dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Interesting article on the William Eggleston incident.
https://petapixel.com/2013/03/31/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-photog-oks-reprinting-of-limited-edition-pics/

duane klipping Loc: Bristow iowa

Wow the guy paid 250k for a photo of a tricycle. Wonder if he would like to collect some of my snapshots too.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

I wonder how much you could get for the pair. I mean the photo and the actual trike.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

If you think that is nothing more than a snapshot, then you haven't really looked at it analytically. For example, the content and specific arrangement of the background elements are just as important as the primary subject (the tricycle), giving the image meaning. So does the choice of angle, as well as the color palette. This is no mere snapshot; it is an extremely well thought out image, and highly venerated for good reason.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Frankly, "limited edition" is just a way of increasing buyer interest - some want to think they're one of the few people that have that print. Ethically I have always felt that if I sold prints in limited editions then I should not ever print that photo again. But I am not nor ever will be a famous artist, so if I sell limited editions it is just a ploy on my part to make the buyer think they're getting something more important to own. (BTW, if you ever buy from me, then ignore this post - just know that my photos are worth more than anyone else's and everyone should strive to own one, LOL.)

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

With modern printers makes no difference the number on the print as they can all be spewed out identically in a few minutes with no additional input or effort.
Far cry from individually crafted darkroom prints.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Good point!

TonyBot

A lot of good responses here. My thoughts are not like the "thousands ... at $25 ... " that Mike used as an example (and I *have* seen a [not so good] photograph numbered #x/1,250!!!), but more of 25 to 100 11x14s paper print, and then *retire* the file - perhaps, at a later date, different enough to really *be* different - such as in a greatly different size or medium. I didn't want to go against "commonly accepted practices".

I completely understand the reason for L/E prints, as was done in wet lab days, or dye-sub, or pulling lithos off of stone, but there are still folk who *want* a L/E print. Someone once said to me: "if this was a numbered print, I'd buy it right away". It won't be really any different - it's the " ... in the eyes of the beholder" argument.

So, basically it all boils down to the integrity of the photographer ...

Logan1949

No. Printing photographs may be compared to records (CDs or tapes) made of a specific song recorded by a specific artist at a specific place. Different artists may record the same song. If the place changes, or the medium changes, they would be different "editions" in the sense that each difference has its very own copyright. Approximately. Also, sometimes the Certificate of Authenticity which provides provenance of a physical photographic print may often contain language allowing for different sizes or medium formats to be printed from the same digital file as different (numbered) editions which may affect the value of this particular numbered edition.

A word of caution regarding numbered editions. I was watching the 8-part documentary, "The Toys that Made Us", and one of the Star Trek toy makers decided to issue a limited edition of the original Star Trek spaceship, the Enterprise, in order to make a lot of money. That decision killed the collectors market for all of their Star Trek toys because there were so many times that number of collectors who were trying to collect every single Star Trek toy ever made by that company, that when many of them could not buy that particular item, they stopped collecting all of the other Star Trek toys made by that company. But then, the market for those toys, at the time, was thousands or millions of items.

The morale to the story --- If the market for your prints is over the number in your edition, don't kill the market by withholding the buyer's ability to create a complete collection. [P.S. edit: But then, that is where the ability to create a new limited edition in a different size or medium comes in. If you quickly sell out your limited edition of 100, sell a 1000, or 10,000 edition in a different size or medium.]