Photo rejected because of lacking image quality

[yanniks3080571]

Hi everybody

The photo was rejected by Adobe Stock due to quality issues. The photo was taken at night. I would like to understand what exactly is the problem with the quality. Unfortunately I had to resize and slightly reduce quality to be able to upload the photo.

Thank you for any help.

[Jill_C]

The image is not in sharp focus.

[yanniks3080571]

Hi Jill, thanks for the answer. I cannot fully agree. Of course the wall in the very near foreground is not sharp. But from the big rock on the beach to the red house the image is sharp. At least what my eyes see.

[Jill_C]

Zoom in between 100-200% which is exactly what the Moderators do. 

[yanniks3080571]

Yes, this is what I did. Of course at 200% you get a pixelish image. But at 100% the area that I mentioned is sharp. Could be that some leaves of the trees are not sharp, that is because of the long exposure.

[RALPH_L]

@Jill_C is correct. The image is too soft. I do not mean the foreground. Your focus appears to be on the second row of rocks. This makes too much of the photos unsharp.

[yanniks3080571]

Ok, lets get concrete. So you tell me the red house is not sharp enough at 100% ?

[yanniks3080571]

Here is the focus point I have set. Is this what you refer to second row of rocks?

[Jill_C]

I'm wondering why you chose AI Servo Focus Mode given that the camera was on a tripod. AI Servo is preferred for moving subjects, and perhaps because there was some motion in the frame from trees and water, refocusing occurred.

[yanniks3080571]

Hi Jill, that is a very good observing about the AI auto focus. I am also surprised now that this setting was on the camera on that moment. Could be really influencing the focus at the moment of shutter close. But still. My question: is the red house not sharp enough at 100% ?

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

I think the red house is sharp enough given the distance; however the rocks below it are a bit blurry. Now that I've looked at this on my 30" monitor rather than my iPad, I think noise might be the main problem. Zoom in to the water and you see noticeable graininess. This would be easy to fix in Lightroom Classic using the Denoise feature.

[Ricky336 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

I also do not think that focus is an issue, it seems sharp enough to me. You also have a good depth of field. I also think that AI Servo will not make a difference in focusing, even if on a tripod. There is no sign of camera shake or focusing problems.

As this is a night, the colour balance is influenced by artificial light; my suggestion is to correct your white balance. Take out the yellow/magenta cast, and you should be fine.

E.g

Using auto colour

And while you're making changes, crop out the lower part.

[yanniks3080571]

Thank you all for the valuable discussion and tips. This helps me a lot. I think we can close the discussion now.

[daniellei4510]

I'm with Jill on this. In my experience, even sharp rocks do not always look sharp and need a little extra sharpening boost. But that's not what I find out of place in this image. It's the very large shelf of a rock covering most of the bottom of the image. It's nature's equivalent of photo-bombing. 😉

[Abambo · Accepted solution]

The asset is rock sharp, but there is a certain noise level. I do not know, however, if that is enough to earn a refusal. There are, however, also artefacts in the light stars. Looks like a kind of moiré. Did you use a lens filter (hardware, not software)?

[yanniks3080571]

Hi Abambo, thanks a lot for the feedback. I did not use a filter.