Do you sell prints?

glitch

glitch

glitch

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With a comment made in the '10x8 for a quid' thread, it got me wondering how people go about sizing their prints for sale and/or printing.

Do you keep your shots and their native ratio (probably 3:2 for most people) and choose paper sizes accordingly, or do you crop to another ratio that affords you access to a wider range of paper sizes?

Do you crop your images to the shot rather than the paper, and either print your own or use a dedicated printing firm?

If you frame your prints (or sell them as 'ready for framing') are they designed for mounting or just being put in a frame, and what do you do about print ratios, paper sizes and frame sizes?

Or do you do something different entirely?!
 
glitch said:
With a comment made in the '10x8 for a quid' thread, it got me wondering how people go about sizing their prints for sale and/or printing.

Do you keep your shots and their native ratio (probably 3:2 for most people) and choose paper sizes accordingly, or do you crop to another ratio that affords you access to a wider range of paper sizes?

Do you crop your images to the shot rather than the paper, and either print your own or use a dedicated printing firm?

If you frame your prints (or sell them as 'ready for framing') are they designed for mounting or just being put in a frame, and what do you do about print ratios, paper sizes and frame sizes?

Or do you do something different entirely?!
Click to expand...
I always use photobox for my prints and usually only print in 6" x 4&1/2", I maintain the standard print size, if I do have a few photos that are cropped to a different ratio, I will choose 7"x5" or accordingly.

10x8 is the biggest size I have used so far.
 
I sell my prints.

I do all my own printing upto A3+ on a wide range of printable material from
Gloss, Matt, Pearl, Satin, Fine Art (320gsm A3/A3+ only), Oyster (271gsm A3 Only), Alpha (310gsm A3+ Only) Artist (210gsm A3+ Only) Parchment (285gsm Only)

And I am looking to purchase the following
Matt Plus
Omega
Portfolio
Portrait

Mine is printed full bleed edge to edge for my wall mounted stuff and I print a border for the portfolio I use for Job interviews.

I wouldnt dare sample photobox's prints as I am proud of the system I own.. The only edge I have is the various media I can offer.
 
Fstop11 said:
I sell my prints.

I do all my own printing upto A3+ on a wide range of printable material from
Gloss, Matt, Pearl, Satin, Fine Art (320gsm A3/A3+ only), Oyster (271gsm A3 Only), Alpha (310gsm A3+ Only) Artist (210gsm A3+ Only) Parchment (285gsm Only)

And I am looking to purchase the following
Matt Plus
Omega
Portfolio
Portrait

Mine is printed full bleed edge to edge for my wall mounted stuff and I print a border for the portfolio I use for Job interviews.

I wouldnt dare sample photobox's prints as I am proud of the system I own.. The only edge I have is the various media I can offer.
Click to expand...

Can i ask what printer(s) you are using please?
 
I print edge to edge, (using Pbox) and preserve aspect ratio.
If I have a print that I have cropped, or for whatever reason is an odd aspect ratio (panoramic?) I use the closest print size and add a border. People seem happy enough with this.
I tend to print quite big, too. Now, I don't know if this is the right way to do things, but I interpolate my images prior to printing.
The largest I use is 30 * 20 inches, because it's the largest that Photobox offer!
 
So far it would seem that nobody sells framed prints. Anyone offer that service or do you generally leave it up to the customer to sort that out?
 
I would sell them in frames if they wanted. The problem is you can almost bet yourself that unless its in something like a clip frame then they wont keep the frame. and it becomes waste. And even then some clip frames wont be kept. Its down to what the end users personal style is for their home.
 
Well, I'd never sell anything in a clip frame for fear of it looking like an framed poster, but I guess that's indicative of my style of photography. I've always found that framed and mounted prints would attract more interest, providing I could offer a choice of wood and metal frames in which to place the pieces. And it's extra revenue from the frame and mount, which all adds up.

A year ago I sold a couple of prints early on and the customer wasn't particularly happy about not being able to find an 'off the shelf' frame to fit. Having to shell out on something custom-made (and at least double what she intended to pay) turned her off buying another piece from me, which in turn made me think heavily about the sizes of the work I was trying to sell.

Now I've gone onto selling ready mounted pieces, which should fit into a wide variety of frames. I'm still waiting to see if people prefer having the option to browse around John Lewis', IKEA, etc for the right frame, or buy through me at my prices. I'm hoping the latter as it means I can provide a complete service.

Fstop; do you vary the paper depending on the shot or the client?

hoodi; I wouldn't worry about interpolating images, providing you don't go too mental and try for A0 from a small source picture. You still using PS or did you have any joy with Genuine Fractals?
 
Then in that case I would just simply have a selection of frames you'd be willing to buy and offer a sample pic of what those frames look like. That way the client can tell you if he/she is interested in the frames you offer. If not, then its their responsability to find a suitable frame.

Well I print Gloss/Matt for the majority of things but any other type is dependant on what someone wants. Some of the papers are very art canvas like and heavy card and these can be used to suit a clients needs or really boost the impact of a particular shot.
 
glitch - genuine fractals is good, to be sure, but the difference between it and interpolating bicubic with PS, at least up to 30*20 inch sizes, is very minimal ~ genuine fractals costs about £80 IIRC, so I really can't justify the cost.
I had a few 30 * 20 inch prints come my way recently - and to be honest they looked fantastic, one had been done with genuine fractals and one with bicubic interpolation, they both looked the same "quality" wise.

Frames is a difficult one. I'm having people say to me where can I get a suitable frame? And I can point them in the right direction... But i'm loathe to even offer framing my prints as it's another cost, another rather expensive cost, which i'm afraid will turn people off buying them. And I also think that different people like different styles of frame, too. Not to mention that i'm not particularly clued up on frames - most of my prints (for my own oggling) are in clip frames!

Whilst we're on the subject of prints... Here's another "service" I offer which others may be interested in. By default I stamp a lil' signature of mine on all my prints, but I also offer "real" signing. I don't charge much for it - £8, but it easily covers my own costs (a little ink and re-postage), and people seem keen to take up on it.
 
My handwriting is awful - no, really. Check out my gallery for one of my photos with my lil' signature at the bottom, shocking stuff. But that's not the point - you're the photographer, and it's your signature.

One thing to note is that a lot of my prints, and I assume others, tend to be dark in the corners - which means using a normal marker is no good. I found a white "paint" marker in stationary box or whatever it's called, though, that does the job well.

edit : liking the new sig Johnny, very tidy! :D
 
hoodmeister said:
Frames is a difficult one. I'm having people say to me where can I get a suitable frame? And I can point them in the right direction... But i'm loathe to even offer framing my prints as it's another cost, another rather expensive cost, which i'm afraid will turn people off buying them. And I also think that different people like different styles of frame, too. Not to mention that i'm not particularly clued up on frames - most of my prints (for my own oggling) are in clip frames!
Click to expand...

I would be tempted to get a brochure/catalogue from your local framers, scan pics of the frames in, add around 40% to the cost and make a PDF of it and offer it as another service that your clients can take or leave. If they doesn't like the prices they can get them framed themselves and you wont have to recommend them to anyone.
 
I would have thought the best thing would be to print your name and possibly name the print within some pre formatted post processed border and then ink your sig on the reverse.

On some of the media I use, to add an ink sig on the front side could react with the printed picture. Some papers dont fully seal and could be subject to soak up any ink afterwards.
 
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