Participant

Question

New contributor – help understanding technical rejection (iPhone photos)

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
May 9, 2025
5 replies
2365 views

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Adobe Stock and also to photography in general. I recently submitted some photos taken with my iPhone, and many of them were rejected due to technical quality issues.

I read the guidelines, but as someone with no background in photography or editing, I’m not sure what exactly went wrong. To me, the images looked good – clear and colorful.

Could anyone please take a look and help me understand:

What kind of technical flaws could be the reason (noise, sharpness, lighting)?
Are iPhone photos generally acceptable?
Should I edit my photos more or less before uploading?

Thanks in advance! I really want to learn and improve.

Ricky336

Community Expert

Hello,

Think about composition.

Read this link from Adobe about composition and exposure.

Exposure:
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/exposure-in-photography.html
Composition:
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/photo-composition.html

jacquelingphoto2017

Community Expert

Hi @artemenkoff

Image 4609 is underexposed and noisy in the shadows. The graffiti on the wall is an IP issue.

4959 has shallow depth and motion blur. The others are underexposed.

Best wishes

Jacquelin

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Inadequate light is the main problem.

Owing to the limitations of automatic phone cameras, you will have to work harder to get Stock-quality images that sell.

You might want to enroll in some online Photography & post-processing courses to get a grasp of fundamentals. If you like it, you can start saving for a good entry-level camera (new or used), lenses & tripod.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

Jill_C

Community Expert

IMG_4961 (2).JPG - shadows are underexposed

IMG_0591.JPG - underexposed, chroma noise, lacks sharp focus

IMG_4959.JPG - artifacts

IMG_4609.JPG - lack of detail due to small sensor

iPhones can produce images of acceptable quality under ideal lighting conditions; however the small sensor sometimes can't capture enough detail. All images need to be edited to some extent prior to upload.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

A

artemenkoffAuthor

Participant

Thank you again for your feedback!

You mentioned that all images need to be edited before uploading.
Could you please share what kind of editing you specifically recommend for photos taken with an iPhone?

Are there any tools or apps you would suggest for improving exposure, reducing noise, and enhancing detail? I'm new to editing, so any beginner-friendly recommendations would be really helpful.

Thanks again for your time and advice!

Jill_C

Community Expert

I use Lightroom Classic for basic edits. I often lift the shadows and reduce the highlights, crop and straighten. You can also remove distracting or unwanted elements such as leaves, trash, logos, people, etc. Adobe offers a mobile version of Lightroom that will run on your iPhone or iPad.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

daniellei4510

Community Expert

I looked at the first five or so and all are underexposed. Adjusting the exposure may make some logos on the cars visible, so those would be rejected for IP issues.

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

A

artemenkoffAuthor

Participant

Thank you for your response!
Regarding the logos, is it okay to simply cover them up or blur them out, or is it better to avoid capturing them entirely in the first place?

Also, about the underexposed photos – when increasing the exposure, what should I focus on to avoid overexposing certain parts of the image? Should I focus more on the highlights, shadows, or midtones to achieve a balanced result?

Also, if you don’t mind, could you please share your expert opinion on some of my other photos as well? I’d really appreciate any feedback — even a quick comment about what works and what doesn’t would help a lot as I’m trying to learn and improve.

Thanks again!

Thanks again for your help!

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Blurring them out won't help. They need to be removed.

As for exposure, you would normally look for some middle ground between shadows and highlights. Most iPhones I've worked with usually take care of all that for me automatically. I think your phone's exposure is probably working as it should, but you need to make changes during post-processing. Although the image of the lighting is probably a lost cause, as adjusting exposure for everything else eliminated the lightening altogether.

In addition to the usual exposure issues, the composition for this one isn't particularly exciting. In addition to adjust exposure, notice the banding that occurs with even a small attempt to brighten the sky. That's one of the shortcomings of phone images, as they don't provide enough information to correct for the built-in problems.

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

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