Putting a price on a print

[MikeHoyer]

Someone wants to buy a 10x8 print of one of my pictures to give as a Christmas present to someone. They've told me to let them know the price, and they'll send it, but I really don't know what sort of price to put on it.

It's hard asking for money without knowing whether you're asking too little, or too much, so I'd appreciate some advice off someone with exprience. Cheers.

[gi_gav]

what sort of print?

for a good inkjet or a high-street lab print, the going rate seems to be about the £15 mark.

[MikeHoyer]

Getting it printed at Jessops, I think it'll be on a printer rather than in their lab, but on proper photo paper etc.

[JamesC]

http://www.photobox.co.uk/ is an excellent service for getting stuff printed. Usually next day too.

Getting a digital done at Jessops is through their lab - the labs are all digital now anyway...



James

[MikeHoyer]

OK, it's in my brothers hands anyway, he works there, so he's doing it for me.

Just need to know what to charge really.

[Aysedasi]

Wouldn't be a DBR9 by any chance, would it Mike?

[James North]

A guy I know would probably sell a print similar to that size for about a fiver.

But then... it's entirely down to how much you think you can get away with.

I say try £15 like gi_gav says.

[MikeHoyer]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Wouldn't be a DBR9 by any chance, would it Mike?

No it's not actually! I have taken other photos...

I think I will go for the average and suggest £10.

[James North]

Get it signed and sign it yourself also.... then plonk on £50-100 on the asking price

Infact... I plan to carry around some of my best prints at Silverstone F1 testing etc... if I'm flukey enough to bump into the relevant drivers... get em sigend

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by James North

Infact... I plan to carry around some of my best prints at Silverstone F1 testing etc... if I'm flukey enough to bump into the relevant drivers... get em sigend

James are you planning to go as a spectator or do you want to be taken seriously as a pro? If you want to be a pro then hanging out in the paddock trying to get autographs is a no no. Drivers are there to work, if you are also working in their environment then respect it and don't behave like a groupie.

Sorry if that's harsh but its the way of the world (IMO).

[rdjones]

Mike I have just decided on my pricing stucture for people that want to buy prints from me. What I did was look at lots of different sites (both motorsport and non-motorsport) and worked out what the average prices where and worked my pricing structure out from there.

[James North]

Originally Posted by Piglet

Sorry if that's harsh but its the way of the world (IMO).

Exactly in your view.

Don't make too many assumptions from my posts here. I certianly don't behave like a groupie.

When at the track I actually spent a good 90-95% of my time taking photo's. Currently I take in the region of 1200 pictures a day, and that isn't counting the ones I delete on the spot. Recently I've also taken to using the Circuits alloted lunch hours to download my pictures from camera to laptop... which helps free up my memory cards and gives me a quick chance to view some of my pics.

Fully fledged proffessionals may keep themselves to themselves. But as yet I am not a fully fledged proffessional. Indeed I am yet to get a picture published by any proffesional medium and I can count the number of prints I have sold on one hand.

I have to basically introduce myself to as many people as possible, be it rival photographers, spectaters, security guards, marshalls, F1 personel or drivers themselves. And I honestly don't see anything wrong in that. Because if you don't get out there and actually talk to people, then you are going no where fast.

No one is going to come to me and ask for my photography services if I simply stand in one spot at some freezing cold track waiting for a car to come out on track and refusing to talk to or approach anybody. This isn't going to come to me, I'm going to go to it.

I certianly don't go looking for drivers, I'm usually busy doing photo's and of the corner of my eye spot a driver. I saw Ralph Firman trackside during a Silverstone test, having broken down... I saw that mainly as a photo opportunity, but he was happy enough to shake my hand, and what's wrong in that? just because they are racing drivers doesn't mean they have to act like spoilt children. Proffessioalism works on both sides. Silimar thing to Timo Glock, extremely proffesional and polite.

finally please don't take this as a rant... but there are more than one ways to skin a cat.

[Piglet]

Originally Posted by James North

Exactly in your view.


I have to basically introduce myself to as many people as possible, be it rival photographers, spectaters, security guards, marshalls, F1 personel or drivers themselves. And I honestly don't see anything wrong in that. Because if you don't get out there and actually talk to people, then you are going no where fast.

...No one is going to come to me and ask for my photography services if I simply stand in one spot at some freezing cold track waiting for a car to come out on track and refusing to talk to or approach anybody. This isn't going to come to me, I'm going to go to it.

Nope nothing wrong with that. That's how you get along. However there is a difference between introducing yourself as a pro and blagging for autographs.

Originally Posted by James North

I certianly don't go looking for drivers, I'm usually busy doing photo's and of the corner of my eye spot a driver. I saw Ralph Firman trackside during a Silverstone test, having broken down... I saw that mainly as a photo opportunity, but he was happy enough to shake my hand, and what's wrong in that? just because they are racing drivers doesn't mean they have to act like spoilt children. Proffessioalism works on both sides. Silimar thing to Timo Glock, extremely proffesional and polite.

As above. Your comment about drivers as spoilt children is interesting. I'm suggesting exactly the opposite, I very rarely come across drivers acting in the way you suggest. In my experience of UK and European circuits drivers are just there to work and aren't prima donna's at all, they respect that marshals, photographers and the like also have a professional job to do and everyone gets along just fine. That's why I dislike it hugely when people start blagging from drivers, it just means that they are more reticent about interacting with the rest of us.

