So my wife and I purchased a new house last year and hired a interior designer to take care of the decorating. The designer is a friend of a friend and works for many of the very wealthy in my area (she gave us a "friend's discount".

She came over to see how things were going and noticed a stack of my landscape images that we had mounted and framed and really liked them. She emailed me a few days later and asked if I would allow her to sell my work to her clients and I said "of course!" I set a gallery up on my site (I do weddings so already had the site)

Well, now she wants to buy a bunch of the prints but would like them to be limited edition.

Having never sold my prints as "wall art" before, I've never had the need to look into limited edition printing or certificates of authenticity, etc. I need some help!

I'm planning on having my current lab (prodpi) do the printing but I need to know how to do everything else.

Do I need to add a white border so I can sign the front?

Do I sign in pencil?

Do I also write the image title, date, and edition number on the front?

Do I include a label on the back?

Are there any examples of CoA?

How about a fade guarantee?

Am I missing anything else?

Thanks for the help!

Ray

1) I sign in pencil on rag/matte papers, or with a pigment ink pen on gloss or semigloss papers. This goes beneath the lower right corner of the image, with the title at lower left. Other folks tend to include the edition number (12/25 or whatever) with the title.

2) New York State actually has specific legal requirements for a COA; it must specify the means used to create a print as well as edition size. (Amadou Diallo actually spells out the law in his book Mastering Digital Black & White.) I use a separate small piece of laser printed parchment-type paper with the image title and a nicely worded summary of the inkset and paper used, articulating the artistic reason for the choice. I also include expected print longevity (citing Wilhelm's numbers) and instructions for care (i.e. keep out of bright sun, away from ozone etc.). I'm not pretentious or successful enough to edition prints, so I note that it's an open edition. I don't bother with a replacement guarantee; it strikes me as a bit cheesy, and I don't want to invite hassles from someone who hangs the print where it gets cooked by mid-day sunlight.

3) Make sure you charge enough to cover all your costs. It's a real ego boost when someone values your work enough to buy it, but don't sell at a loss. A rough rule of thumb is to total up what it cost you to print, mat, frame and hang the image; then multiply by four. That will generally permit you to cover the cost of your time and expertise, not to mention those spiffy lenses and cameras required to produce the work in the first place. This is just my two cents; I'm no expert on the subject. I just sell enough prints to pay for paper and ink for my own work and call it even. Other folks obviously make a real business of it.

Thank you for the information! I'm only selling the print, the designer is taking care of the matting and framing. We agreed on pricing that I feel is very good. For example, she just ordered 3 16x20 for $150 each.

If it was my work, i.e. ymmv, I'd try to 'help' ensure she got the matting and framing done well to at least 'consrevation standard' as known in the UK.

Congratulations

Mike

Congrats on the new business!

I wouldn't do a limited edition just because someone asked me to. Unless she promises to buy the whole edition

IHMO only certain bodies of work are appropriate for limited edition; most photographic prints should be sold in open editions.

I like to sign inside the image itself, in either the bottom left or right corner. I try to use pencil or archival ink but sometimes a silver sharpie looks great.

I agree the framing should always be done to archival/conservation standards with a few exceptions; for example, prints laminated to MDF board or plexi can look fantastic, although it's not exactly "archival".

First of all .. if your going to make a limited edition.. you can make many of them using the same exact image !!
photograph

lithograph

silkscreen

etc. on and on and on.

do not limit yourself to just using one of those options.

I have mine signed using gold ink pen / silver works well also.

Sure I have seen the pencil done also.. there is no one set way to do this.

People all over the world have different ideas. some write books about their ideas.

I have done it all much differently. I retired a decade ago thanks to sales from photography I do not use a camera per say anylonger. I make my money from images I created 27 years ago

each year they sell more than the year before.

My suggestion to you.. .. is open your own small gallery. You can have the same photo displayed many times in many different ways..

Fine Art large prints as you have stated all framed and matted for archival permanence.

Fine Art litho posters of the same exact image .

post cards, & note cards generate huge income

mini posters also are a good in between.

I would much rather sell litho posters 5000 of them @ 20 bux each

they will fly.. .. .. .. .

50,000 post cards @ 3 bux each.. these fly also .. .. >

You have all kinds of options.. You can do anything you want. but take the time to think..

which way is going to make you more money ??

Get a copy of Photographers Market book and learn how to 'lease' your images.

Companies such as: Adobe, Corel, Hallmark and every other company in the WORLD is listed in there..
Learning how to submit. to these companies you can make a small fortune

Leasing / Selling look at both sides of that coin.

NEVER EVER GIVE UP FULL RIGHTS TO ANY IMAGE

I was once offered 100 K for the complete rights to just one image in 1983.

I said no ! that was in 1983. sure glad I did, because I passed THAT figure long ago.

But from the sounds of it.. Your going to do allright for sure. Just do not limit your market.

Tricky thing selling prints thats for sure. I end up giving them away usually to avoid offending those that ask to buy them. Crazy but makes me feel better than reducing the value to something insulting to me. Mind you as a commercial guy everything is for sale but my personal work is priceless to me so its priceless to those who think to ask for it in the right manner too i guess haha.

Thanks everyone for all the information and advice!

Over the weekend the designer called me and said she had a client that wanted nice pictures of "fluffy clouds" against a blue sky and wanted to "commission" me to make it happen.

I went out and enjoyed a nice long morning drive to get to the other side of the mountain where it wasn't raining. Got some shots that she wants and now I'm convincing them to go with a nice big canvas print! Granted, this is not fine art but it will be a nice profitable project.

In the past, I've done most of my printing in my home studio on a HP Designjet 130NR and sprayed the prints with print shield to protect against moisture. Does anyone have opinions on either continuing this practice or outsourcing?

Never outsource.. upgrade to a better Epson wide format printer.!!