week and sometimes takes as much as £300 in a day.

Oh, and some gardeners do like snails! My sister is a head gardener, trained at Kew, (has letters after her name etc) and loves them! She wrote her final paper on snails, uses only snail-friendly ways of keeping them off her plants, and is part of the Conchological Society. She keeps pet Giant African Land Snails and appeared with one of them on 'Pets Win Prizes' with Danny Baker!

Anyway, good luck. I'm sure you'll have no problem selling thos lovely pics.

[dolts007]

Hi Sarah

Just got around to reading this post and love the imagery. (Have sent you a message via clikpic btw)

Regarding the sale of mounted prints etc, Michelle and I sell all the images that on our website (mainly nature, landscapes) etc and its a fine line as to what to charge.

You dont want to under value yourself but at the same time you are wanting to make sales.

From what other people have said on the previous posts, it seems we may be also under valuing ourselves as we sell 8 x 10 mounted prints for £10 and A3 mounted prints £25.

Yes, they do sell as do the framed prints but when we started off we priced the very same photos at £18 and £30 and didn't sell any.

So a hard one to call but having seen your work, I am confident you'll do well.

Rob

[Vintage Chic]

I think your photos are gorgeous, and could definately see them selling at a garden centre! I have taken a lot of nature photography myself, as well as landmarks and thought about selling them, but I only looked at selling them on DeviantArt. Have you tried selling them on there? I dunno how good they are, but they mount them and send them off for you, though of course they take some percentage of the sale price.

Just an idea. But yeah, you should definately think of selling them!

[HappySheep]

I agree with the previous posts about putting the price higher - I once read that if you sell your work cheaply it makes it harder for others to get a good price. Google a few photographers websites and see how much they are asksing for prints - that should give you a good idea of what to charge. Remember, people only value what they pay for!

Best of luck!
Judith

[Frasier000]

not bad!(welcome)

[Sarahleigh]

Thanks for your advice everyone. Well I went into the garden centre at the weekend & 5 of my prints are up on the wall :). It'll be interesting to see if any of them sell. If they do I may well try sending some to other cafe's/garden centres etc.

I gave them 25% commission & they set the price at £12.50 to test the water.

S

[bblb]

Your images are great . . . so why limit yourself to the garden centre? Why not broaden your appeal by selling on line via the numerous stock photography photo libraries out there. One option is via Flickr and Getty Images. Putting these two terms into a browser should tell you all you need to know. Yes there is more creativity in printing up your images but it sounds very time consuming when you could focus on your photography and let others focus on the sales! And trust me your images are certainly good enough :-)