Fine Art Collections

Limited Edition & Open Editions

Certificates of Authenticity provided for all Limited Edition Prints

Please contact me directly for a quote on the pricing for any images displayed in my galleries.  Various sizes are available in Archival Bamboo Paper, Acrylic, Canvas and metal.

You can also click here for Sample Pricing

What’s in a Picture?

I think as a wildlife or landscape photographer most of us get asked this all the time.  Clients see the price of an image displayed in an art gallery, or on a website pricelist and may wonder how and why the prices are set.  If it seems “too low” then typically it’s deemed not to be of good quality or value.  If it’s “too high” then various misunderstandings may occur on why so much.  I’m the first to admit I’ve seen my fair share of images that I think are underpriced and also those that, even knowing what I do, seem to be exorbitantly priced to an unreasonable level even to someone in the profession.

I’ve seen great write-ups in the past that help the general public to understand how the art of professional photography works and what factors go into trying to price our products or services.  I haven’t personally written about it in depth, but I figured it might be about that time. 

So here are some of the key factors that go into determining pricing and hopefully it’ll give a better understanding to folks who see that piece of art that they absolutely LOVE, but are trying to justify if the cost is “reasonable” to understand all of what the photographer/artist put into creating it.

Gear

If you’ve ever priced out professional level camera gear you know it’s expensive.  If you haven’t let me assure you – it’s expensive. 

When you reach the point of choosing photography as your profession you’re looking at a bare minimum of $10,000 to get a camera body and a lens.  Maybe two lenses if you’re really lucky.  If you want a fixed length lens to shoot wildlife and really look like you’re upclose and personal without putting yourself in a compromising position add another $8,000.

Now you have your fancy camera you need to re-evaluate your computer’s operating system to see if it can even handle the large file size that your camera is going to produce. If not, add a new computer to the “must have” list.  Then add the cost of purchasing editing software, tripod(s), light meters, external hard drives, travel case(s) and more.

So all in all now you’re probably around $15,000 to $20,000 get you where you need to be to operate professionally. Plus, since you’ve basically mortgaged your firstborn to pay for a picture-making machine, add on the cost of insurance to cover any mishaps with your camera baby (which happen to all of us at some point or the other) and the cost of rental equipment to cover you while said camera baby is in the camera baby repair shop for an undetermined amount of time.

Moving forward - you’ve now invested what could be a small down payment on a house instead on a camera, let’s talk about transportation.   Because you can’t take pictures if you can’t get to anything. 

Depending on where you live you may or may not be able to get to your desired location in a normal vehicle.  In my case I need a 4x4 with high clearance and 10ply off road tires.  Because of the terrain my tires last about a year and a half on average.  My “west desert mobile” is amazing and I love her dearly, but the rough roads and the excessive dust day in and day out takes a toll.  In the last 3 months I’ve had to drop over $4,000 into maintenance because of the bad conditions out there.  And I’m actually very nice to my vehicle all things considered.

Travel Costs

Once you have your gear and your car then of course you have to factor in travel costs to get to/from wherever you’re going to shoot.  And 99% of the time it’s not one trip to be able to take “that” special shot, it’s multiple.  With the price of gas going higher and higher it definitely doesn’t make it any more affordable to get out and about.  For an example an average trip to the desert to see the mustangs runs $80 in gas for me and I live close.   For every 4-5 trips I make I put out 3-4 images.

I’m super grateful at this point to be able to photograph something I love so close to my backyard, but for years I’ve had to travel a long ways to almost everything I’ve shot – brown bears, grizzly bears, gorillas, lions, black bears, orca, chimpanzee, elephants and probably quite a few critters I’m forgetting as well as scenic areas.  It wasn’t uncommon to spend anywhere from $2,500 to $4,000 in airfare just to get from point A to point B.  Then there’s additional costs for lodging, food, ground transportation, guide services, etc.  All to try to take some pretty pictures.

Time/Education

Well, we have conquered the “wrap your mind around the cost of a camera” and “omg it costs WHAT for a plane ticket” so here we are, in said place to try to take a photo of said thing.  Great.  All problems solved. 

Except they’re not.  Because as much as we’d like them to, cameras don’t actually know how to take a photo on their own.  (Even in auto mode) There’s a myth going around about this so I figured I’d just seize the moment to confirm, no, it’s actually not true. 

I’ve seen plenty of people with the best equipment money can buy take a whole heap of photos that make you stop and scratch your head.  I’m sure I’ve taken more than a few of my own.  Some photographers go to school to learn all the ins and outs and many others are self-taught.  All of it takes time.

