Participating Frequently

Question

Adobe Stock Rejections - Seeking guidance

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
September 25, 2025
4 replies
403 views

Hi!

I was really excited uploading these photos, but all of the m were rejected due to similar content or quality issues. As I'm just starting with posting photos on stocksites, I know I have a lot to learn but I'm open for advice 🙂

May I ask for some honest feedback on some of my photos?

Contributor critique

W

WorldlyWanderer

Participant

I'm glad you asked your question because I feel like I'm in the exact same boat. I found your question and the other commentor's responses informative for my new venture. Thanks and good luck!

S

SrhvnmldrnAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you! The best of luck to you too!

Ricky336

Community Expert

Photography involves quite a lot of thought to take a good photo. Not only lighting, exposure, and the right type of aperture for the shot, but also composition. By the way, with smartphone cameras, you can't choose the aperture.

Read about composition in this link.

Composition:
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/photo-composition.html

Editing photos in software is usually a must - especially if you want to upload them to stock.

S

SrhvnmldrnAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, I will look into this!

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Have you enrolled in any photography courses?
Have you submitted work to other royalty-free services & did you have much success?

I ask because composition, lighting & photographic technique are necessary skills for creating commercial quality Stock Photography that customers will pay for.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

S

SrhvnmldrnAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you for relying. I did not enroll in any photography courses, but have had a subscription to a photography magazine for years and learned a lot about the techniques. Yes, my photos have been accepted on another stockwebsite, but that's just a few days ago since I've only started ..

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

I did not enroll in any photography courses...
By @Srhvnmldrn

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Something to consider. Structured online courses can be very beneficial.

1) The composition of this photo is cluttered with too many competing elements.

2) Improper lighting caused unwanted reflections & hard shadows.

3) The white balance is not neutral. Whites should be white, not gold, gray or pink

4) 75% of the frame is out of focus. Your depth of field is too narrow.

This is what you're competing with in Stock. Notice the pleasing arrangement of objects, neutral white balance, proper focus, and juxtaposition of smooth and rough textures that give the photo added visual interest.

Hope that helps.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Possibly too much haze, caused either by actual fog present at the time, or from light entering the lens. It comes across as though a special effect filter was added, and Adobe seeks assets with more detail, so that a buyer actually wanting such an effect can add it themselves. You might open up the shadows on the tree image, but you also have burned out highlights that are unrecoverable short of using AI.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

S

SrhvnmldrnAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you for your reply. All photos were shot with my smartphone (Samsung A34, 50Megpixel) and without any special filters. There has been no editing afterwards, so I guess that's what I should invest more time in.. After some digging online, I found that people look for 'authentic' photos these days (subject + style and feel), so I thought this would do.. It is so that photos taken with a smartphone are generally rejected?

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Smartphone assets do get accepted, especially as the sensors become larger and quality in general is improved. But yes, even with high-end digital cameras, all images usually (if not always) require or at least could benefit from editing.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

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