Printing

Smithy · 2 Sep 2008 at 15:49

This one is mainly for the those that are in the photography industry.

I'm weighing up going self employed with photography. I'm working out what it's going to cost me to get started. Up to A4 I think I can do the printing myself with a decent quality printer, however I'm stuck with larger prints, and canvas printing.

How do you do it? Do you do it yourself? If so what equipment do you use?

If not then do you get a third party involved? How do you work out finances with that?

Any help appreciated.

V-Spec · 2 Sep 2008 at 16:00

One of the biggest nightmares with printing is having a fully calibrated workflow.
You'll only ever get the very best results calibrating your entire workflow and doing everything from start to finish.

It depends what sort of quality you want, if you just want pretty decent A4 prints, any of the more decent online printing companies will do. If you're after lots of very high quality or larger prints your better off buying your own printer. Expensive to start with but the savings quickly add up.

You can buy an Epson 4880 for £1500, which is a lot of cash. BUT you can get around 2x more prints compared to a retailer which could do the same quality, the prints from there would cost twice as much as your own ink would for the same number. My friend has been a medium/large format photographer for 20 years and uses a 4880 with fantastic results. The 3880 is also very very good, but uses smaller ink cartridges.

Smithy · 2 Sep 2008 at 18:08

Thanks V-Spec. £1500 is a lot of cash as you say. It may be the way to go in the long run. I think while I'm dipping my toe in the water I'll let a printing company take most of my cut.

You say use an online printing company for A4 prints. Would you not recommend spending money on a decent printer and doing it myself?

As for online printing companies, do you know of any reputable ones?

V-Spec · 2 Sep 2008 at 19:42

Smithy said:
You say use an online printing company for A4 prints. Would you not recommend spending money on a decent printer and doing it myself?

Depends on what sort of volume you want to print and at what quality. If you want lots of high quality prints where colour is important, and maybe some big prints (A2). Something like at least a 3880 - 4800 would be the one to go for. You can fit either one with a permajet flow system which gives you even more prints for the same ink.

Smithy said:
As for online printing companies, do you know of any reputable ones?

Some people on here use photobox, they're nice and cheap but very hit and miss. Sometimes stuff comes back just as you like it - other times the colours are all over the place. I get most of my stuff done by a friend at the moment so can't really recommend anyone decent. I'll hopefully have my own 4880 printer at some point.

robertgilbert86 · 2 Sep 2008 at 19:51

You say you want to be self-employed with photography. What does that mean? What work will you be doing etc?

Weddings? Studio? Products?

Will your customers need prints bigger than A3?

Smithy · 2 Sep 2008 at 22:12

robertgilbert86 said:
You say you want to be self-employed with photography. What does that mean? What work will you be doing etc?

Weddings? Studio? Products?

Will your customers need prints bigger than A3?

I don't want to divulge too much because I think I've found a bit of a niche (by 'found' I mean spent a fair few hours/days market researching). My customers will most probably be only purchasing one or two prints at a time.

I'd like to be able to cater for larger print sizes.

Paul11 · 2 Sep 2008 at 22:57

if your selling the prints. then the cost of having them printied (by another company) should be minor compared to the price you will be charging...

getting prints done is not that expensive when you find a good place that can do them for you, at least to start with.

Smithy · 2 Sep 2008 at 23:08

Interesting. The research I have done suggests otherwise. Can you give me an expample of markup/margin for the printing and selling of a picture?

Paul11 · 2 Sep 2008 at 23:33

Smithy said:
Interesting. The research I have done suggests otherwise. Can you give me an expample of markup/margin for the printing and selling of a picture?

wedding photographers sell prints for many times the value of the acutal printing cost. .

artists sell photographs many times the value of the printing cost.

people sell and buy photographs. not printing.

you can get printing done for a few pounds but i would hope your business sells the photographs for a lot more ..

Raymond Lin · 2 Sep 2008 at 23:38

Smithy said:
Interesting. The research I have done suggests otherwise. Can you give me an expample of markup/margin for the printing and selling of a picture?

If I were to sell this print, i would price it at £300 +. It costs £83 to print and framed in material, labour and P&P in the size below.

Smithy · 3 Sep 2008 at 00:44

Helpful posts, my gratitude.

robertgilbert86 · 3 Sep 2008 at 18:10

This summer I worked as a photographer selling prints souvenir style and for something like that (theme park-esque) it is critical to be able to deliver the product straight away.

Printing 5x7s was all people wanted and my Canon PIXMA IP4500 (70GBP) did it just fine with Tesco finest paper

Paul11 · 3 Sep 2008 at 19:46

robertgilbert86 said:
This summer I worked as a photographer selling prints souvenir style and for something like that (theme park-esque) it is critical to be able to deliver the product straight away.

Printing 5x7s was all people wanted and my Canon PIXMA IP4500 (70GBP) did it just fine with Tesco finest paper

yes, but how much did you sell the photos for?

and if you had paid a company to print them, say 50p, would you have still made a good profit?

nalla · 10 Sep 2008 at 00:15

well like people say depends on what size u want. maybe buy an a3+ printer for 400 quid which would do a picture up to 13" x 44" no probs, with excellent results just depends on your needs, i currently sell a few photo canvas prints which i print on my a3 printer, selling at 15 pounds each whereas most photo shops sell the same size canvas at 30+, so all depends on youre projected markup.

The_Abyss · 10 Sep 2008 at 09:04

I print and sell on canvas as a hobby. My local printer will print me canvas big enough to stretch over 18" x 12" (normally about 22" x 16") for anywhere between £5 and £9, depending on how many of the same image I've ordered (normally 6+ for the cheaper price). At this size I make the frame myself, and they sell reasonably well at craft fairs and smaller exhibitions for between £20 and £30.

I've found that the popularity of canvas means that you can sell an fairly average photo if the price is right - at the £20 end. To get up into the £30 end at this size, it will take a good photo, specifically one that is relevant to the location in which it is being sold (i.e. local landmark).

peterattheboro · 10 Sep 2008 at 10:57

Raymond that picture is fantastic.