Quality issues

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

I was thrilled to be accepted and become a contributor to Adobe a few years back. Many of the photos I have submitted have been accepted and I have made sales. For the past few months not a single photo has been accepted for same reason doesn't meet our standards. I am an IPhone contributor and respect the reviewer's decision but am perplexed when the same photos are being accepted and selling on other stock sites. I am including a recent flower photo as an example and hope someone can help me understand the quality issue. I normally am a beach landscape photographer and tried to change up submissions since I am getting no approvals. I am fully aware an IPhone does not have quality as cameras do but up until a few months ago I had only a few photos not being accepted. Again, I respect the decisions but feel a bit hopeless at this point submitting here when others are accepting my submissions. Thank you for any input it is much appreciated. 

[George_F · Accepted solution]

From a composition standpoint, the flower looks cut off at the top to me.  It's lacking fine detail when I zoom in, and the blur appears to be an added effect to me.  If you zoom in, there are very smooth areas in the blur mixed with grain/artefacts.  I think this is subtle on a small screen, but with large prints and on large monitors it's probably more noticeable. 

I would also guess the reviewers are very accustomed to noticing changes in texture which is common with A.I.  I saw noticeable changes in texture here, which I'm betting is the automatic processing applied by the smart phone software.

Good luck with your future submissions!

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at the photo and your helpful reply. This was taken on portrait mode with my IPhone 14 pro and no edits were done. I can see how on a large screen it would appear differently. I need to consider how my images will appear enlarged, so thank you. Just feeling very discouraged with denial after denial while others are accepting my images and they are selling. I truly appreciate your time. 

[George_F]

More than likely, the edits were made automatically by your phone's software.  The overall unpredictable nature of smartphone photos is one of the reasons I don't recommend using one for a technically demanding pursuit such as stock.

There is nothing wrong with continuing to submit, I believe the overall acceptance rate just has to stay above 50% although I can't remember for sure about this statistic.

With a few more rejections, you should get a better feel for what Adobe is looking for and be able to pass over the ones likely to be rejected.

If you are serious about stock, consider a dslr for better quality and more control over your photos 🙂

Cheers!

[George_F]

It's also not uncommon for different stock agencies to accept different photos, it's safe to assume they evaluate photos in different ways.

I have photos accepted by Adobe that aren't accepted by others, and vice versa.

Cheers!

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

Thank you again for your replies and suggestions. Your time is greatly appreciated. 

[EzyRider_II]

hey Gerri, I think George is right in his assessment. I am not going to pixel peep your photo. but I feel your frustration "in general". while I use a camera, I have been experiencing exactly what you described. in the distant past I used to get a decent 70-80%-ish acceptance rate here (at other sites it's much higher! at DT it's 99.8+% or something. at the British site probably around 98%). but in the last 3 months it went to the point that 9 photos out of 9 were rejected by Adobe. and I am not new to submitting! I respect Adobe's right to allow only the (nearly) spotless pics. and buyers' right only to the best. I do! Yet crazy is crazy! no matter what. the 9 out of 9 reject felt like somebody telling me: go back to kindergarden dude, you don't know what you are doing! so don't feel singled out. something went down in reviewing process lately. may be too much submits? I dunno' and I don't care, but I am only uploading now in the rare cases when I am 90% sure that it's a rather commercially viable photo. otherwise I won't let anybody (!) humiliate me like that again (I am in the top 10,000 in weekly ranking). also, the way the pixelation works between camera photos and cell phones can be quite different. and I am pretty certain that this info is easily available to any reviewer. so it might be that they became more stringent in that sense too. just spitballing though. good luck in your future uploads! Cheers.

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and actually making me feel better. I have been doing stock photography for 4 years with an IPhone and surprisingly with what I think are good results. There is no comparison of course to cameras and the amazing photographers behind those cameras. With each denial it has made me question myself to the point to reach out for feedback, good or bad. Your time, suggestions and support are greatly appreciated. 

[Photo Punch]

greeing with you on the acceptance.  I just had 32 of 32 rejected.  One of the best batches i have put out.  every one of them got the generic "quality issues".  I zoomed all images to 200% before posting to look of issues.  There are none.  I think Adobe has gone to yahoos that just evaluate based on personal preference instead of quality.  My acceptance rate in teh past has been around 80%.  I have improved on my skills tremendously so you would think the rate would go up.

this is ridiculous

[Abambo]

I think Adobe has gone to yahoos that just evaluate based on personal preference instead of quality.  

By @Photo Punch

I consider that is a rumour! Post one of your quality assets in a new thread, and we will see.

