Rejected for Noise

[hughp39712120]

Hi all. My photograph of the chess pieces shown here was rejected for excessive post processing and/or noise.  I did my best to avoid creating artifacts during post- processing. Can someone shed some light (forgive the pun) on "excessive post-processing"? How much is too much post-processing? Where in the photo is the noise?

Best regards

HH

[Ricky336 · Accepted solution]

Hi Hugh,

How much is too much post-processing? Well for stock, try to do as little as possible. Only a few changes like exposure, white balance, some noise reduction if needed, some sharpening, but not too, and not too much saturation or even clarity. Best to use the vibrance slider to deepen the colours more than the saturation slider.

I can see a potential problem in the area shown below - there is some pixels/noise in the transition of the colours and on the edge of the chess piece:

Whereas in the following, the transition is smooth:

So, perhaps the reviewers were thinking about this, and therefore rejected because of this factor.

Hope this has 'shed some light' for you!

[hughp39712120]

Hi Ricky336. Thanks for your response. The information is useful.

Best regards

Hugh

[joanH]

Hello hughp,

I do like this photo. Lighting in this is either great or not so hot, so the more you play with the tools, the more choices. rickey336 made good suggestions, exposure is key. I use the Photoshop curve tool for a variety of choices in many areas of the photo by just using the slide curve tool. I also take it into Raw Camera filters even if the photo is not a raw camera shot. I also set photos like this in the natural morning light and watch as the light changes and works magic on glass objects. Then I leave it very nearly as shot if the magic is very good. Let us know when you resubmit the next one and have it accepted. Best regards, JH