I think you'll find every pro on here has very good friends who are drivers that they have met through their respective professions, there is nothing wrong with that and everything right with that, but you need to be able to separate jo bloggs the racing driver's public image and jo bloggs the person who is just the same as you and me.


finally please don't take this as a rant... but there are more than one ways to skin a cat.[/QUOTE]

[Happy Snapper]

Originally Posted by James North

Get it signed and sign it yourself also.... then plonk on £50-100 on the asking price

Infact... I plan to carry around some of my best prints at Silverstone F1 testing etc... if I'm flukey enough to bump into the relevant drivers... get em sigend

You are likely to be ejected from the circuit if you hustle drivers for autographs and if the F1 marketing people catch you they will be after their “cut”. In the old days yes it was fair game to get a driver to sign you favourite picture. That was stopped a few years back and most drives cannot sign a picture. They are under instructions so that any signed pictures are “official” F1 merchandise. I remember a photographer called Nick Williams being escorted out of the circuit for that and other things. He was reported by Williams and Jorden teams

[James North]

Ah... yeah.

I forgot about that for a moment. Yeah, sorry, good point.

I suppose that is something Mclaren could describe as "dealing with their intellectual property"

A accredited photographer I know actually got banned from Silverstone for upsetting Ron Dennis. The amusing thing is... they didn't actually tell him. So he turned up each time and amazingly was able carry on as normal. It was only after the season had finished he found out about the ban and by then it had expired!

I personally haven't got any prints signed yet... primarly because I hadn't thought of it before, and plus I've rarley had the the appropiate access anyway. Plus I'm normally trackside taking photo's anyway. I guess you'd need some kind of liscence to get away with it commercially then.

Some racing teams are quite wierd... they shield their car behind screens so noboy can see them... but actually have no objections if you take pictures of the them in action for journalistic purposes.

[gi_gav]

Firstly, for Mike, £10 sounds very reasonable. You can also ask to have it done with no back-print (the file number and 'jessops.com' printed on the back) which is worth doing unless it's always going to be mounted.

Interesting to see a bit of debate on the signing of photos.

At Brands Champcar last year I snapped the press conference with Mario Andretti, this being about a week after he survived a huge shunt at Indy. I had a copy of Autosport with me with Roebuck's quite personal tribute to Mario. I was aware that a snapper going after autographs is frowned upon, and also that the Champcar Code of Conduct for Photographers expressly forbids it.

I also knew I was unlikely to ever have the chance again, so I asked the press officer before asking Andretti. His response was quite funny - he was just thrilled that I had even asked permission. Apparently, it's not uncommon for journos and photographers to get stuff signed (by Andretti specifically, not the current drivers) and for them to be whooping and hollering when he enters a room!

Anyway, I think it's wise to seek permission first. Again, this comes back to what i said in rdjones' thread about media accreditation, that you have to be aware of why you're there.

Lastly, even if the drivers aren't in F1, they might be wary of signing photographs for an accreditted snapper because it's obviously just for profit. I photographed Scottish artist Jack Vettriano and afterwards had a print signed as a Mothers' Day present. He was visibly suspicious until I told him what it was for, after which he lightened up and personalised it.

I don't know whether drivers would be as wary as that, but it's worth bearing in mind. I just think the transition from 'snapper chatting to driver' to 'snapper bringing out a print to sign' might be met with a few raised eyebrows...

[MikeHoyer]

The print cost me £2 (staff discount's great!), so I think £10 should be reasonable.

[James North]

Yes, the asking for permission bit is a extremely good point.

And on the face of it common sense and good manners. I actually asked Timo Glock if it would be okay to have a photo with him. I didn't assume he would, and ofcourse I aware that it was actually his free time, so he had fair reason to be reluctant. No such worries! The guy is a gem.

His friend even came back to find me later, and we stood chatting, timing Timo's lap with a stop clock and snapping away merily.

This was back in my fuji days, and I wasn't quite as serious about my photography as I am now. I was starting to look into it more, but now things and efforts are stepping up a few gears.

Unless i'm taking a picture from a long distance, then I'd always ask the subject first if they'd mind. When I was in the pit lane in June at Silverstone, I asked a Williams mechanic if he'd mind me taking a pic of the car. He smiled, and said that strictly speaking, I shouldn't, be let me take a quick pic just holding my camera above the screen and pointing it down a bit. Not the best way to take a photo. I doubt I'd get the same response now with my Cannon 10D etc.

[gi_gav]

I think that when still learning about working in the pit lane (which i definitely am) being respectful of teams and drivers is a pretty good rule of thumb.

At Brands, one of the Rocketsports mechanics told me i couldn't snap in their garage because of the fact that i'd just walked in. I'd walked in about ten yards in order to ask permission... Sometimes you just can't win!

It's good practice though, as you tend to keep on the right side of people that can often help you out when you need to get a particular shot.

[MikeHoyer]

In my experience, so long as you are polite, and unobtrusive, most people are pretty happy for you to take photos.

The Aston team were happy for me to take pictures of their car in the pitlane when I asked, and Jackie Stewart happily signed autographs and posed for pictures when I met him.