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Nadine M
Participant
October 13, 2022
Answered

Entire batches of submissions being rejected, why?

  • October 13, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 516 views

Hi community,

I've fairly recently joined adobe stock. I use a number of other stock agencies and I've so far been getting less than a 10% recection rate for my submitted photos but I've started getting entire batches of photos rejected that have then been entirely accepted on other sites.

I've pulled two out of my last batch of 18 as the ones I can make the best argument for why they'd be rejected (the sunflower and dried artichoke). Both I could make a case for focal point being too short and that contrast could be an issue.

They were all taken on an fx camera at low ISO, reasonably high shutterspeed, haven't tampered with the colours in editing, just reduced the black point and highlights to balance them out a little. I acctually had to shrink them to upload them for this post so I can't see how basic image quality can be an issue. Decent if basic composition....

I've had a few dozen photos of similar topics/types accepted in the last few weeks (the leeks, which I could argue the same in terms of contrast and focus) and most of this batch I would say have been an improvemnt on on previous submissions so I just don't get why EVERYTHING I'm now submitting is now being regected! It's easier on shutterstock as they site a broad reason for rejection (even if you don't always agree!) like noise/composition/similarity if you upload 2 that are basically the same but all I have to go on here is "quality"

 

Any thoughts? Thank you to anyone who has the time to respond  🙂

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer RALPH_L

    Focus and exposure are the main problems. Your depth of field is too shallow and your shadows are too dark. In the first photo, the sky is overexposed.

    3 replies

    jacquelingphoto2017
    Community Expert
    jacquelingphoto2017Community Expert
    Community Expert
    October 13, 2022

    Hi @8179588 M ,

    The first photo is noisy. It's depth of field is shallow; too much is out of focus. It's underexposed and the highlights is too high.

    The blur in the forefront at the base of your frame is distracting. You should either include what is in the forefront in focus or totally remove it.

     

    Blue color fringing is on the edge of the leaves, noisy. The leaves seem to be lacking contrast. They have a washed out appearance.

     

    The second photo is slightly grainy and almost completely out of focus. It's just a small rip that was within focus.

     

    The third is also washed out, underexposed, has color fringing, details are lost in the highlights and too much is out of focus.

    The first composition is ok. For the second composition I think you could have repositioned the camera to capture mainly the seeds of the sunflower and less of the petals, or if petals forms part of the subject to include whole petals. The third third flower-head needed centering so that the entire subject is included in the frame. 

    You can learn more about what Adobe is looking for at The Adobe Stock Contributor Learn And Support.

    These are seven tips that will help you to get Adobe accepting your files.

    Here are some detailed information that will help you improve your submission for better quality submissions.

    It is an asset to go through your camera's manual and learn about all the functions. In addition reading or participating in formal photography course will also help you improve you photography skills.

    Best wishes

    Jacquelin

     

     

    N
    Nadine MAuthor
    Participant
    October 13, 2022

    Hi Jaqcquelin, thank you for taking the time to respond 🙂

    I think I wasn't clear enough but the first photo of the leeks which you've correctly pointed out issues with was accepted and I included it here as an example of my confusion about the standards needed to be accepted. Part of the washed out look of the leaves is exactly as you've said but a lot of it is this leek variety having a very strong blue-hue waxy coating which I think is compounding the problem a bit!

    For the other two thanks for your advice on composition. The first two links have already read through when I joined adobe but the 3rd is new to me and looks very detailed so will have a good read through that.

    Thanks very much! 🙂

     

    jacquelingphoto2017
    Community Expert
    jacquelingphoto2017Community Expert
    Community Expert
    October 17, 2022

    Hi @8179588 M ,

    You are welcome. 

    Best wishes

    Jacquelin

    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 13, 2022

    I do not see that you reduced the size of the pictures, which is good, as we need to look at the pictures as submitted. Having submitted pictures on other sites does not guarantee success here. Adobe stock moderators are known to be very stringent.

     

    I suppose, all were refused because of technical issues.

     

    Your first has a blown out sky and missing blacks. You have chromatic aberration:

    The DOF is very narrow, and the contrast could be better. The histogram shows some part of the blacks missing.

     

    My guess is, that correcting the aberration will get this image through. My other remarks are: complaining at a high level.

     

    Your second has a too narrow DOF, is slightly underexposed.

     

    Your third is missing blacks in the histogram, so it is overexposed. Related to this, I find that it is missing contrast in the shadows. The DOF is also narrow.

     

     

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
    N
    Nadine MAuthor
    Participant
    October 13, 2022

    Hi ABAMBO,

     

    Thank you for taking the time to respond. I would like to start by saying I'm sorry if I've come off as "complaining at a high level". Please don't misunderstand, I'm not massively invested in my submissions to adobe or franky what others in general think about my stuff though I huguely value constructive advice. Wouldn't learn anything otherwise 🙂

    I added as much detail as I did to hopefully not waste your time and to give some context to what the issue I'm having is. Eg that I have for a while submitted photos that have generally been of lower quality, noise/megapixels/softer focus that have been accepted (like the one of the leek that you have picked out has been accepted). Usually most accepted and a couple not but now every single submission is being rejected despite being of generally higher quaility. For example my last batch 18/18 were rejected, different days/light/depth of fields/subjects.

    I've also had far more rejections from shutterstock than adobe so up until now I haven't found it to be overly stringent if a bit erratic sometimes hence my puzzlement when my last 60 odd submissions have been rejected but 90% previous accepted.

    I'm interested in your point about the blacks being too light/missing, I had brought up the black point as the main reasons for fails in the past has been the black point being too dark so I will have to re-look at what is the happy medium. My camera naturally takes photos at pretty high contrast so most editing I do is to try and reduce and soften this a bit.

    If interested I shrank down these photos by about 70% before it let me upload them here.

    Thanks for your time ADAMBO 🙂

    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 13, 2022
    quote

    Hi ABAMBO,

     

    Thank you for taking the time to respond. I would like to start by saying I'm sorry if I've come off as "complaining at a high level". 🙂


    By @Nadine M

    MY remarks are “complaining at a high level”, meaning that the pictures are OK mostly.

     

    I found that Shutterstock, as you name it, accepts pictures that I shouldn't have submitted in a first place.

     

    As of your third: Looking at the histogram (left), I see the blacks missing:

    The resolution is what your Camera offers.

     

    The interface here: Attaching images should work perfect, as you can attach up to 47Mb.

     

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
    RALPH_L
    Community Expert
    RALPH_LCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    October 13, 2022

    Focus and exposure are the main problems. Your depth of field is too shallow and your shadows are too dark. In the first photo, the sky is overexposed.

      N
      Nadine MAuthor
      Participant
      October 13, 2022

      Hi Ralph, thank you for responding, your points about focal length and shadows are what I thought might be the problem so good to get that feedback.

      The first photo of the leeks though is one that has been accepted long with several similar ones and I think is poorer image overall to the other two in terms of contrast and the blown out sky which is why I'm puzzled by by so many of my more recent submissions that are a little more balanced being regected on mass. The sunflower and artichoke are the worst of my recent submissions which is why I posted them here. Thanks for your time and critique 🙂

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