Do you sell prints?

glitch · 15 Mar 2006 at 09:15

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 · 15 Mar 2006 at 10:18

Is your stuff edge-to-edge, Colin? Or do you add a border to the prints?

glitch · 16 Mar 2006 at 12:11

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?

glitch · 16 Mar 2006 at 12:44

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?