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Answered

Is this photo really as low quality as Stock says it is?

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
April 26, 2026
4 replies
140 views

Stock rejected this photo for quality issues. I used Adobe RBG color on camera settings, I used Lightroom to edit with culling score showing as 97, I used Photoshop for minimal lighting touchups. The sample is reduced in resolution by a factor of ten with the original export being 300 dpi at 10,000x7,000 resolution with a file size of 29MB. I’ve had photos much worse looking than this pass inspection on Stock, so what exact quality issues caused this photo to fail? Is it really such low quality?

Correct answer daniellei4510

Underexposure in the shadows, a slight yellow cast on the lion, and some haloing on the whiskers.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Did you read your Stock Contributor User Guide?

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html

I see two disqualifying issues off the top:

vignetting
uneven exposure

See Photo Dos & Don’ts below:

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/editing-dos-and-dont.html

This is what you’re competing with in Stock inventory

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=lioness

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=lion

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=cougar

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=puma

Hope that helps.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

TedAMessengerAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks! I appreciate the contributions! This is a sample of what I changed so far.

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Much better. Good luck!

Adobe Community Expert | If you aren't submitting your assets in sRGB, you probably didn't read the rules.

Ricky336

Community Expert

I would also give a thought about your white balance. It could be agrued that it is too yellow. However, this may also be due to exposure. The shadows are clipped as pointed out.

RALPH_L

Community Expert

like @daniellei4510 says, underexposed shadows and the halo. Both can be corrected.

TedAMessengerAuthor

Participating Frequently

Yeah lol, I feel kinda dumb about that now, as far as the shadow clipping. Still trying to get the haloing sorted on the whiskers. Dehaze and moiré won’t do it, only desaturate but I want to keep the color.

daniellei4510

Community Expert

You might try something like this, but maybe more carefully than I’ve done in this example. Create a new layer above the original layer in Photoshop and select the Darken mode. Select the Clone tool and make sure “All layers” are selected, then start cloning out the halos. The dark whiskers won’t be affected.

Adobe Community Expert | If you aren't submitting your assets in sRGB, you probably didn't read the rules.

daniellei4510

Correct answer

Community Expert

Underexposure in the shadows, a slight yellow cast on the lion, and some haloing on the whiskers.

Adobe Community Expert | If you aren't submitting your assets in sRGB, you probably didn't read the rules.

TedAMessengerAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you for clarifying that for me! The whiskers are translucent, which made me think it was natural after I tried fixing them without success, and my screen resolution tricked me into thinking the blacks were still within range. Much appreciated!

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