Photo was rejected, looking for feedback to improve

Check your histogram. When it comes to stock, adjusting color balance is best used to fix issues rather than reinterpret the image. That’s not a hard and fast rules, but I think it applies here.

What are you editing with? It’s a hard shot given the dramatic intensity of light to dark areas. Lightroom or Photoshop, using Camara Raw would be perfect to help open up the water and sounding dark areas… try fixing that and give it another try… by the way, in my opinion the colors are fine, but reducing the yellow/orange a tiny bit would not hurt.

In the future put a little more time deciding on the best composition for a time critical shot like this one. The story here is the geyser. Can you see how moving the camera a “few” degrees to the right would have made the composition more balanced, and help reduce all the brightness from the sun?

You should still be proud, this one is your shot... 

Live and Learn!

Images may be rejected if the white balance is excessively off, resulting in an orange tint.
Overexposure (blown-out highlights) and underexposure (crushed blacks) are also grounds for rejection.

Hello,

You have to balance the exposure. You have over and underexposed areas. You have to lighten the geyser but also be careful of noise that will show when making it lighter. I also think the composition can be improved. I would not add the yellow as this interferes with the white balance.