[Need Contributor Advice] Hi guys, newbie here trying to upload my first stock project but got rejected by quality issue

I’m not a fan of this aspect ratio. Too much sky, not enough landscape.  

See below for more details.

https://photographylife.com/aspect-ratio

Your coastal landscape doesn’t contain enough details for use in commercial projects. The histogram panel in Photoshop shows heavy midtones and not enough shadows & highlights. I’m also seeing some chromatic aberration in the water caused by the low-light conditions.

This is what you’re competing with in Coastal Landscapes:

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=coastal+landscape  3.8 million results

Also read these links.

Stock photo submission overview

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/submit-your-content/submit-photos/photo-submission-overview.html

Stock Photo editing best practices

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/submit-your-content/submit-photos/photo-editing-best-practices.html

Hope that helps.

1-Your photos are too small. I am almost sure photos must be at least 4mb

2-Landscapes are very hard to sell... Try adding human elements or items that would increase what buyers are looking for.

3-Phone photos are not always accepted bc of quality issues, and when they are it’s light conditions are supreme, are shot in raw and have minimum editing.

Learn basic video editing, I’m sure your samsung has built in editing. I shoot random videos shot in 4k and are almost always accepted… but I still pay close attention to angles, lighting and avoid branding signs or identifiable people.

Overexposure (blown-out highlights) and underexposure (crushed shadows) will result in rejection.

Also, pay attention to the composition, such as the ratio of the sky, ground, and water surface boundaries (e.g., 1:2 or 2:1).

Poorly balanced compositions may also be rejected.

In addition to what ​@Ricky336 said, I feel the shadow exposures should be lighter. The second photo needs to be sharpened and the horizon appears to be slanted and there is too much foreground.

I would alter like this (I know, my workmanship was not good but, I was in a hurry.)
 

 I personally would switch to a landscape format of 3x1.
 

Hello,

The overall quality is so good. 1st picture shows banding in the sky - the colours going from light blue to a darker blues is not even:

and noise like in the 2nd shot:

Smartphone photos are good for small screens, but not for large screen monitors, or for large printing because the faults become more noticeable.