Answered

rejected for quality issues

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
December 14, 2025
5 replies
908 views

Hello! This is my first time posting here and I'd love honest feedback on why these two images were rejected for quality issues so I can improve my work and submissions. Can any one tell me why these two images were rejected?

Contributor critique

Correct answer yamato713108855

Cafe photos have a lot of noise.
If there are people in the photos, a model release is also required.
Even if the quality is good, your photo will be rejected without a model release.

The area of the grape leaves that is in focus is too small.
Try focusing on a wider area and taking the photo.

↓First, check this out.

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

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Adobe Stock customers expect the highest visual & technical quality for use in commercial projects.

Snapshots might be OK for social media, but they're not good enough for Stock.

For comparison, this is what you're competing with in Stock inventory:

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=grape+vines 3.4 million results

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=grape+leaves 1.4 million results

https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=french+cafe 408K results

Hope that helps.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

T

travellurAuthor

Thank you for your very helpful reply. It's a good idea to check what is already on Adobe Stock before uploading. I checked Uzes france cafe and there is nothing, just generic cafe images. I typically upload images of destinations for travel and leisure where a picture of a cafe in Uzes could be useful for a blogger, travel agent, local business, etc... to show that particular destination.

Ricky336

Community Expert

Hello,

Composition comes to mind, which also comes under quality. This can be improved upon.

Read this help guideline from Adobe about composition.

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

T

travellurAuthor

Thank you for your reply

RALPH_L

Community Expert

In addition, you need to add details to the sky in the grape vine photo.

T

travellurAuthor

Thank you for your reply.

Jill_C

Community Expert

Have you read ALL of the Adobe Stock guidelines on the help pages? Unless you are able to supply signed model releases for every recognizable person in an image it isn't suitable for stock at Adobe or any other stock agency.

The grape vine image has an overexposed sky, and perhaps should have been composed dfferently.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

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travellurAuthor

Thank you for your reply and excellent advice. Yes, I have read the Adobe Stock guidelines and didnt thing the people were recognizable. The cafe image was rejected for quailty, but maybe it would have also been rejected for IP.

Jill_C

Community Expert

The rule of thumb is that if a person could recognize themselves in an image, you need a model release. Sometimes even people with their backs to the camera are recognizable because of distinctive hats or clothing, etc. That is why shooting in public places can be so challenging for stock. It's okay to have an out of focus background, as long as the main subjects in the frame are in sharp focus. In general, it seems that Adobe reviewers do not like images with an extremely shallow DOF, because that often means that the subject is not completely in focus.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

yamato713108855

Correct answer

Community Expert

Cafe photos have a lot of noise.
If there are people in the photos, a model release is also required.
Even if the quality is good, your photo will be rejected without a model release.

The area of the grape leaves that is in focus is too small.
Try focusing on a wider area and taking the photo.

↓First, check this out.

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

T

travellurAuthor

Thank you for your reply and excellent advise. I never reduce noise in my images and maybe I need to start doing that. The cafe image was rejected for quailty, but maybe it would have also been rejected for IP. I usually use a very small field of focus because I like bokeh, but perhaps for stock images, it's better to have everything in focus.

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