images not approved due to quality issues

[KristGunde]

hi! was curious about the quality control on photos, I have some shots that I myself cant really find the exact quality issue with, but they get declined in the quality process. I am curious if anyone knows what the specific quality issues could be? here are a few examples

[daniellei4510]

In image #2, the animal needs to be brightened up. He's almost camoflauged, especially when competing against the burned out highlights where my attention was first drawn. In fact, if you have Photoshop, you might be able to use Gen Fill to remove the foreground object completely. 

The first image is too dark over all and possibly not marketable. 

Third image. Again, too dark, slanted horizon line, and the background antelope(?) are out of focus or were moving, causing motion blur.

[Abambo]

First out of focus, second out of focus an probably badly exposed, and third may be also out of focus, but is surely underexposed and the DOF is too narrow.

[Abambo]

Taking your first into Photoshop shows underexposure in addition to not being sharp:

The histogram shows that the whites are missing.

[Jill_C]

The first is so underexposed, particularly in the shadows, that it's difficiult to discern what we're looking at...

In the second image, the eye goes automatically to the brightest area of the image, which is not the main subject. The animal needs to be considerably lighter - and in focus, of course.

In the third image, it looks like you've cranked up the saturation considerably; nevertheless, the animals need to be properly exposed and in focus. You would have to edit the foreground separately from the sky to retain the best elements of both parts of the scene.

[Nancy OShea]

Stock images have to be highest quality & immediately recognizable to buyers.  If someone asks, "what is this?" you're not communicating the message well enough.  Nobody will buy it.

Compare your best work with current Stock inventory. If yours isn't as good or better than what Stock has, don't submit. There's a high chance it will be rejected. Read these links for more tips.

• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/reasons-for-content-rejection.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/quality-and-technical-issues.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html/stock/contributor/help/photography-illustr...
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/how-to/tips-stock-image-acceptance.html

Hope that helps.  Good luck.

[Ricky336 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

The main issue I see is your exposure in all three. I think you have to selectively brighten up certain areas of the photo to balance the light a bit more.

1st photo? What do you want to show? The perspective also needs to be corrected; from a compositional point of view, it isn't good; it's rather unbalanced.

2nd photo - remove the foreground object -  it's very distracting. The exposure needs to be corrected a bit more.

3rd photo - the edges of the photo are darker which indicates you have light fall-off (vignetting), which means that the outer edges are darker, so you should try to correct this - lens correction. When you use a telephoto lens, this problem is more noticeable.

You also have to correct for the horizon as it is wonky. You need to straighten it.

These guides may be helpful.

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

[KristGunde]

thanks for detailed feedback!

[Ricky336]

You're welcome.😁