Time = money.  Either you’re paying to go to school or your taking time away from something that is paying you to instead run around in the woods (or water) practicing how to use this tiny little box (camera)  with a tube (lens) on the front to create something wall-worthy or at the least pat myself on the back-worthy.

After you’ve sorted out how to use your equipment there’s the outstanding issue of learning about your subject.  With wildlife it’s never guaranteed where they’ll be or when so just finding them to begin with is its own gift, but after that you need to be able to interpret behavior, anticipate patterns, understand influences of weather on animal location/movement/behavior and THEN you have to try to position yourself in the right place at the right time to be able to compose the image you’ve now created in your mind.

When it comes to getting in position, this includes understanding road conditions, knowing how to find and when to take a backroad, what weather patterns may be developing which could cause issues getting in/out of desired location, the time it may take to reach desired location on foot and risk factors that may or may not be involved with that.

Lastly, cross all your fingers the wild animals are in a mood to cooperate.  They tend to think it’s hilarious to stand beautifully in epic scenery with the sun RIGHT behind them so your eyeballs are burning trying to see and the camera has absolutely no idea what is happening. I swear sometimes they do it on purpose. (sigh)

Editing Time

On an average day in the field I usually take around 800 images.  On a very good day it’s a little over 2,000.  All of those photos I look through one by one when I get back to the office.  Some I already know immediately are winners, but others take time to sift through to narrow it down to the very best.

Once you’ve selected an image as “the one” it’s time to begin the post production work.  I think it’s fair to say that to create one really pristine image is atleast one hour of editing time.  Often it’s more as you return to it to go over the tiny details again and again.

Photographers have their preference on editing in Lightroom or Photoshop.  I use both but I mainly use Photoshop because I hand edit every image focusing on the smallest details. Within Photoshop I also have several additional programs which can be used concurrently to do other very specific adjustments to each individual image.  All of these programs take time to learn and have regular updates and new features added.  No matter how easy it may look on social media please let me assure you that in fact no, you cannot simply make a quick swipe over an image in some fancy program and make all the unwanted things disappear. 

Overhead Costs

Overhead costs for every photographer just like every other business can vary greatly.  Some have lease costs for gallery or office spaces, others don’t.  Some have purchased their own printers (add in another $30k to equipment costs for a good one) and others use professional print shops to produce their work.  Whether you’re producing your own product or having a professional company produce it there are always costs for each product created plus shipping and handling plus state taxes and surcharges.  

To get a quality product that’s going to hold its color and consistency over the long haul you have to pay a quality product price. Sure you can order products for cheap from box stores, but it’s like trying to compare McDonalds to a five star restaurant – sort of the same item, very much not the same quality.

If you find a photographer’s work in a gallery that they don’t personally own please know that the gallery is taking anywhere from 40%-60% off the sales price as their own profit.  The artist bears the costs of production of the item themselves and then gets the remainder of the sales price after the gallery takes their percentage.  Unless the photographer is producing and selling in mass in several different locations the amount of money made off these type of consignment arrangements is not a lot. 

Professional Photographers also bear the costs of advertising in order to market their work to the appropriate demographic of clients who might be interested.  This usually includes designing/maintaining a website, running ads on social media, print marketing, farmers market type set-ups, ad agencies, magazines, travel companies, etc.

Open Edition or Limited Edition

Photographers and artists alike usually offer two types of products: Open Edition and Limited Edition.

Open Edition means that there is no limit to the production numbers of this particular image.  It can be and will be printed for an unlimited amount of time in an unlimited number of sizes and formats.  The cost of an open edition print is always lower than a Limited Edition.

A Limited Edition means just that.  Only a set number of prints will be produced and once they’re sold there will be no more available from the artist.  The cost is higher because the profit margin to the creator is limited, but the value to the investor can also be higher because there is a limit to the number available and the concept is that these Limited Editions create a unique collector’s item.

Summary

Just like anything else, different people find value in different things.  Sometimes you see that image or artistic creation that just speaks to you.  That’s what we all, as artists, are trying to achieve.  Capturing or creating a piece that really demands viewers’ attention and draws them in. 

To get from point A (wanting to) to point B (actually doing so) takes a lot of blood, sweat, tears and ongoing financial investment.  So to be able to keep doing what we’re doing and sharing aesthetically pleasing and emotionally gripping images we need to be able to have it make financial sense as you would with any other profession. 

Hence how photography price lists are born.