Technical Issue Review

[Tyler M. Yates]

I've been adding more and more content to Adobe Stock, but beyond obvious issues like focus or exposure I can't for the life of me pin down what the technical qualifications, standards, or limits are! I've attached a handful of images that were rejected for Technical Issues that I'd love a bit more clarifaction on. Is the approval process entirely automated or does a human make a judement call?

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

Too many images.  Limit yourself to 1-2 because we're unpaid forum volunteers, not Adobe employees.

#1 Major white balance problem.  It looks like you applied a blue filter which is a huge no, no in Stock Photography. 

I spot checked a few others that have noticeable lighting problems.  Insufficient light is a big reason for photo rejection because it causes other problems like noise, grain, blur and artifacts.

Read these links.

• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/reasons-for-content-rejection.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/user-guide.html/stock/contributor/help/photography-illustr...
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/quality-and-technical-issues.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/how-to/tips-stock-image-acceptance.html

[Tyler M. Yates]

Hi Nancy, thanks for taking the time to look at a couple of my images.

The first image looks like it has a blue filter applied is because I was inside of a glacial crevasse when I took the photo, as I'm sure you know, shade and reflected blue light can look rather blue.

Thanks for providing the same links Adobe provides on the upload page!

[Nancy OShea]

Regardless of what I think or where the "blue" comes from, Adobe Stock customers expect a neutral white balance in images they purchase for their million dollar commercials 🙂 

Compare your work with what is already represented in Adobe Stock's database.  Is your work better, the same or not as good?   Which one do you think the customer will buy?  In the end, Stock Photography comes down to what sells and what doesn't.  It's as simple as that.

[Nancy OShea]

I forgot to mention.  B&W doesn't sell.  Stock customers want full color images.

[Abambo · Accepted solution]

SeattleBW:

1. B/W - Adobe would like original colour pictures. The customer can convert to B/W if he or she needs B/W, BUT it also features noise and other defects that make it unsuitable for stock: 
2. 9831: Nice picture, but you need to get rid of the artefacts and make it look natural:
   

   Look at your pictures at 100% and 200%. If you detect artefacts, correct or if they cannot be corrected, do not submit. This looks a lot like colour noise and excessive contrast.

3. 18518623684_dafcdda59d_o:
   Great picture but over sharpened and B/W... Get the original colour picture and rework to get rid of any artefacts, do not sharpen too much, get the colour balance right and resubmit.
   
4. 35439326695_bc877b8e6a_o:
   Not sharp, colour noise and probably one or the other logo visible.
   
5. _dsc4624-editjpg_39030539652_o: not sharp, B/W and a lot of noise and artefacts.
6. idem for _DSC2074-Edit.
7. _dsc4001jpg_24788650447_o: chromatic aberration, no contrast, out of focus
   
   
8. _DSC0737: Wrong white balance (too cool), noise, sharpening artefacts:
   

As @Nancy OShea told you, do not post many pictures in one post. You see, most of my critiques are the same. Also as a beginner, you should start submitting one or two pictures and looking for the reaction. B/W pictures nearly never pass because all colour images can be converted to b/w, but b/w cannot recover colour.

And you should really read the manual beforehand... (I agree, I didn't at my beginning)! But I did discover the links at a later stage only. 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