Selling prints seems straightforward, but it's tougher than you expect. It's more than snapping good photos and hanging them in an online shop; it's a careful blend of understanding your customer and knowing what makes a print sell.
Coming to you from Keith Cooper, this practical video tackles the overlooked truths about selling photography prints. Cooper emphasizes that successful print sales have less to do with where you're selling and more with knowing exactly who your buyers are. He argues that a casual compliment about your work doesn't translate into sales—your friends probably aren't your true market. It's crucial to pinpoint who actually spends money on prints, what appeals to them, and why. Cooper illustrates this clearly with examples from his own experience, showing two drastically different prints of the same coastal location; one vibrant and cheerful, the other moody and authentic. Guess which one sells better?
The video dives deeper into the nuances you might not expect. Local scenes sell better locally. Bright, colorful prints generally outsell those that are darker or moodier—even if the latter feels more genuine to you. Cooper's experience with his photographs of beach huts demonstrates this perfectly. He personally prefers the muted, realistic image, but admits that brighter images are typically more attractive to buyers. Another unexpected but important consideration: people usually prefer horizontal, landscape-oriented images rather than vertical or square formats, simply because they take up more wall space. Cooper’s blunt but honest approach challenges your preconceived notions, forcing you to think clearly about the practicality behind print sales.
Cooper also discusses a reality check when it comes to online platforms. While plenty of photographers imagine they'll sell prints effortlessly online, Cooper warns most online galleries benefit the platforms themselves rather than the photographers using them. He suggests avoiding the popular trap of setting up a store online without first understanding if there's genuine demand. You'll need to carefully assess if your photography has an audience online, or if in-person local sales are more effective. He highlights the overlooked yet essential costs involved in the print selling process: your printer, ink, paper, packaging, shipping, and—importantly—your time. Failing to factor these in can quickly derail your business goals.
Cooper also highlights the tough choices you'll face as you scale up your business. Selling a few prints now and then is manageable, but scaling your business to several prints a week or even a day means significantly more administrative and logistical work. It could even become primarily a fulfillment operation rather than a creative endeavor, requiring a totally different mindset. You'll need to think hard about whether this business model appeals to you, as well as whether you can handle larger print runs, costly shipping, and packaging issues.
Ultimately, Cooper advises you to think carefully about why you sell your prints. If you're in it purely for profit, prepare to adjust your work to suit customer tastes. If selling prints is a means of promoting your main photographic services, that changes your marketing entirely. Understanding your own motivations and your customer’s reasons for buying will shape your strategy. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Cooper.
Unless you're David LaChapelle or another equally famous photographer, your prints are just home decor. Your home decorating skills are going to be at least as important as your photography skills. You need to be able to create simple photos that match a buyer's home's color schemes and moods. The images convey an ideal, like, "I love the beach" or "I love NYC". Having a set of similar prints in nice frames is key, too.
But most photographers strive to create complex stand-alone images that need to be individually studied and appreciated. That's not what people want in a print; that would be distracting in home decor.
What people want in a print can be as diverse as there are people. Our home is a collection of art from my wife, mine before I met her, stuff we've bought together, and even a few pieces still around from my parents. An interior designer would gag. We've bought numerous pieces while traveling that have never made it onto a wall. I don't think too many people care about how it all fits, or whether it's a complex or simple image, or if the color goes with the lampshade. In fact, so many of the homes of friends I've been in have pictures on the wall of family and vacations that they've taken themselves. It's hard to make generalities about print buyers. To Keith's point about knowing your buyer and what they want... good luck putting that into a neat little manageable box.
Agree. My wife sells some of my prints at local boutiques and gift shops. I had nothing to do with the selection. In fact I probably wouldn’t have selected any of them. But they sell OK. She knows her customers way better than I do!
It would be nice to watch a video from someone who actually has some success selling prints, someone with the desire and commitment to do so, and has more constructive ideas. I don't mean an architectural or commercial photographer who has no real desire to sell art prints. I don't mean someone who places greater emphasis on producing YouTube followers than art. I mean someone who prioritizes making and selling prints.
I understand it's difficult, but we've been told that many times before, if not having experienced it firsthand. I get that part. I realize marketing is important. What type of business doesn't depend on effective sales and marketing? I also know anything is possible if you have the knowledge, passion, and frame of mind to accomplish something. Anybody can post a video citing how hard it is... I'd like to hear some ideas for trying to make it work. Vast amounts of photographic art are purchased every day... some cheap, some incredibly expensive, and plenty in between.
