By far the easiest part of wildlife photography is the ability to take great photos, although there are comparatively few photographers who excel with this ability. It is much harder to sell them. It is even harder to make a living out of wildlife photography.

Wildlife photographers, like other photographers, typically start out as self-employed freelancers. Any assignments they are likely to obtain tend to be low-paying due to their lack of experience. As they become better known for the quality of their wildlife shots, they get more assignments that pay better than when they were entry level freelance photographers.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for photographers as of 2009 was $36,370. However, while the bottom 10% of photographers earned only $17,120, the top 10% of them earned about $62,340. This is borne out from the Simply Hired and Kaycircle websites in 2011 when they stated that the salary for wildlife photographers was on average $41,000.

Some photographers make more money selling their work through stock photo agencies. All the better stock agencies are flooded with wildlife images, making it more and more difficult for photographers to sell their work. Typical sale prices for downloaded images can be as low as 25 cents and perhaps $3 per downloaded image, depending on the subject, composition and size of the image. It is worth noting that photographers need to upload lots of images to stock photo web sites to increase their chances of success.

Many of the more successful photographers are also selling their photos directly to publishers of magazines, books, calendar companies and advertising firms. Photographers have to research who the publisher's art directors are, what the guidelines for submitting work to them are, and must follow those guidelines accurately. However, it often takes years to build these professional contacts and to develop a successful portfolio that is attractive to publishers.

Other photographers have a loyal following through their portfolio websites and are able to sell their work this way. The secret to building traffic to their sites involves optimum SEO content, so that they are easily found by search engines, and having outstanding photo content on their website for their particular niche. Writing articles, blogs and participating in photographic forums and in social networks all help towards and getting known by followers of their work. The more traffic that arrives on a photographer's website landing page will increases the potential for photo sales.

If you are going to be successful in wildlife photography, you will need determination and strong business skills. It's not enough to be a good photographer. You will need to be a marketer, promoter and advertiser as well. Some careful consideration is needed before anyone embarks on a full time career as a wildlife photographer.

If you wish to see examples of my work, please visit my personal photographic portfolio site at http://photopress.in/brianparkin

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