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DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> More photography business help needed, please!
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09/03/2022 07:18:46 PM · #1
So I've done a couple of art fair booths, now. And plan on continuing for awhile. Still trying to figure out what sells, however.

I would like to have 1 or 2 BIG show pieces. The largest I've printed is 20x30. Which sounds big, but when I hand it over the mantel, it still looks a bit small.

Anyway, if you're bored and have time, could you look through my challenge entries and see if there's anything worth blowing up larger than 20x30 -- one or two Show Stopper Pieces? I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!
09/03/2022 08:54:24 PM · #2
This Time for Sure



This would look awesome really big.
09/03/2022 09:16:34 PM · #3
Geez woman. Almost everything in your port....

Your bluebird folder is just one brilliant shot after another.
Ditto in your Overlay folder - I just love Overlay3 and Incoming, IMG_0132-overlay, and nov-overlay1
Flight of Dreams
Through the Looking Glass
6
Eat them up, Yum
Muse vs Faust
etc
etc
etc
09/03/2022 10:38:56 PM · #4
Originally posted by jomari:

This Time for Sure



This would look awesome really big.


Yeah, that cool be cool, thanks!
09/03/2022 10:39:48 PM · #5
Originally posted by tanguera:

Geez woman. Almost everything in your port....

Your bluebird folder is just one brilliant shot after another.
Ditto in your Overlay folder - I just love Overlay3 and Incoming, IMG_0132-overlay, and nov-overlay1
Flight of Dreams
Through the Looking Glass
6
Eat them up, Yum
Muse vs Faust
etc
etc
etc


Yeah, but giant bluebirds? I can't picture a lot of those really large...?
09/04/2022 12:08:49 AM · #6
Originally posted by jomari:

This Time for Sure



This would look awesome really big.

No disrespect - this is a very nice image. Upon closer inspection I feel like the highlights are blown, critical detail around the head is lost, and it's a little noisy around the eye.

Here's my picks from your challenge entries, listed in order.

(still need to get rid of that one bird that looks like a blob or sensor dust) :-)











The location of your show could dictate your choices as well. In Virginia the common, native animals (Bluebird, Fox, Osprey, Eagle), captured in a stunning manner would take precedence over those that are found outside the region (i.e. - Puffin).

Just my opinion. Good luck! Perhaps we'll see you at the VA State Fair? :-) ... and no, not entering anything, just spectating.

Message edited by author 2022-09-04 00:09:26.
09/04/2022 01:54:39 AM · #7
Originally posted by vawendy:

Yeah, but giant bluebirds? I can't picture a lot of those really large...?


You can't see this huge...???


or this?
09/04/2022 08:11:20 AM · #8
The good news is.....you have a lot to choose from.....

The bad news is.....you have a lot to choose from.....

If I haven't learned anything else from having a gallery for going on nine years it's this.....

There is *NO* silver bullet.

The only thing more fickle than the retail buying public is the art retail buying public.

What I do use as my decision to print for sale is: If I'm gonna get stuck with this print: Would I hang it in the house?

I don't print anything that doesn't make me smile, or evoke some strong emotion.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that people have bought images that I feel deeply about due to their back story. Now when they see an image, they have no way of knowing the circumstances that created the image, yet they like it because of the way it speaks to them.

This is an example of that kind of thing.....I have no idea why the young lady is distraught and needs the comfort. But I can *feel* that just by looking at it. Print this one.



This does exactly what you meant.....it takes you there.



As does this. Again, why does she have that concerned look? Who knows, but it's a good capture.



IMNSHO, this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime shots. I wouldn't be afraid at all to go 36x48 or whatever nearest aspect ratio this comes out to when you start pushing it. It'll need the right person to buy it, but it's spectacular, pleasing, and decidedly eye-catching so it will liven up any display. When the right person sees it, they'll just buy it without even blinking.



This one as well is one that would take very nicely to going not just big, but huge.



This one is just gorgeous and should be a crowd pleaser, IMO.



