Nature and Wildlife Stock Photography

Nature and wildlife photography is one of the most popular stock image site categories.  It is also one of the most competitive, since most stock image sites are already very saturated with these types of images.  In order to get your nature photographs accepted, they  truly must be unique and exceptional.  Also, since customers of stock sites already have literally millions of images to choose from, your images will likely not be noticed or purchased unless your work is truly exceptional.

In general, stock photography sites will only accept images that are sharp, clear, and free of digital noise.  Your images must also be of a very high resolution.  Some stock sites will accept images starting at 3 megapixels, but these days most will only accept images which are 4 megapixels in size, or more.  It is always best to shoot your images at the biggest size your camera will allow, since you may need to do some cropping later.   Since most images taken with a point and shoot digital camera will contain too much noise, and/or not meet size requirements, a DSLR is practically necessary to succeed at stock photography.

If your nature and wildlife photography contains any people, you will need to submit a model release form with your image.  You can find generic model release forms Online which can be printed out, then filled out when needed.

Typically, in order to make decent money from nature stock photography, or from any form of stock photography, you need to have a very large portfolio.  This is because depending on the sites your images are submitted to, you may only make .25 to several dollars per download.  With a very small portfolio, this won’t add up to a lot of money at the end of the month.  However, there are photographers who have literally thousands of images for sale at several stock sites.  Some have chosen to be exclusive photographers on only one site, and therefore make more per download than they would if their images were for sale at multiple stock image sites.  Many of these photographers are making at minimum a good supplementary income, and some photographers who have particularly good portfolios are even making a living.

If you would like to sell your nature and wildlife photography Online, my article “Best Microstock Sites For Contributors” will help you get started!