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Critique and advice

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 12, 2024
5 replies
786 views

Hi everyone,

I started posting a few days ago and am just trying to gauge the types of photos that are acceptable and why. They were all accepted on Shutterstock but only some on Adobe Stock. They have been accepted on Getty too. I did very light edits in Lightroom.

I have two main questions, I suppose.

1. Composition. Most of our photography so far is at Nigerian food markets. I know food is high competition but there are some unique foods to be found that people might find interesting. What is any advice you have for photographing food and how do I use keywords to be noticed? Also, struggling with how to get tall trees in a shot as well. Or should I just focus on texture and not worry about cutting bits out?

2. Will photography as niche as this ever get noticed? Should I just stick to the trending lists?

Other than that, please feel free to critique and more importantly, suggest advice. Thanks so much.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Abambo

I'm after specific feedback and the reviewer suggested I post here.

By @MissN77

You want specific feedback:

Tree:

Noisy and out of focus with multiple artefacts.

(At 100%). Composition: Get rid of the building and those streaks:

There is a second palm tree directly behind the main one. That's disturbing the eye.

With a different POV, you would have probably avoided this.

Bells: very cluttered. Maybe a less narrow approach could have helped here.

The highlights are blown out, this eats the texture, and I have the impression that there was a lot of noise reduction applied.

That also eats up details. The fake DOF does not work well for stock images:

The Nigerian mum: besides the fact that you cut off the child's legs, you have a lot of noise and artefacts in the image:

This picture probably requires a model release. Contrast could be enhanced. The processing did also flatten the textures here, very visible on the child's head.

Goats: there is a strange colour cast on the upper half of the image, that will need to get corrected. The white balance is most likely bad on this one. The goat's fur does not show the fur texture, that has been optimized away from the in phone processing.

Your "African Efun Cascarilla" image is interesting, and I think that the subject does cover up the deficiencies of your camera. A bit more contrast and it would be OK. I would crop out the borders:

The seafood picture needs a better composition. This corner is disturbing:

You also see at the table's (?) border that the DOF has been faked. It's very visible at the top of the picture:

IMHO: Any stock database accepting these assets is not doing a correct quality control.

Ricky336

Community Expert

Hello,

You have to work on your composition, especially for the stock market. Your pics are more like snapshots, ones you would snap whilst on holiday.

Colour balance also needs to be corrected.

To get tall trees in a shot, you need a wide angle lens - other than stepping back!

Have a read of these resources.

User guide:
https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html
Exposure:
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/exposure-in-photography.html
Composition:
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/photo-composition.html
White balance:
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/white-balance.html

You might get some benefit from reading Photography Life.

Photography Life

M

MissN77Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for the advice. I will look at working on composition much more. Once I've researched a bit more, I'll invest in a wide angle lens too. Noting this all down and I'll check out the links. Much appreciated. 😊

Abambo

Community Expert

Picture 4 could also get a refusal on Shutterstock for a missing model release.

Without digging deeper, I would refuse 1, 3 and 6 for quality issues. The others I would need to have a more profound look.

Having assets accepted at other sites does not give you a right for acceptance here and vice versa.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

M

MissN77Author

Participating Frequently

I'm after specific feedback and the reviewer suggested I post here. Hopefully it's not too brutal but digging deeper is exactly what I am after, as Jill has done. The Adobe feedback said quality so your feedback that says quality takes me no further. I do know that different stock agencies accept different standards. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I do appreciate it.

Abambo

Community Expert

If you are after specific feedback give specific information. I'm not in a guessing game why certain assets got refesused and for what reason.

If you are new to stock, you should consider these resources: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/tutorials.html
Please read the contributor user manual for more information on Adobe stock contributions: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html
See here for rejection reasons: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/reasons-for-content-rejection.html
and especially quality and technical issues: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/quality-and-technical-issues.html

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

As with identifiable people, livestock with identifying tags or marks will be flagged for Property refusal unless you submit a signed release form by the owner to use the image commercially.

See Model & Property Release requirements below.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

M

MissN77Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Nancy,

Thank you. It hasn't said that in the feedback and the same image was accepted on other stock sites, although I did think it might be flagged, too. It seemed to be more about the quality and other areas you sent the links for. I had read them but I tend to learn from doing and feedback rather than taking volumes of info on board.

Will likely take me longer but I was looking more for some specific feedback on compositions, lighting, focus etc?

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Adobe Stock appeals to professional content creators who are searching for highest visual & technical quality images for commercial use (emphasis on commercial).

Stock images are used for printed posters, marketing materials, brochures, menus, magazines, websites, billboard ads, tv commercials, documentary films, textiles and merchandise (t-shirts, tote bags, calendars, etc...).

Compare your best work with current stock inventory. Is the quality is as good or better than what Stock has? Does the subject have commercial value that will appeal to a wide range of customers? If competing with many similar assets, how is yours unique?

Read your Stock Contributor User Guide for more tips.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

Jill_C

Community Expert

Images that portray "local color" or ethnicity are likely to be unique and perhaps under-represented, and seem like a good area to focus on.

Composition and lighting are going to be challenging though. I sometimes rearrange the food lightly to hide a blemish or make it look more appealing. In your first image, the composition is a bit messy with unwanted objects in the frame. Try doing closeups as well as wider angles from different perspectives.
The second image is interesting but white balance is a bit too blue. Try to fill the frame with those objects or crop down a bit.

The third image is interesting - try to work it from different angles to get closer to the goat's faces.

The 4th image of woman and children will be rejected unless you can provide a model release. In general, including any recognizable people will require a model release.

The 5th image, cow bells?, could be a bit wider.

The 6th image, palm tree, is not well composed and hazy. There's a lot of competition in this area so I wouldn't spend much effort unless you can photograph them in a unusual environment.

Hope this helps!

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

M

MissN77Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks so much Jill for your time and feedback. Lots for me to go away and learn and hopefully get better gradually. I'll focus on charm to help the rearranging side of composition and also a long way to go my end. I'll go back and adjust the white balance for the clay. Also try a variety of angles and get stuck in there, lol. Really helpful!

Jill_C

Community Expert

I suppose if you're touching the merchandise, it would probably be a good idea to buy 1 or 2!

You don't need to reshoot the image to adjust white balance. It's an easy fix in Lightroom or Photoshop.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

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