How To Price Fine Art Photography Prints (The Beginner’s Guide)

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Welcome to my guide on fine art photography prints!

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Look:

Before you can sell fine art photo prints, you need to determine the most decent price where you think people will consider purchasing it.

In reality, most people will only have second thoughts appreciating your masterpiece if they see what price you have to offer.

The challenge is…

You must be able to come up with a reasonable price that is a win-win situation for you and your buyer.

Good news:

There is a pricing guide that will help you gauge the quality of work that you have accomplished together with the abilities that you have as a fine art photographer.

So, how to price fine art photography prints? Let’s get started!

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What Influences Fine Art Photography Prices?

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• Career accomplishments

If you have been in the business for quite some time now, it is certain that you have already built your profile. The more experiences you have in this field, the more you should be able to judge your work subjectively.

==> Relevant article: How to Create a Photography Portfolio

• Cost of materials

The cost of photography materials is no joke! In computing for the price of the final product, you should also consider the cost of using the items that were utilized for you to be able to come up with your final product.

• The law of supply and demand

Just like other commodities, the prices of arts depend on availability. If you can see similar photo prints somewhere, the competition will just be based on the price. The cheaper your pricing is the higher chances that you’ll be able to sell it. However, if your art is a limited edition, you can price it higher for uniqueness.

• Size Matters

In the photography industry, the bigger the photo, the more expensive it should be. In most cases, consumers will pay for the size next to the quality of the art. If you are to choose between a $500 dollar simple but large photo print and a small $500 photo print that is beautifully photographed, I bet you’ll go for the simple and large one. But again, that depends on preferences.

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Factors That Affect Fine Art Pricing

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Now…

Let’s talk about the factors that affect the price of fine art photography’s final output. 

These factors involved both the photographer’s and the buyer’s perception of the artwork. 

Quality

The quality of the final product is the common basis for knowing the acceptable range of amount that you can price your work.  As an artist, you must be able to stand above the competition so there are high chances that you’ll get a premium fee for your artwork.

Perceived Value

Consumers have their own preferences. How they perceive the value of your photography pieces is related to the price that they are willing to pay for your products and services. 

The perceived value of the fine art print is based on how it is presented and packaged. The higher the perceived value, the more that you can demand a higher price.

Confidence

Confidence in pricing the photography art for beginners is quite a challenge especially for those who are still starting out to build their profile.

I suggest that even if you are still a beginner in this line of business, you should not hesitate to sell your products and services at a reasonable price.

Your time and effort in accomplishing the final product are priceless.

Competition

Competition is another factor that affects photography charges. If you have a competitor in your area, it is not necessary that you would copy their photography print pricing list.

Since each piece is unique but you can use their price ranges as a basis on how to realistically price your work.

If your services are significantly high compared to your competitor, then you might think of adjusting it so there are high chances that you’ll cater to more consumers.

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Where To Sell Fine Art Photography Prints?

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So…

Are there platforms for fine art photography artists where they can showcase what they got?

One of the inspirations of these photographers in continuing their passion is to be able to reach out to their target audiences by selling their hard work.

Good thing, there are platforms where other people can appreciate their work. 

• Art fairs

This is one of the common ways on how you can display your photo prints for sale. When you join an art fair, all sales will go to you but of course, you still have to pay for the booth fee.

It is through this platform where most artists are first recognized.

• Commercial fine art galleries

Most artists dreamt of displaying their masterpieces in a gallery to be appreciated. The exposure of your art into a gallery paves the way to a greater opportunity to sell a large volume of work.

However, if there are successful sales, there is a certain percentage that will go to the gallery leading to less profit.

• Individual art dealers

It is where another individual will help you display your work where their clients or network would be able to appreciate it. When it sells, they will usually get a small percentage.

• Auction

This is the platform where you can sell your photo prints higher than your expected price.

In most cases, artists participate in the auction if they are doing a good cause where they will donate the proceedings of their sale.

