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FSurrador
FSurrador
Participant
April 17, 2023
Answered

Struggling to understand Adobe Stock photo requirements

  • April 17, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 896 views

Hi, there!

I recently started selling some photos on Adobe Stock which left me kind of excited to pursue this side income. As I'm uploading more and more photos to Adobe Stock, only a small percentage of them are getting accepted, due to "Quality Issues". I always try to get everything right regarding the exposure, noise, focus, etc. But I don't seem to be getting it right. Can some please give me some tips on the most important aspects when editing a photo for this purpose?

 

For example, recently, I uploaded this picture:

Originally, it has around 5000x3300px.

It got rejected because of Quality Issues. I can't seem to figure out what I could improve in this picture. Maybe the framing? But do photos get rejected because of this? All help is appreciated.

 

Thank you very much to anyone who gave a little of their time to read my issue! 🙂

 

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Nancy OShea
  • Open the image in Photoshop at 100% magnification.  The foreground berries are blurry, not sharply focused as they should be.

  • Open the Histogram Panel. As you can see from this screenshot, your photo is underexposed.  Highlights are missing (yellow arrow).
  • Also the white balance may need adjustment. This image contains a lot of reddish tones.

 

Quality includes many things. It's a lot to learn.  If you're new to photography, enrolling in some courses could help you.

 

4 replies

Abambo
Community Expert
AbamboCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 20, 2023

If you are new to stock, you should consider these resources: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/tutorials.html
Please read the contributor user manual for more information on Adobe stock contributions: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html
See here for rejection reasons: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/reasons-for-content-rejection.html
and especially quality and technical issues: https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/quality-and-technical-issues.html

If you are a generative AI contributor, please look into these instructions and follow them by the letter: https://community.adobe.com/t5/stock-contributors-discussions/generative-ai-submission-guidelines/td-p/13549435

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Nancy OSheaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
April 17, 2023
  • Open the image in Photoshop at 100% magnification.  The foreground berries are blurry, not sharply focused as they should be.

  • Open the Histogram Panel. As you can see from this screenshot, your photo is underexposed.  Highlights are missing (yellow arrow).
  • Also the white balance may need adjustment. This image contains a lot of reddish tones.

 

Quality includes many things. It's a lot to learn.  If you're new to photography, enrolling in some courses could help you.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
George_F
Community Expert
George_FCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 17, 2023

When I first glanced at this photo, the crate being clipped at the edge was one of the first things I noticed.  I think this would be considered a composition issue.

 

 

If you look at the histogram, it reflects underexposure from my perspective.  I also wonder if the image is a bit too warm.

 

I agree with @Jill_C about shallow DoF and sharpness.  When zoomed in, I also found myself searching for the sharp areas of the image and found the photo mostly unsharp.

 

Becoming a successful Stock Contributor is a journey, don't sweat the rejections too much.  I tend to treat them as an opportunity to learn to better evaluate my photos for next time.  Good luck!

George F, Photographer & Forum Volunteer
    Jill_C
    Community Expert
    Jill_CCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 17, 2023

    Composition is definitely a reason to reject an image; however I don't think that's the issue here. The crate could have been a bit more centered, but that doesn't ruin the image. I believe the issue is focus. Almost nothing is in focus due to the shallow depth of field. There's also a bit of chroma noise in the background.

    Jill C., Forum Volunteer
    FSurrador
    FSurradorAuthor
    Participant
    April 17, 2023

    First of all thank you for your answer, I appreciate you taking the time!

    Shallow depth of field is a reason for rejecting a photo? I'm a big fan of low f stops and I love taking close up images with it, because I think it looks great that only a part of the main subject is in focus. Which is precisely what happens here, the entire box is not in focus, but there's definetly a part in focus. Is that really a reason for rejection? Should I take less photos with shallow depth of field in order to be accepted more often?

      Jill_C
      Community Expert
      Jill_CCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 17, 2023

      It seems to be a frequent reason for rejection here, in particular if a large part of the foreground is out of focus. When I first looked at the image, the foreground blur is what I first saw, then I had to hunt for the actual focal point. If you zoom in between 100-200% on your image, you will see that there are really only 2 or 3 strawberries that are in sharp focus.

      Jill C., Forum Volunteer
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