This one is not a grab-you-and-draw-you-in, but one that calms you just by being in the room with it. To have a good variety, this one will work well for that person that wants that special feel in a cozy room.



Art noire.....yeah, this side challenge was fun and you'd never think seriously about 'em. Pick one of these and be surprised at the attention they command.

     


Raptor shots. Pick one you like. They're imposing, eye-catching, breathtaking, and you have a sh*tload of them. Pick one and print it.



Medium?

Canvas.

It's cheap. Despite some image degradation, the upsizing makes up for that.

When I say cheap, I have a bunch of 'em at all times in 16x20 and I sell them for $100. They move well.

More importantly, you can be magnanimous and give a deal to the guy who wanders in and wants both a 24x36 and a 16x20 by knocking $50 off for the volume purchase, get $300, and still make an obscene net for actual costs. I used to sit on stock forever when I would have a 16x20 print, archival inks, non-glare gallery glass, and a custom wood frame 'cause I'd have to get $250+ just to make $50 on an image.

Nope. Done with that. I'm now making 200-300% profits on my prints and FINALLY getting paid decent money for the images themselves instead of some framer's work.

It is definitely a business decision. Would I love to have those stunning super clean prints, the lovely custom frames, the incredible wow factor that the expensive prints done properly bring?

Absolutely! But at $200-$400 a pop personal commitment, vs being able to get as many as eight 16x20 canvases for $200, it's a no-brainer for me.

Custom printing? LOVE it! Somebody wants an image, I tell 'em 7-10 days, generally call them at the seven day mark, and they've already committed so no worries. I get half down on special orders. That covers the cost if they don't come back after it. Haven't had that happen yet.

Here's the thing.....I use Easy Canvas Prints. They've done very well for me. If you have 2-4 done at the same time, the shipping is dispersed between them. Invest $150-200, get a half dozen 16x20s and see where they take you. Just remember, only print what you'd hang.

For some reason, about the last dozen I've gotten, they haven't charged me shipping. I don't know why, I don't care, and I'm surely NOT going to question it. I've prolly had them do close to 100 by now so maybe I crossed some secret threshold. Again, I'm not asking. LOL!

You'll do fine, you'll sell well, and you'll enjoy it more with these lower end pricing options. People will spend $100 for a lovely 16x20 canvas in the blink of an eye. Not so much $375 for that special framed gallery piece.

I'd wish you luck, but I don't think you'll need it. Like Nike says, Just do it!


09/04/2022 11:25:22 AM · #9
I am really excited to read these responses! On my way to pick up family from the airport, they're here for a week. But I have to find time to dissect this and order things - I have three shows coming up so incredibly quickly, and I had a lot of things ruined because of 1.5" of rain in about an hour during a show.
09/04/2022 11:28:18 AM · #10
I'm especially having a hard time with the stuff Jeb was discussing. I wanted to do more gallery type stuff. I don't like canvas. I tried a couple of canvas, and they got no interest. But it might have been more the choices of what I printed. They just didn't seem to show detail well, and a lot of my photos are about the details.

Won't canvas fade?
09/04/2022 01:43:24 PM · #11
Originally posted by vawendy:

I'm especially having a hard time with the stuff Jeb was discussing. I wanted to do more gallery type stuff. I don't like canvas. I tried a couple of canvas, and they got no interest.


Ultimately, you'll have to assess your market. I did sell the gallery stuff, but it was decidedly a more niche market. You definitely have to stick more to your "Will I hang it in my house?" method. I have gallery prints that I'm glad I love, 'cause a couple of them I have for what's bordering on a decade.

Every other canvas I've printed has sold in what I would consider a reasonable time and I've done a few as large as 36x48. It has taken more time to sell the larger ones, but I have a couple that I consistently sell in the larger sizes.

I sell a LOT of bridge pictures because of the river and its seven bridges, most of which photograph very well.