• Personal Website or page

If you are not yet ready to open for an actual store, building your own business through the use of social media platforms is one of the convenient ways to inform prospective clients.

You can build a website where you can display all your artworks for sale. You may need to have marketing strategies so as to attract buyers.  

Now…

Are you satisfied with the list where you can sell your artwork?

There are more options out there!

Think outside the box, if your genre is all about nature, maybe you can sell your pieces in a nature-themed restaurant!

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Effective Ways of Selling Photography Prints

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1. Know your client

There are high chances that your work will sell if you are at the right bucket of clients. For you to be able to know your target market, identify your genre so its easier to classify those people who can benefit from your product. 

Identifying the prices for your artwork is easier if you know the target market that you will be catering to.

If your genre suits students, you need to ensure that your pricing should just be within their affordable range.

2. Consider whats the trend

As a fine art photographer, you should be open and flexible in trying to do other genres that you know are relevant at a certain period of time to assure that it will sell.

Consumers are usually hooked on what is in trend. This is applicable if fine art photography is your bread and butter. 

3. Research your local market

Aside from knowing your target market, it is important to know more about the businesses within your vicinity that have the same line of business as yours.

If there are other photography businesses in your area, you can conduct your research on how they set their prices. Now,  it’s up to you if you are going to go beyond or go below their pricing. 

If you have a unique business within your vicinity, it will be a good opportunity to grow.

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Fine Art Photography Pricing Guide

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There are different art pricing guide that aims to help photographers make a profit from their hard work. 

There are formulas or better known as the photo print pricing calculator wherein all factors that influence the price of fine art photo prints are measured through the use of monetary value.

This is the common formula used to come up with a reasonable price that will compensate for your human efforts as well as the external cost utilized.

Cost of Physical Product + Cost for your Time = Base Price;
Base Price x Cost of Goods Sold Multiplier = Retail Price

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Do’s and Don’ts in Charging Fine Art Photo Prints

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Do: Conduct your research about how other artists monetarily judge their work

You can ask best practices from your colleagues about how they come up with their pricing.

Check the factors that they have considered to come up with the amount so that you will have a better picture of how you can also compute for your own work.

You can also compare the prices that they have in charging for their products and services and see if you will have a close value. 

Do: Be confident in standing by your price

If someone will question you about the price of a particular photo print because its expensive, don’t be intimidated in answering it.

You should be prepared in letting them check your profile so that they’ll have an idea that you are experienced in your field.

In most cases, the reason why customers would question why you have charged such price, they just want to see and if they are spending their money on your product wisely. 

Do: Be transparent with your prices

There are fine art photographers who are not willing to publish the prices of the artworks publicly because there is a misconception that there is a possibility that their prospective client may judge the way how they price immediately.

From the consumer’s point-of-view, it is more convenient for them to see the price of the suitable fine art photo for them to have a hint about how much it will cost them to own it. 

Some consumers are uncomfortable asking how a particular piece would cost because they don’t want the artist to have false hopes that they will get it.

Don’t: Undersell your masterpiece

It takes a lot of time, effort, and patience just to accomplish a start of the art photo print.

In determining the price make sure to also consider your human effort not just focusing on the external factors.

However…

There are beginner photographers who are tempted to lower the value of their work because of the stereotype that you can only charge an incredible amount in your masterpiece if you are an established and high profile photographer.

This is not always the case, if the work of a beginner artist is comparable to that of an experienced photographer then, by all means, the work can be priced based only on the quality of the final product.

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Pricing Fine Art Prints: Thoughts?

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To sum up:

Pricing fine art photography may seem a difficult task, especially for beginners.

Good thing, through art pricing guide, you are able to determine the correct way of judging your work based on different factors that you have to consider.

Now, I’d like to hear from YOU:

• • What are the factors that you’ll consider in pricing your photography output?
  • As a beginner, are you going to focus the pricing of your masterpiece more on its quality or on your efforts in accomplishing it?
  • On what platform are you going to use to sell your photo prints?

If you have any suggestions, questions, and/or concerns, let me know in the comments!

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