The Price of a Framed Print

Dawn On the Plains. Boulder, Colorado, 2014

I can remember, some decades ago, being in a gallery in Somewhere, USA, when I first noticed the prices of the artworks. “Dang,” I thought, “How can they charge $200.00? It’s just a framed photograph, after all. That’s crazy!” (You wouldn’t want to hear what I said about the really expensive stuff.)

Here’s the real deal–a breakdown of today’s cost of producing a framed 12×18 photograph (18×24 finished, framed, size):

–Anti-UV/glare resistant acrylic – $30.00

–A good-quality Nielsen aluminum frame – $18.00

–Acid-free 8-ply mat, and foam core, all custom cut to size – $25.00

–A high-quality photographic paper – $5.00 a sheet. But, you may have to make 2, 3,4, or more prints to get it right…so, let’s say $15.00.

–Archival hinging tape, mounting tape or corners for one print – $2.00

–Archival inkjet inks, one print – $1.00. Again, let’s call it $3.00 to include having to reprint to get it right.

–Photographer’s time to assemble the print, mat and frame–call it 30 minutes to do it right with no dust of fuzz caught under the glass – $10.00 (If working for $20.00/hr.)

So far, that comes up to $103.00 for a framed, archival, photographic print. Indeed, there are cheaper framing methods, but they may not be archival in quality. There are also many, many WAY more expensive presentation methods. So, for my purposes, lets just agree to go with what I have outlined above.

Now, if you charge, say, $185.00 for the finished product, you are making $82.00 per framed print. Not bad, eh? Well, the story isn’t over…

Now lets add in the “other stuff”:

–Cost of gas and mileage to get you to and from the spot you made the original capture. ($50.00)

–Cost of the gas and mileage to get to and from that same spot the ten times before when the light wasn’t right to get the image you wanted. ($500.00)

–Cost of the lenses, tripod, camera body, filters, batteries, memory cards, camera bags, and so on. ($5,000.00)

–Cost of the software you use to post-process the image, say, the Nik/Google Suite and Photoshop CS6. (Say, $725.00, although now one has to subscribe to the latter.)

–Cost of the computer, monitor and printer for processing and printing. ($3,000.00)

–Cost of setting up and maintaining your website to present and advertise the image. (Do-it-yourself, $100.00…Hire out, $2,000.00)

–Cost of that last workshop you took which taught you how to post-process the image as well as you did. ($500.00…and we’ll just include one of many workshops here.)

–Cost of your constant labor and practice to get you skilled enough to where you could successfully make the image, say, 5,000 hours at $20.00/hr. ($100,000.00)

So, that’s an additional $111,775.00. Total REAL cost of that framed photograph? $111,878.00

OK, OK, I know. I exaggerate just a teeny weeny bit. It’s not like you would collect all this gear and invest all this time to simply make one image. You’ll likely make many, of course.

But the point is this: the finished, framed photographic print is but the tip of a HUGE iceberg of costs as well as hours and hours of passionately invested time. You don’t make photographic images to get rich. You make them because that’s what you love to do.

So, how sensitive is my Gallery Price Meter today? Not very. The meter rarely moves off of zero no matter what price I see posted.