Participating Frequently

Question

Sudden rejections after consistent approvals - need advice

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
December 17, 2024
5 replies
390 views

Hello!

Two months ago, I started uploading AI-generated photos to Adobe Stock. During this time, I submitted 48 photos, and almost all of them were accepted by the moderators, except for one (due to an Intellectual Property Issue). This success greatly motivated me to continue.

I was even more motivated when I unexpectedly had my first sale - approximately a month after I started. At that time, I only had around 30 photos in my portfolio. Since then, that same photo has sold two more times, and another photo has also sold once.

However, things unexpectedly changed a week ago. I submitted two new photos, and the next day, both were rejected due to quality issues. While I understood that not all photos could be accepted, I continued working and soon submitted four more photos. I would like to note that I do not submit multiple photos at once; instead, I upload each photo individually, spacing them out at different times to ensure I carefully review each submission including titles and keywords.

Unfortunately, three of those were rejected consecutively. This situation has really affected my motivation because I don’t understand what has changed. Previously, all of my photos were accepted without problems, but now, suddenly, I’ve received several rejections in a row. I was certain the fourth photo would also be rejected, but to my surprise, it was accepted, which left me even more confused.

Please help me understand what might be the reason for these rejections so I can avoid making similar mistakes in the future. I edit every AI-generated photo in Photoshop before submitting it to Adobe Stock.

For clarity, I am providing:

The five rejected photos (I have some assumptions about why some were rejected, like photo #67, but I would love to hear opinions from experienced contributors):

#64 - https://postimg.cc/y37JtB5C

#65 - https://postimg.cc/K453LkkG

#67 - https://postimg.cc/VJJJ3K7v

#68 - https://postimg.cc/Jt8BGchY

#69 - https://postimg.cc/rKF09VxS

2. A few examples of photos that were previously accepted, including photo #70, which was accepted after five consecutive rejections when I was almost certain it would also be rejected:

#70 - https://postimg.cc/KRqNPsk8

#02 - https://postimg.cc/3ybn3fhq

#06 - https://postimg.cc/BXcpjnsH

#11 - https://postimg.cc/F7QGFLth

#21 - https://postimg.cc/DSxccpSz

#36 - https://postimg.cc/v4YzfwHj

#37 - https://postimg.cc/6yYHHpSw

#43 - https://postimg.cc/w354mVQ1

#44 - https://postimg.cc/w3YbMPLK

#45 - https://postimg.cc/xkkL3frs

#49 - https://postimg.cc/GHc7JyXq

#51 - https://postimg.cc/Js0pSWVX

#60 - https://postimg.cc/6Thz3QBR

#62 - https://postimg.cc/qNNGjXyX

3. Two photos that have been sold:

#07 - https://postimg.cc/k6T9MmGm

#39 - https://postimg.cc/PPgH5KXP

Thank you very much in advance for your help and advice!

Contributors

This topic has been closed for replies.

Abambo

Community Expert

Do not take rejections personally. We all experience refusals. Checking your files carefully at 100% will show you errors and issues that need to be corrected. If you cannot correct those issues, do not submit.

I'm just checking 67, I refuse to look into more than 3 pictures in a row, as checking pictures and pointing out the errors take a lot of time. Also, reading stories like yours may be nice on a blog, but I prefer reading more about the issues, than about your motivation. If you are not motivated you do not submit.

I would also point out, that using third party websites is bad practice, as we cannot assure the security of the links you post. It could also get an overzealous moderator to mark your post as spam.

Your picture 67 contains a lot of background noise, with strange patterns. This screencopy is only part of what I saw:

You also have geometry issues, samewhat typical to generative AI:

You also have no difficulties to detect this noise pattern.

As @daniellei4510 pointed out, providing negative space would enhance the commercial value of the pictures, but that is probably not the reason for the refusal, given that other errors are really prominently jumping into the trained eye.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

K

kote_4102Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for your honest feedback and for taking the time to thoroughly review one of my images. I completely understand that it’s a time-consuming process and appreciate the insights you’ve shared regarding the errors and noise/patterns in image #67. I’ll be sure to check my files more carefully at 100% moving forward to identify and correct these issues before submission or not submit at all.

Regarding the use of third-party websites, I understand your concern about security and how it could potentially appear as spam. Actually I also thought about this beforehand, but I decided to use an external platform because I wanted to share more than 10 images, which wasn’t possible directly in the post. I’ll definitely keep this in mind for the future and find a better way to share my work without raising any red flags.

Thanks again for your detailed analysis and constructive feedback, which is really helpful for improving my future submissions! 🙂

Jill_C

Community Expert

First of all, rejections are a part of the game in stock, and you can't take them too personally or let them affect your motivation. You have not experienced a high rate of rejections, so you're on the right track. The best you can do is learn from the rejections. The rejected images can possibly be re-edited to correct the issues and resubmitted.
In the garden image there's a white halo along the bottom edge if the spout and some bright bokeh areas that don't seem to make sense given the lack of a light source nearby.

In the food image, the spoon displays some drawing errors.

In the soap image, the DOF is inconsistent between one side if the image and the other.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

K

kote_4102Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for the insights and encouragement - you’re absolutely right, rejections are part of the process, and I shouldn’t let them impact my motivation so much. It’s reassuring to know I’m generally on the right track, and I’ll focus on learning from these experiences to keep improving. After your detailed feedback regarding the errors in my images, I understand much better what I need to work on and what to fix in the future to achieve the best results.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide such thoughtful input!

daniellei4510

Community Expert

For your kangaroo pic, the bokeh thingys need to be perfectly round or just eliminate them entirely. And match his eye on the right with the one on the left; and again, go or a wider aspect ratio.

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

K

kote_4102Author

Participating Frequently

Unfortunately, I only noticed the issue with the right eye after I had already submitted the photo. At the time, I didn’t know that it was possible to delete a photo while it’s still under review, but I’ve since learned about this function thanks to this forum and its contributors.

As for the bokeh, I’ll definitely take your advice into account for future submissions.

Thank you again for taking the time to provide such constructive feedback - it’s incredibly helpful!

daniellei4510

Community Expert

If I'm reading your email correctly, you've had 47 assets accepted and a total of 5 rejected. That's an acceptance rate of slightly over 90%, which is not too shabby at all. And you've already had sales with so few assets available? AND YOU'RE LOSING MOTIVATION?!?!?!

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

K

kote_4102Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for pointing that out! You’re absolutely right - a 90% acceptance rate is definitely something to be proud of, and I’m truly grateful for the sales I’ve had so far with such a small portfolio. Just yesterday, I had another sale of a different photo from my portfolio, which, of course, gave me even more motivation.

I think I got caught up in the sudden change after having so many consistent acceptances, and it threw me off a bit. But your perspective really helps me see the bigger picture, and I feel even more motivated now to keep going and improving, especially after reading your reply 🙂

Thanks again for the encouragement — it truly means a lot!

daniellei4510

Community Expert

I think the quality issue with this one is composition. Give your buyer some room to crop or add text. Square formats scream AI.

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

K

kote_4102Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for your feedback! That’s a really valuable point, and I’ll keep it in mind moving forward. I’ll experiment with more traditional aspect ratios like 3:2 or 16:9 in my future submissions to see if that helps.

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts!

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