"Excessive artifacts/noise" ?!?
I got a few images rejected recently, due to "Artifacts problem". The more detailed (generic) description is (as some of you might have experienced as well):
"Excessive artifacts/noise can be caused by low light, bad camera settings, strong compression or excessive post-production."
The images were shot at bright daylight, ISO 100, and have very few (if any) edits - mainly a slight crop, and +- 1 on some sliders. I'm poking my eyes, looking at 200-300% zoom, but can't see a single artifact. Fair enough, some images if shot with little light and high ISO (or heavy editing ex. too much increase in shadows/ lowering highlights, too much sharpening, or strong noise-reduction) might have noise, but not those shot during the day at low ISO and no editing. This image also got accepted at another stock agency, so can't be that bad.
The one below is resized for upload here, but the submitted one was exported full size, 100% quality JPEG, at either 300 or 350 dpi. Is there something I'm doing wrong? How much dpi is considered enough?
I know there are millions of images submitted weekly, but some more detailed feedback would be appreciated from reviewers (rant over).