I saw the video(s) and had a different perspective. He does have success selling prints. He tells you which types sell better and which ones don't. And tells us with the 'Photographer-Eye'... basically saying: You know you have to put away those eyes, because much of what actually sells (better), isn't what you'd expect, or what you'd like. Practical lessons were 'Happy Colors'... versus 'depressing views..'. It might be a real place... but does the people your trying to sell to really care? On the internet you put your 'photo-info' and where it is and how you took it and all that great stuff. But when it's on the wall, or when they are buying it:... The general lesson from his video was: "They don't care."... Which is an important lesson. We are not selling to other Photographers or those that have the 'critical eye'. Another important lesson he talks about multiple times was that 'Local' sells better than some place they don't know as well. I've seen that too, people tend to buy 'local' art pieces because it has some 'local-flavor'. I also loved the lesson on aspect ratios, and didn't consider it. He was pointing out that some of the really wide-pano-framed shots actually do pretty well for him. On the screen, they may look terrible, but in print form, I can understand how they may do well on a wall-print.
Okay, Robert… I watched it again. Although I’m no more convinced this time around that he’s the slightest bit serious about selling prints than I was from watching it the first time. Serious and successful are two different things. Nobody other than himself and his accountant know whether he’s successful. However, I think I can make some presumptions which reflect on how serious he is about print sales.
His first major point is that it’s not “where” you sell prints, but “who” buys your prints that's the right question to ask. Who buys prints? The reality is that nearly any one of 8.062 billion people on the planet could buy your print. For a million different reasons. However… what, where, how, and who are all intricately linked. Anyone serious about selling prints must deal with all four issues. It’s fair enough to conclude that online gallery sites are not likely to generate a ton of sales… I’ve heard that from many other photographers. But if you’re serious about print sales, you must have a strategy that does work. Anyone serious about selling prints finds answers to these questions. You don’t just give test prints for nothing to everyone you know... and call it a print business. Giving stuff away undermines the value of your prints. Ignoring “how” and “where” ignores the critical aspect of print sales.
I'm still experimenting, but selling my photos is my primary source of income.
I've just started testing different channels, and I can say for certain—gallery sales are effective. Of course, there are always nuances involved.
The key, as I see it, is to stop thinking in terms of photos and start thinking of them as art objects. Not just a print made at home, but a finished fine art piece— mounted, framed and under the museum quality glass.
That's when the math starts to make sense, and the business model truly works. Take it from an artist. :-)
Thank you, Alvin. It's nice to hear something positive about print sales. I've had numerous discussions with a friend of mine about Etsy. My perception is that nobody shops on Etsy for $1,000 pieces of artwork. He claims that's not true. Of course, he's selling $15 coffee mugs; not high-priced art, so it's more or less an academic argument until I test it for real. But I'm skeptical it's worth the effort of setting up an online gallery site. It's enough trouble maintaining my own website.
It’s crucial to find a proper online place for photography artworks. Check Artsy, Artfiner and Saatchi&Saatchi. In fine-art photography printing and mounting costs easily exceed a 1000USD.
I would like to see a video on the practicality of having your work sent out to be printed on Metal or Acrylic, and weighing that against costs and business expenses. I love seeing those pieces at the fairs, and keep thinking that I would do that too one day.
I recommend this printer: artbeatstudios.com for metal and acrylic. Another good source is bayphoto.com. You can learn about everything you need to know by looking at their websites. They back their work too. Bay Photo reprinted a metal print order for me once solely based on my word that it had been scratched before I received it.
Metal prints are more common because acrylic has become ridiculously expensive. Metal is infused with ink so they're very durable and resistant to fading when exposed to direct sunlight. Most of what you see at art fairs are glossy metal prints. Acrylic prints come in two forms: direct prints and face mounted prints. Direct prints are just as it sounds... ink is printed directly to acrylic. Less expensive but noticeably lower quality. The better, more expensive, option is to have the photo printed on a Fuji gloss pearl paper and have that mounted under acrylic. If you really want to unload your bank account, buy TruLife no glare acrylic which is comparable to museum grade glass.
Obviously the price that you charge can be whatever you want, but a markup of 3x the cost is pretty common. Make a note of the size and price for these type of pieces when you see them in a gallery or art fair. Or check photographers websites who sell metal prints to get an idea of prices. Always keep in mind shipping costs. Artbeat Studios is free shipping on orders over $150, which is a big savings because large flat pieces can be really expensive to ship. Large pieces have to be crated.
As far as the "practicality" of buying and selling metal pieces, or art in general, there's no magical answer. As I complained about this video in a previous post, there are frequently more questions than answers. Even asking the right questions can be difficult. You seem to have an interest in an art fair near you. Fairs can be expensive to get started with because you've got a tent and probably some side panels to hang your photos. If you've got the cash sitting around burning a hole in your pocket, it would be fun to do an art fair. You'll never appreciate what it's like or whether there's money to be made unless you try it.
Wonderful post! Nice picture.