You are absolutely correct, canvas is not as clean for detail. But look at your costs to print something big in a custom frame with non-glare, gallery glass, archival inks and paper. I can't even imagine what a 36x48 print would cost and you better have one screamingly clean image to go that big on paper.

Originally posted by vawendy:

But it might have been more the choices of what I printed. They just didn't seem to show detail well, and a lot of my photos are about the details.


I get that. I struggled with that for a while. Having floor/wall space without sales made me rethink some of my options. I own the building so technically I don't have to sell anything since it's not paying the mortgage. And I didn't sell many of those $350-$500 custom framed images.

You have to decide if you want sales and to move product, or if you want to hold a standard that means you'll rarely sell. Or you may, depends on your customer base.

Of course I don't want to even remotely entertain the idea that I'm whoring myself out for sales, but I reconciled it to the fact that the way my cost structure breaks down, since selling on canvas, I'm actually getting paid for my images and not just making the framer money. Truthfully? The hard fact is, he didn't give a sh*t whether or not I sold anything as long as he got paid. He certainly wasn't going to frame my stuff and get paid for it when it sold.

When I sell a 16x20 canvas for $100 and have $35 in cost, that means I'm making $65 for the image, almost 200% profit on actual cash outlay, and you know what? I hardly think that getting that money in that manner is cheapening my reputation because I am getting my work out there. I have return customers as well. Sure, from an idealistic stance, I'd love having nothing but "Real gallery class work". You also asked for business advice. This has been my business experience, FWIW.

Originally posted by vawendy:

Won't canvas fade?


So far, I've not seen any degradation in what I've had done. I do notice that most places doing canvas prints offer a preservation coating.

The only long term canvas I have is my seven footer, and I priced that at $2500 because I like it and am not sure I'll reprint it if it sells. So I kinda don't want to sell it. It always garners attention and conversation. At $2500 if it does sell, we'll prolly use that as an excuse for a vacation. And that'll mean no more seven foot canvas! LOL!

My comment to customers is to never put a print anywhere that the sun will hit them.

One last thing.....shows.

I gave up on them about a year and a half before we found the house/gallery.

The attrition rate was awful. You just cannot help nicking frames, sustaining some levels of damage from things like condensation and rain.

Think about this.......you drive to a show in stinking heat and humidity. You've had your A/C on in the SUV you carry your stuff in. You carry your stuff to your site and you notice that the glass is fogging slightly 'cause it was cold in the vehicle, and water is condensing from the air onto the glass....

One of the last shows I did, I had my nicest piece sitting on an easel while I went back to the car for more prints. The very first thing I unloaded. A gust of wind came along, blew it off the ease3l, shattered the glass, and dinged up the frame. I was out $250 before the first person even walked by my display. I almost went home.

Think about that....

That's the thing about the show circuit. If you make that a real thing, you're going to lose each and every nice weekend during the spring, summer, and fall, put hundreds of miles under your belt, try to avoid having to stay over some places and have the expense of a motel on top of everything, unavoidable if they're two or three day shows, and realize that it's become your life.

With your own place, or as a resident artist in a local gallery, you can be a flaky artist and just show up or be open when it suits you.

I do hope I don't sound too negative. I absolutely love what I have going. I did run the gamut of how to make money being a photographer. I've done weddings, product photography, portraits, sports and the combination of not good enough, how much hard work is entailed, and time/life commitment got me to where I am.

One comment about the not good enough. I did six weddings. Every one of them was delighted. But I've also seen really good wedding photographers' work and I am NOT a wedding photographer. Also, that no life of your own on nice weekends thing.

Sports? OMIGAWD is that ever hard work. And you really almost have to specialize in one sport that you get to know it well enough so that you can anticipate a great moment. Yeah, good luck with that! I did that with kid sports.....I wasn't good enough to suit my own standards there, either. And weekends.....

Product photography? Well, for a lot of it you have to have inspiration to sell the customer. If you're commercial, sometimes that is like watching paint dry because you're just offering an image of a piece of equipment. Or, if you do something like food photography, you have to do so well enough to make someone want to eat the picture. Really well prepared food is not easy to make appetizing in a picture, much to my surprise when I tried that.

