Digital BW, The Print

Richard:

The quite sensible comment has been made that:  "Galleries generally advise artists to do limited editions.  I would take
this advice with a little salt because they have a conflict of interest 
when giving it.  Galleries want artists to produce small editions sized to 
what they can handle." 

That's all true, and for good reasons.  Few of us have met gallery owners 
that are making a killing.

There is another constituency that is attracted to limited editions, 
however, and that is a certain type of buyer.  They see the limited 
edition as a kind of guarantee that the value of their print will not be 
diluted beyond a certain point, set by the limitation of the edition. 
These buyers pay a premium because of this, whether it is explicit or 
implied.  Hence, I believe, an earlier poster's statement that extending 
an edition could be unethical toward your previous buyers.  There are 
those who say that neither educated nor passionate buyers will care 
whether an edition is limited.  There's certainly a portion of the buying 
public that does care, however, and I wouldn't want to cut them out of my 
potential market.  I suppose it depends on the profile of your likely 
buyers.

To consider only 'open" or "limited" editions as your only options, 
however, misses some of the clever marketing and pricing being used by 
some prominent art photographers and galleries.  They limit the editions, 
then charge on an increasing curve as the edition sells.  So, all prints 
are made in one edition.  Print number 1 sells for a stated price, then 
each print thereafter becomes more expensive than the previous one sold, 
on a chronological basis.  This is makes supply-and-demand explicit, 
giving the artist more of the benefit of an image's popularity, while 
allowing collectors to get in on less popular images at lower prices.  The 
price curves  can be *very* steep as the edition gets toward its closing 
numbers.  This is occasionally combined with the marketing technique of 
making posters of the top selling images.  In this way, the "limited 
edition" of original prints is kept intact, but you can still make money 
selling the most market-proven images in poster form.

Whatever decision you make, I hope you sell heaps.  That, combined with 
living in godzone would make you the envy of many of us.

--h
...having an un-lurky day

Hi Houston,
thanks a lot for your feedback.

>The 
>price curves  can be *very* steep as the edition gets toward its closing 
>numbers.  This is occasionally combined with the marketing technique of 
>making posters of the top selling images.  In this way, the "limited 
>edition" of original prints is kept intact, but you can still make money 
>selling the most market-proven images in poster form.

When you said 'making posters' of expired limited editions, what would be defined as a legitimate poster and not as an extra print undermining the legitimacy of your previous limited editions?

I thought of doing A3 prints on Photo Rag (or similar) with a watermark at the bottom, so that it is visibly different from my limited editions - would that be legitimate? For poster purposes, I wonder if sprayed Heavyweight Matte would be ok?

thanks,
Richard 
--
http://smallfield.vze.com
http://photos.smallfield.vze.com

   'I rubbed my hands with glee - I always keep a tin
   of it with me.'
   --Spike Milligan

Hi Richard,

A poster is usually done in very large numbers with an offset press and is of 
significantly poorer quality than a good inkjet print.   Exceeding your limited 
edition by trying to print at a different size on a different paper with or 
without a watermark would put you in the same ethical hot water.  

Tom Andrews
http://www.wildlandart.com

 
> When you said 'making posters' of expired limited editions, what would be 
defined as a legitimate poster and not as an extra print undermining the 
legitimacy of your previous limited editions?
> 
> I thought of doing A3 prints on Photo Rag (or similar) with a watermark at 
the bottom, so that it is visibly different from my limited editions - would that 
be legitimate? For poster purposes, I wonder if sprayed Heavyweight Matte 
would be ok?

> 
> thanks,
> Richard 
> --
> http://smallfield.vze.com
> http://photos.smallfield.vze.com