joedlh
Favorite Answer
There's no easy answer. It could be anywhere from $5,000,000 to $50. It's really a matter of finding someone willing to pay. The basic psychological problem is that photography is a hard sell. If you price it too low, people view it as having little value. If you price it too high, all you get is derision. Typically, you hear things like, "It's only a photograph. I could take that picture if I had an expensive camera." Of course that's a statement made from ignorance. But it is what it is. It's complicated by the viewer knowing that if the photograph sold today, a new print could be made tomorrow with little effort and put up for sale.
It's disheartening to see examples of quite poor photography selling for lots more than most folks make in a year. For example, I don't get the appeal of Cindy Sherman's work. Yet it is highly valued in the art world. The value is not in the photograph itself, but in the fact that it's a Cindy Sherman photograph.
?
First of all, don't get your hopes up too high. I know a number of photographers who have done shows, including myself. They seldom make a sale. But if you don't do it, your chances are nil. And you may get lucky. There are some who give you a formula based on your time and materials. That's a good place to start. However, bear this in mind: the person viewing your work will perceive it's value on how much they like it AND the asking price. If they like it and you're asking $50, they may shrug their shoulders and move on. They may think that it's a common subject or just an average photo that they can pick up somewhere else. If you're asking $495, then it will start them thinking, either that you are nuts or that there's somebody out there who would be willing to drop this amount of cash on your piece. Maybe that somebody knows more about art than they do and maybe it is actually worth $495. See the psychology? Alternatively, maybe a rich guy walks in for a bagel and falls in love with your work. In that case, $50 or $495? You be the judge.
und_ich_fliege
It has to be able to cover your costs of printing, taxes, gallery cut if applicable (up to 50% of the price), business license if applicable, sales tax if applicable, as well as allowing you to recover the costs of creating the image (gas, wear and tear, lodging, equipment, software, your time to create the image), all on top of still making a profit. Keeping this in mind and still pricing them at a price people will pay is the difficult part (especially in this cheap, mass produced, poster buyer market). I usually price my prints around 4X the cost of printing. Some have paid themselves off and then some, others never sold. My favorite part is when people tell me my prices should be higher, yet they themselves don't purchase a single print at the current price lol!
B K
A print is only worth what someone will pay for it.
If it's crap, you'll get nothing. If it's amazing, people will be lining up to buy it, so you can charge what you want.
The most expensive print ever sold made $4.3 million - Rhein II by Andreas Gursky