Pretty much like anything else, it takes hard work and determination, time and financial commitment if you're going to be the name on the sign, and a heapin' helping of plain old fashioned good luck.

I'll shut up now....LOL!
09/04/2022 02:11:51 PM · #12
I think this thread should be turned into a tutorial. Seriously. Good work!
09/04/2022 02:59:30 PM · #13
Originally posted by glad2badad:

I think this thread should be turned into a tutorial. Seriously. Good work!


Same old, same old.

You know what they say about bad judgement and experience.....LOL!
09/05/2022 02:27:17 PM · #14
I think Jeb is right when he says "You have to decide if you want sales and to move product, or if you want to hold a standard that means you'll rarely sell."

If I felt having one or two very large "show pieces" was important, I'd go for it. BUT I'd also select something I would genuinely hang over my own mantle . . . and that's where I'd store it between shows.

09/05/2022 06:05:31 PM · #15
Ok. I ordered a bunch of canvases. That’s the problem - I print what I like. I don’t like canvas! But I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.
09/05/2022 06:10:06 PM · #16
Originally posted by vawendy:

Ok. I ordered a bunch of canvases. That’s the problem - I print what I like. I don’t like canvas! But I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.


Did you have a choice between thin and thick bar?
09/05/2022 07:01:41 PM · #17
Originally posted by nam:

Originally posted by vawendy:

Ok. I ordered a bunch of canvases. That’s the problem - I print what I like. I don’t like canvas! But I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.


Did you have a choice between thin and thick bar?


Yeah, I would have rather done thick, but that added too much to the cost. So I did all thin. Probably a mistake.
09/05/2022 08:20:26 PM · #18
Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by nam:

Originally posted by vawendy:

Ok. I ordered a bunch of canvases. That’s the problem - I print what I like. I don’t like canvas! But I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.


Did you have a choice between thin and thick bar?


Yeah, I would have rather done thick, but that added too much to the cost. So I did all thin. Probably a mistake.


I'm not so sure. Thin are much easier to frame should you or a buyer prefer that look - and I suspect you might. You can offer the majority unframed but frame a couple, increasing the price accordingly, of course, so people can see that look. I noticed that the canvas company Jeb recommended has frames - maybe they could be purchased "after the fact". Otherwise, since I'm pretty sure you went with standard print ratios, you might even find some at someplace like a Michaels'.

I had a designer who purchased a lot of my work for a large retirement community. She wanted each piece to look different in presentation - not the standard identically matted and framed look you often see in hospitals and hotels.
She did not care for the unframed look, but she did select canvas for quite a few. In her case, she always had a frame already purchased (usually something she'd picked up at an antique store or estate sale as I had my canvases printed and wrapped locally by a printer who would work with any dimensions). Some of her frames were salvaged from art taken down and being replaced at the community itself.

She actually went the traditional "matted and framed under glass" option only once and was very unhappy because no matter where she hung it, reflections were a big problem - as you know, museum quality glass is outrageously expensive. My printer actually does what he calls an e-mount that is a print on paper but mounted and laminated; it can be hung without a frame (like a wrapped canvas or a print on metal or acrylic) or framed (no mat, no glass) and it's a nice look though expensive.

09/06/2022 08:34:36 AM · #19
Originally posted by nam:

Originally posted by vawendy:

Originally posted by nam:

Originally posted by vawendy:

Ok. I ordered a bunch of canvases. That’s the problem - I print what I like. I don’t like canvas! But I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.


Did you have a choice between thin and thick bar?


Yeah, I would have rather done thick, but that added too much to the cost. So I did all thin. Probably a mistake.


