Reasons why my pictures were rejected

[Mafer0D44]

Hi, my name is Maria Fernanda, Im from Ecuador. I,m new taking pictures. I,ve uploaded these but were rejected because of technical issues. Please may someone explain me what I should improve.

[Ralph Lear · Accepted solution]

Hi,

First of all, your signature is not allowed.

Photo 1.

Not sharp enough. Focus on the eyes and use an f/8 aperture.

The sky is noisy. Do noise reduction.

There is too much empty space on the bottom and not enough on the top. Move the subjects down.

Photo 2.

Under exposed subject.

Not sharp enough. Focus on the eyes and use an f/8 aperture.

The sky is noisy. Do noise reduction.

The tail is cut off even though there is room above the bird.

Photo 3.

Not sharp enough. Focus on the eyes and use an f/8 aperture.

The sky is noisy. Do noise reduction.

There is too much empty space on the top. Move the subject up.

remove the flying insect.

Straighten the tree.

Remove the purple tint in the sky.

[Mafer0D44]

Oh thank u so much! I will definetle  apply your advice to the next pictures I take 🙂

[Abambo]

I agree with most of these, except the purple sky. That's not a problem. A picture like this:

with the bird crisp sharp, no noise, would be excepted.

[Jill_C · Accepted solution]

How lucky you are to be able to experience these beautiful birds up close! I have actually kept sub-standard images of some birds in my Catalog just because I enjoyed the experience of seeing and capturing them, even though I know they're not worthy of showing to anyone, let alone trying to sell as stock! I agree with all of Ralph's comments. In general, nailing the focus is the most important aspect of bird photography, which is hard to do if you're holding a long lens and the birds are moving. Make sure your shutter speed is no slower than 1/1000 - even faster if the bird is flying. Changing the focus mode on your camera to "AI Focus" or "AI Servo" can definitely help. Then shoot, shoot, shoot! You might have to capture 50 images to get one good one with a suitable background and decent lighting. 

[Abambo]

 Changing the focus mode on your camera to "AI Focus" or "AI Servo" can definitely help.

By @Jill_C

AI focus and AI servo are Canon jargon. Basically, they try to keep moving objects in focus. As Jill said: shoot a lot, as most of the takes will be out of focus. Choose the one or two that are in focus and submit those. They still need to meet the quality criteria, however.

But let face it: We are not here nature photographers, whose rules are very stringent. You should do all you can to edit out anything disturbing object in the picture. That's not allowed for nature photographers, but we are shooting stock and pictures need to be suitable, not unedited... 🙂