Should I use a big fstop for stock?

[Akillith]

Hello! I finally got off my butt and took the first steps to learning stock photography. Literally everything was rejected for quality issues. So, I'd love to hear some critiques. As I'm realizing now I may not know what to look for with this genre. 

The photo below is what i'd consider my strongest photo, from the rejection pile. My best guess now, would be that maybe I shouldn't be so artsy with the focal point?

Thanks for any insights you provide!

[Ricky336]

Hello,

It would be a good idea to learn more about composition; you don't have a strong image, sorry to say.

Exposure can also be improved. For starters read the following guides.

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

[RALPH_L]

There are several problems here:
1. Composition,
2. Exposure,
3. Excessive noise.
To show you what I mean, I did some post processing on all three of those issues.
What do you think?

There is still quite a bit of noise. 

[Abambo]

@RALPH_L,

IMHO, the grass to the right should be darker so that the hydrant catches the eye. In a sea of green, the red/blue should be the eye-catcher. 

[Abambo]

You are asking essentially if you should drive fast. Well, the answer is: it depends in the road, in your case the subject.

However, if this picture is one of your strongest, I would suggest that you take photography courses. It's badly composed, it puts the focus on the wrong elements, the exposure is not correct and it is oversaturated. 

If you would post this asset in social media, it would earn many likes. For stock, it's simply not good enough. Even if it would be a technically great picture, it would get little to no sales. But that is a different story.

[Jill_C]

The image is underexposed, blurry and quite noisy. Rather than learning to shoot for stock, just take your camera out every day and shoot whatever interests you. A daily photography practice really accelerates the learning curve. Then learn to inspect and edit carefully prior to submission to ensure that you meet Adobe's quality standards.

[jacquelingphoto2017]

Hi @Akillith,

Your photo is noisy. It seem you had not done any post processing. It is also underexposed.  I assume the hydrant is the subject. If it is, it is too much to the left. leaving you with too much negative space to the right. 

You need to do post processing and check your files at between 100 and 200% zoomed before submitting.

You need to take the listed points here in consideration before submitting your files. The links will take you to the expanded explanations.

Regarding your F-stop question: There is no set F-stop to take your photos. The same goes for all the other settings of your camera for photography. The settings you choose largely depend on your environment and what you want to achieve. For example: a lower light environment might require you to use a lower F-stop number with higher ISO plus exposure to achieve a shutter speed that's not too slow especially it you're not using a tripod. Again using too much of a high ISO has its disadvantage of too much grain. High light areas will not require too much of a high ISO and plus you can aim at a deeper depth with a higher number F-stop. When adjusting F-stop you have to make sure its of such, all your main subject is in focus. Landscape requires a different F-stop setting than a close-up subject and so on. You definitely have to learn photography to understand how and when to make these adjustments. 

Best wishes

Jacquelin