I'm not so sure. Thin are much easier to frame should you or a buyer prefer that look - and I suspect you might. You can offer the majority unframed but frame a couple, increasing the price accordingly, of course, so people can see that look. I noticed that the canvas company Jeb recommended has frames - maybe they could be purchased "after the fact". Otherwise, since I'm pretty sure you went with standard print ratios, you might even find some at someplace like a Michaels'.

I had a designer who purchased a lot of my work for a large retirement community. She wanted each piece to look different in presentation - not the standard identically matted and framed look you often see in hospitals and hotels.
She did not care for the unframed look, but she did select canvas for quite a few. In her case, she always had a frame already purchased (usually something she'd picked up at an antique store or estate sale as I had my canvases printed and wrapped locally by a printer who would work with any dimensions). Some of her frames were salvaged from art taken down and being replaced at the community itself.

She actually went the traditional "matted and framed under glass" option only once and was very unhappy because no matter where she hung it, reflections were a big problem - as you know, museum quality glass is outrageously expensive. My printer actually does what he calls an e-mount that is a print on paper but mounted and laminated; it can be hung without a frame (like a wrapped canvas or a print on metal or acrylic) or framed (no mat, no glass) and it's a nice look though expensive.


I actually like the wrap part of the canvas stuff -- it's not the framing that I like. It's just that the canvas just isn't clear and nice (at least small) When you look at prints vs canvas side by side at 11x14 or 16x20, the prints' colors, details, warmth, etc., just look so much better, imo. I wonder whether I need to edit differently for canvas. Because some of the canvases that I've printed were also very "flat". The contrast was quite different than prints. But that could just be the vendor who printed them.

I'm hoping I'm just being too hard on it. Because I haven't minded other people's canvas.
09/06/2022 09:35:26 AM · #20
Originally posted by vawendy:

[quote=nam] [quote=vawendy] [quote=nam] [quote=vawendy] . . . Thin are much easier to frame should you or a buyer prefer that look - and I suspect you might. You can offer the majority unframed but frame a couple, increasing the price accordingly, of course, so people can see that look. I noticed that the canvas company Jeb recommended has frames - maybe they could be purchased "after the fact". Otherwise, since I'm pretty sure you went with standard print ratios, you might even find some at someplace like a Michaels'. . . .


You might still consider displaying one or two in frames, just to give folks who prefer that look the idea of an option . . .
09/06/2022 11:19:55 AM · #21
Originally posted by nam:

Originally posted by vawendy:

[quote=nam] [quote=vawendy] [quote=nam] [quote=vawendy] . . . Thin are much easier to frame should you or a buyer prefer that look - and I suspect you might. You can offer the majority unframed but frame a couple, increasing the price accordingly, of course, so people can see that look. I noticed that the canvas company Jeb recommended has frames - maybe they could be purchased "after the fact". Otherwise, since I'm pretty sure you went with standard print ratios, you might even find some at someplace like a Michaels'. . . .


You might still consider displaying one or two in frames, just to give folks who prefer that look the idea of an option . . .


Half, or more, of my stuff will be that way - simply because I can't afford to redo the whole thing. So it will be quite interesting to see if people have a preference. It may talk them in to buying the more expensive if they don't like the canvas. Or it will help me realize that price is more a thing - or that they actually prefer canvas. I think if people are looking a lot and appreciate the art, even if they're not buying, I might take an official poll to see which they prefer.
09/16/2022 01:25:01 PM · #22
Going to weigh in here with a suggestion for a canvas company that garners top dollar on looks.

Guild Canvas

They hand lacquer/brush their canvases appropriately over details that are important and enhance other areas . . . can not say enough about them as a company. True artists! Watch their video about eating spaghetti off their canvas and cleaning it off with windex back to original condition. They are spendy, but this is not a standard canvas and you truly get what you pay for, and ultimately charge top dollar for.
09/19/2022 12:39:03 PM · #23
Originally posted by ErinKirsten:

Going to weigh in here with a suggestion for a canvas company that garners top dollar on looks.

