Rejected Photo - Technical Issues

Personally, I really like your picture. A lot of critique is based on subjective views and the way everybody has his sight trained differently. For example, a lot of pictures on Adobe stock are heavily over saturated in my opinion, but that's the way they seem to like it.

As for your picture: It has been taken in bright sunlight it's supposed to have a little bit of a blueish/greenish overall look, so I wouldn't change anything on the white balance here. Also the hazy look of the mountains in the background look like they are supposed to. This adds depth to the overall landscape. A sharp and saturated mountain in the background would look weird.

Somebody critizied the reflections of the sun light in the water, but also here, I think it adds to the structure of the water aera in the picture and because of the fine wave structures in the reflecting area it is also not overpowering. It looks more interesting than just plain blue, especially since the sky is already plain blue. Besides the reflections resonate well with the color of the rocks in the foreground. Together with the white in the sky, the reflections and the rocks form a vertical line through the middle of the picture.

So thumbs up from my side, Maybe they just have enough landscapes already and they try to be extremly picky about new ones.

Dear drachvm (Nicole),

Please find attached some non-technical notes I have made.

Apologies in advance for handwriting on your work, I found it quicker and was with the sole purpose of providing some help beyond the "plain" rejection legend we all might have get once or more in our work. Photos are assumed to be yours. NO plagiarism intentions of any kind at all are pretended from my part. I hope this contribution helps to cover one part of that "big void" of multiple possible rejection reasons.

I am not an Adobe employee nor anybody to convince you about anything, I am just a volunteering dude trying to help people blowing off some steam when their work is rejected.

In other words, trying to provide an "out of the box" perspective. My contribution is with good intentions only and hopefully will produce at least one smile.

For more formal and professional comments listen to the guys that clearly know what they are talking about.

Keep shooting, learning, observing, and specially, having fun!

Cheers,

Vences

PS. Don't wait any longer! Keep shooting so you improve over time. "Practice makes perfect" we all get there. About the hazy issue, not sure how to help, I also struggle with it sometimes. Maybe an advanced expert could help us. Beautifully work overall.

Hello,

In my view, I think the white balance is fine actually. It is a bright day, so of course, there will be a lot of blue light. If you use auto white balance or colour correction, it may/will make the picture too yellow.
If you have used raw, this is easy to correct - you could use the 'daylight' setting for example.
I think your picture is lacking vibrance and saturation, so I think you should add more of this. At present, the picture is rather flat. As it is a bright day, the colours are a little washed out.
Bring up the colours to add more punch to the picture. Bring out the blue of the water. Bring out the green in the foreground...

Hi Drachvm,

This is a lovely shot. You need to correct the white balance. It has a blue cast. Also you have applied too much sharpening. 

Best wishes

JG