Selling high res images...

The question is should I, and for how much? I have already set my prices for prints, packages, etc. But my question is how much should I sell a high res image. I would like to offer that option to our customers but I just dont know what to price them at. I am stumped.

I am trying to decide this also. There are several topics on this if you search for them. Many believe in giving them with your package (Not actually giving them but pricing your package to include them) others believe in selling it as an add on. A lot depends on what others in you area are doing. What are is their pricing and how does your work stack up against your competition.

I know this is not an answer but I have been dwelling over this very question for a couple weeks now. Will be anxious to see what others say.

Greg

Why would you "sell" them high resolution files? I deliver images that are specifically licensed and for those uses stated in the invoice only. To "sell" those images will be counterproductive unless you license them for limited usage only. Why don't you want to do your own prints? If nothing else, you need to control the esthetics of your images.

Believe it or not, lately I have had people more willing to buy a disc full of images instead of prints (not that my prints are bad). It is because they can take them and print them at their leisure. I am thinking about just pricing the images like my middle print. 20 bucks an image. Still debating this though. I want to give people as many options as I can. Still pretty confused here. One of my buddies who also does photography here told me to price the image the same as my biggest print. He charges 50 per image, but that just seems steep to me... I am new to the bus. part of it so.....

Keep in mind that, if you sell a Cd of images for them to make crappy prints at the corner drugstore, not only will you lose the sales, but those will be your crappy prints that will be shown to their friends?

On the one hand, I understand wanting to maintain control of the final output (i.e.: prints). It's one's reputation, money potentially or theoretically lost, etc. But, on the other hand, I feel like those who insist on delivering prints only are going to lose out business-wise in the same manner as those who clinged to film for too long. The market is changing.

As far as charging for hi-res files... what's your average profit for prints? Maybe price them according to that plus add a bit more. Just a thought.

On a side note: I think what I'd not like about selling CDs of images, is you get no feedback in terms of what sells and what doesn't. You merely send a disc out and get nothing back to tell you what's working/popular and what's not. With sales of prints, you can track what's working and what doesn't and adjust your work accordingly.

I offer digital images as a package. They can purchase a CD of all the images in their order so they at least need to buy a print to be able to get the digital image. Also it makes it a better deal for them if they buy more prints since my package includes all the images in their order. I have two levels - low quality CD and Full Quality CD

eigga wrote in post #5464391
II have two levels - low quality CD and Full Quality CD

Thats a great idea, thanks for sharing that. Could have one low res CD with your images watermarked for advertisement, good only for web use, and then another High Res CD with no water mark for prints...Charge accordingly...

But my biggest question is still how much to charge for a single high res image. Lately I have had many people asking about getting CDs instead of prints. So in my area, that is something that will sell. What do you all (POTNers) price your images at, if you even sell them?

I was thinking about this very topic today. Interesting you brought it up. I have a parent who wants to purchase a fair amount of prints of her daughter playing softball. She also wants the file of the same image she is ordering. I was trying to come up with a fair price. I'll be watching this thread for some other's input.

asysin2leads wrote in post #5476169
I'll be watching this thread for some other's input.

What is your opinion? Would pricing it at the middle of your print range $20 in my case (for now) be out of the question? I have a buddy who sells his at $50 which is the cost of his most expensive print. Its so hard to decide where to go on this. I dont want to get raped myself or do the same to others. But I also dont want to price it out of reach and make it a price people would feel comfortable paying.

Berlotti Photography wrote in post #5478252
What is your opinion? Would pricing it at the middle of your print range $20 in my case (for now) be out of the question?

Funny this should come up today.

Just last night I was talking to a couple friends of mine who are surfers. One of them was showing photos of himself surfing. As it turns out there is a photographer with a "really big white lens" (looking at the shots, I imagine a 400 with a tc) who takes pictures of the surfers. 24 hours later they are on his website in thumbnail form. The customer (my pal Don, in this case) buys the jpgs and receives them in EMail form. The price is $20.00 each, with one free for every 5 (6 for $100).

It is clear this guy does not put in a lot of work, but based on global contrast, I believe he must run them through an action to bring up the shadows.

Yes, yes, yes he renders his copyright pretty much unenforceable (who is going to find out of Don makes 1 copy or 100) but to tell the truth, these are not very commercially viable shots - they have only souvenir value.

Based on talking with these guys, and knowing how much they buy and how much they say other surfers buy, I bet the photographer makes several hundred to a couple thousand on a good day and that is with most of the "busy work" (printing) taken out of the mix.

Rad

I used to offer the CD option but do not do this anymore. I would rather just sell prints at a reasonable price so the end product will be monitored by me. If someone wants to email a photo to family I will include a small low-res version for free if they buy the print. That is good for customer relations.

Locally, I have seen those that offer the hi res images and they are asking $25 each. I am speaking about sports photography.

Not that i am the autority on this topic, but i will offer my input on this.

I say make a way for people to get the negative... I dont think that just outright saying "the digital copy is not available" could ever earn you a customer.

The way i incorporated this was to include the parents' choice of a couple digital copies along with my more expensive packages. My top price package came with (3) images of their choice. My only stipulation was that the digital images they pick must be also in their print package.

If people asked me specifically, i would always give them "web sized" images that could not really be used for prints.

In this day and age, people need pics for their myspace, family web page, and to email to grandma. The simple fact is that they WILL scan the prints and take those terrible reproductions to the photo lab and internet. If you are worried about your reputation and the quality of the images you reproduce, its in your intrest to make them available.

Build the value with your client and get a fair price for it. i personally charge about $60 an image for family pics and stuff - for a top quality digital download. These aren't commercial images, just family portraits.

What would you make in profit off a large print?? Basically you need to price the digital image to match your profit needs cause once its gone you loose most chances to gain any profit from that image. I priced mine at $20 each originally but later removed that option and used the CD only option as mentioned in my post above.

My low quality CD does not include a watermark and is $25. The full quality is $50. Again this is only a CD of the images in their order and has really helped me push my profits higher as I rarley get reorders at all.