Guild Canvas

They hand lacquer/brush their canvases appropriately over details that are important and enhance other areas . . . can not say enough about them as a company. True artists! Watch their video about eating spaghetti off their canvas and cleaning it off with windex back to original condition. They are spendy, but this is not a standard canvas and you truly get what you pay for, and ultimately charge top dollar for.

It'd be nice to be able to get some idea of pricing without having to give up my personal contact info. I don't want unsolicited calls and/or e-mails, I just want some kind of idea and/or range of pricing.

ETA: Called them, nice folks, heck of a process, my demographic would absolutely not support the pricing structure, and they're not accepting any new clients until January.

Message edited by author 2022-09-19 12:57:06.
09/19/2022 02:36:40 PM · #24
Wow - I didn't know they weren't accepting new clients. Personally, I love that they require a process to garner pricing and/or become a customer. Prevents clients from being able to question the mark up each individual photographer decides to do, or go bypass me as the provider. For that same reason I use the print company I use, not only are they phenomenal quality, they lack transparency to the mass public and the hoops to jump through are such that It makes It hard to fake your way in and/or allow a client to just order direct.
09/20/2022 07:36:54 AM · #25
Originally posted by ErinKirsten:

Wow - I didn't know they weren't accepting new clients. Personally, I love that they require a process to garner pricing and/or become a customer. Prevents clients from being able to question the mark up each individual photographer decides to do, or go bypass me as the provider. For that same reason I use the print company I use, not only are they phenomenal quality, they lack transparency to the mass public and the hoops to jump through are such that It makes It hard to fake your way in and/or allow a client to just order direct.


That's one of the things IMO that you have to be able to look a customer in the eye and explain to them. Your costs and what they can find/buy/have their friend do is completely irrelevant. They're buying a one-of-a-kind work of art that cannot be reproduced for less money. If what they want is generic art, go to the furniture warehouse and pick one of their wall hangings tat match the décor.

They're paying for the image and the presentation the way YOU, the artist intends for it to be. I know that sounds strange coming from the person who is dealing with a demographic that won't support $500-$800 prints, but even though canvas is relatively cheap, you can still get your own canvas print from the people I use for three to four times less than what I charge.

Odd as it may seem, my markup is twice to three times what it was when I was doing it with custom printing and framing, but I wasn't making sales because the price range I had to be in to make 25% markup meant that I didn't make sales.

Am I whoring my work for sales? Am I sacrificing my standards to get it out there? Sure, you can spin it that way.

But on Saturday, I delivered a 36x48 canvas to the neighbor of a guy I sold two canvases to a couple of months ago.

I like it that I have a bunch of work out there. I feel accomplished when a customer mentions other work of mine.

I have also sold over 60 canvases in the past couple of years since I switched over. I *might* have sold a dozen big prints in the customer frame arena.

I have return customers who are collecting my work and I have people come in I've never seen before asking about specific work.

It isn't happening the way I thought it would, but I'm getting paid for my actual work instead of reselling expensive frames that just happen to have my image in them, and I'm hanging on a bunch of different walls scattered around the area with a few that have wandered as far as the other side of the country.

IMNSHO, the only wrong way to do this is when you can't find some way to reconcile that you're doing it right for yourself on most levels. Would I love to have been "discovered" as the go-to guy for abandoned stuff and river bridges that people just had to have on a cost-is-no-object basis? Do I wish some corporate guy had found me and had me lining the halls in office buildings across the state/country/world? Sure, those would have been an ultimate dream of sorts.

But having a quasi-regular stream of regular people wandering through my little gallery in this little town and seeing another $100 canvas being carried out and having the feeling that there's another customer that may be back, and that had trouble choosing just one.....I'm okay with that.

Just a perspective from amongst the ranks. I can say that I feel like I tried virtually every aspect of commercial photography and this is far and away the closest thing I've found that lets me shoot what I want and get paid for it. All of the other genres I tried I either don't like the work, I didn't feel like it was me instead of parameters for someone with a camera, or I just sucked at the field.

As always, your mileage may vary.
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