All refusal reasons given by Adobe stock moderators are generic.

[Ricky336]

  I think Adobe has gone to yahoos that just evaluate based on personal preference instead of quality.  My acceptance rate in teh past has been around 80%.  

this is ridiculous

By @Photo Punch

Just maybe, it is the other way around;  in the past, 'yahoos' evaluated the photos, and now it's gone to people who know about quality, hence the rejection rate is higher. Is this possible??

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

After posting here and reading the suggestions and advice it appears there is such an over saturation of photos and to get an approval you need to have photos unique to others or in demand. Personally, from now on, I will be more selective in my uploads. I have a 91 percent approval rate on other stock sites so I have been puzzled by so many denials here. Hang in there and don't let it discourage you. I had become very discouraged and after posting the support and suggestions have been very helpful to understand better Adobes review process. 

[EzyRider_II]

Maybe. Yet, I only used to post here of those photos that already sold at
other micro sites (about 15-20% of all my postings elsewhere). Which on the
surface should be enough for approval!? Yet I was getting a pretty bad
approval rate here lately. So for that reason I will be very, very
selective posting here from here on. Not so much to adhere with Adobe's
fresh expectations (to hell with that! If my pics sell, that's good enough
proof for me), but I just don't wanna waste my time risking a hasty review
and rejection.

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

This was exactly what I had been submitting here, photos approved and had sold on other sites but they are rejected here. I will also be more selective and upload fewer and see if the rejections become less. Good luck to you! 

[EzyRider_II]

Thank you. Same to you!
Please keep me posted if being much more selective changes anything. My gut
feeling is though, that if management tells reviewers that "from now on
reject 75% of all submissions" (!?, just threw in a number), us being more
selective will achieve anything?

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

Thank you! I will keep you posted if I see a change in rejections. It can be disheartening to see rejection after rejection so trying to keep positive and try some of the suggestions. I have to say this forum has a great supportive group to provide feedback. That I'm very impressed with. 

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

I said I would send an update to you if I saw any change in the rejections on my uploads. This week three I had submitted a few weeks back were accepted and made one sell on an older photo. The three approved were my normal beach scene uploads not anything different. I haven't tried that yet but was extremely excited to see something actually was approved again. Happy weekend to you! 

[EzyRider_II]

Thank you very much Gerry for remembering and congrats to you on those
acceptances! I suppose it tilted your weekend a bit toward more positive :
)! I felt good about a week ago when (not here, but at another site) they
accepted 9 out of 10. And the problem with the 10th was not about photo
quality but intellectual property argument. So. Some light at the end of
the tunnel!? You have a great weekend now!

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

Congratulations to you too on your successful uploads, even if not on here. It did help to see a few approved again. Thanks again for all your replies. 

[Abambo]

My gutfeeling is though, that if management tells reviewers that "from now onreject 75% of all submissions" (!?, just threw in a number), us being moreselective will achieve anything?
By @EzyRider_II

My gut feeling is that you are spreading conspiracy theories. Sorry, but how would that help Adobe? Adobe is doing business here. It's not a nonprofit organization! If they want quality, they need to refuse assets that are not meeting those quality standards!

[Abambo]

This was taken on portrait mode with my IPhone 14 pro and no edits were done. I can see how on a large screen it would appear differently. I need to consider how my images will appear enlarged, so thank you.

By @Gerri29931050dk1z

The portrait mode on the iPhone creates a fake lens blur, that is more than once off, and creates artefacts. “No edits” is in that sense not true, as the iPhone made automatic edits, to blur part of the image!  You should just stop using creative programs, the best results will be served with none of those activated. I would even suggest you do raw pictures and edit your assets later in Lightroom or a similar program for best results.

Other stock agencies have other quality requirements.

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

Thank you for the recommendations. They are appreciated. 

[Abambo]

You're welcome.

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

Zoom in >100% and you'll see that none of the blooms is completely in focus. Due to the lack of controls on your iPhone, you have no control over aperture which determines depth of field. Adobe Stock is overrun with floral images, and unless yours is technically perfect, it's unlikely to be accepted or ever sold.

[Gerri29931050dk1z]

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide your feedback. The portrait mode on my IPhone looks like not a good option to use for flowers. I normally submit beach landscape and sunsets but with so many denials lately have been trying different photos. It's very helpful to hear suggestions and what others see. I truly appreciate your time to respond. After so many denials when you are getting approvals, you begin to doubt yourself. I respect the decisions and really needed support on what to do to improve my submissions. Again, thank you for your time and helpful feedback.