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rilladilla
Participant
April 9, 2025
Question

Can someone tell me why this photo might have been rejected? Included camera settings.

  • April 9, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 334 views



Hello, 

 

I recently took my camera out to a local garden and all of the photos I submitted were rejected. I'm new at this. I know the background is blurred, but that was intentional. Most of my photos all look like this. Focused on the flower, with a blurred background. Are my files not large enough?

Thank you so much for your help and advice!

4 replies

Ricky336
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 11, 2025

Hello,

From your camera info, you used an f-stop of 5.3 and 72mm focal length. F 5.3 gives you a shallow depth of field in conjunction with the focal length. This has resulted in the blossom not being fully sharp - the depth of field is too shallow.

It would be a good idea to take several shots and increase the f- stop.

But then take note of your shutter speed. 

 

Understanding shallow depth of field photography | Adobe

 

Abambo
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 11, 2025

Nice picture, but it is lacking focus. Check that 100%. You could also enhance the contrast.

 

The blurred background is OK, that even adds a nice texture.

 

Why would the file not be big enough? 24Mp is much more than the required 4MP, so you are well equipped.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 9, 2025

It's not all about size.  It's about your subject, composition, lighting, focus, color balance and all the other things that go into good quality images.

 

Stock already has 17.5 million pink flowers.  Even if this is accepted, it's unlikely to get viewed, much less sold.

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=pink+flowers

 

If you want to be a Stock a Contributor, do some homework first. 

  • Read the entire Contributor User Guide.
    https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/submission-guidelines.html
  • Find subjects that Stock needs. A creative twist on mundane objects can be good sellers.
  • Plan and execute your photo shoot with various camera settings, focal distances, lighting, etc... 
  • Choose your highest quality images and make needed corrections in Photoshop or Lightroom.
  • Compare your best work with current Stock inventory.
    • Ask yourself if it's as good or better than what Stock has.
    • As a customer, would you buy it?
    • What would you use it for commercially?

 

Hope that helps.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
rilladilla
Participant
April 9, 2025

Very much thank you!

daniellei4510
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 9, 2025

Casual shots of flowers are almost always rejected by Adobe Stock. The database is already filled with millions of flower images, so submissions must be extremely unique to get accepted.

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