I painted an abstract canvas in acrylic with a pallet knife and took a picture of it.  I have a dozen of these.  After finally getting the property release right for SS, the image was rejected again with a note to make it an illustration, not a photograph.  What?  Is this the new normal for photographs of art?

To be honest, if I did an illustration and photographed it - just the whole painting, not with canvas, frame, room surrounding, etc. -  I would actully mark it as illustration and not as photograph, because it is a digitalized painting.
Also, consider this: Imagine a customer is looking for what you have created - Would he search under photography or illustration for it? I know if I wanted an image of an acryl painting, I would not search under the photography category. I don't think you are doing yourself a favor by even trying to submit this as photography.

Quote from: Reimar on May 18, 2022, 19:51
I painted an abstract canvas in acrylic with a pallet knife and took a picture of it.  I have a dozen of these.  After finally getting the property release right for SS, the image was rejected again with a note to make it an illustration, not a photograph.  What?  Is this the new normal for photographs of art?

I think you have to select a illustration category for it and that's that. BTW, requesting property release for your own art is most annoying thing ever.

Quote from: Firn on May 18, 2022, 20:28
To be honest, if I did an illustration and photographed it - just the whole painting, not with canvas, frame, room surrounding, etc. -  I would actully mark it as illustration and not as photograph, because it is a digitalized painting.
Also, consider this: Imagine a customer is looking for what you have created - Would he search under photography or illustration for it? I know if I wanted an image of an acryl painting, I would not search under the photography category. I don't think you are doing yourself a favor by even trying to submit this as photography.

I never thought of it that way.  It's a first for me as I say.  I see other stock photographs of famous (and not so famous) paintings and have never thought this would be classified as an illustration.

Ofcourse it's illustration. You cant' upload canvas, right? So you have to take photo of it

Well, the consensus is indeed on your side.  But I have my doubts. 
At other sites and even at SS these images have sold as photographs.  If I use my camera and take a picture, I'm inclined to call it a photographic image.  I've taken other totally abstract images with my camera.  If I use colored water and glass, for example, or acrylic paint and canvas, makes little difference to me.  Both are photographs labelled as a graphic resource.

Quote from: Reimar on June 01, 2022, 15:07
Well, the consensus is indeed on your side.  But I have my doubts. 
At other sites and even at SS these images have sold as photographs.  If I use my camera and take a picture, I'm inclined to call it a photographic image.  I've taken other totally abstract images with my camera.  If I use colored water and glass, for example, or acrylic paint and canvas, makes little difference to me.  Both are photographs labelled as a graphic resource.

Then everything in the world that you photograph is a photograph? Like a drawing, a painting, a doodle, or a design pattern or background, because "it's a photograph". ? 

I went through the same dilemma with IS. What images were "illustrations" and what were Photos. If the image was a photo of a line drawing illustration of a castle (as an example) it was a photo. If it was and illustration of a person, it was an illustration. There's some line between how detailed the illustration was. I don't care, it was back when they decided 15% for photo and 20% for illustrations and many of my obvious illustrations are now photos.

How is that related? Well a photo of a drawing, which is an illustration, may be a illustration or may be a photo. 

Anyway a painting is easier, it's a photo. Now if they had a designation for Graphic Resources and didn't divide between photo or illustration, I'm with you.

Yes Pete: everything I shoot with my camera is a photograph 
I was thinking of Adobe Stock that accepts these kinds of photos as photos under the "graphic resources" category.  For Shutterstock I use the category "Abstract".

Quote from: Reimar on June 01, 2022, 17:06
Yes Pete: everything I shoot with my camera is a photograph 
I was thinking of Adobe Stock that accepts these kinds of photos as photos under the "graphic resources" category.  For Shutterstock I use the category "Abstract".

And in case I didn't say so, I still don't know the difference at IS between Illustration and a Photo (of an illustration). Mostly the easy part, 5% less money. Once I got into making Vectors out of some of these Photos of Illustrations, I hope all of those are clearly Illustrations now? I stopped uploading to IS. I had a "mission" to hit 1,000 files again since I was once at over 4,000. Seems kind of low but for what they pay, it was just a number.

I do have sympathy for definitions and limits. By the way, just for fun, this is a vector of mine.



Made from a real photo that I took in 1989, but being film it would never pass, so I made it into something else, black and white. I mean, all Black or White, no other tones or colors.

Photo or illustration?

Heavy photoshoped photo

Quote from: Dumc on June 02, 2022, 04:03
Heavy photoshoped photo

Wait - are you saying a photograph of art is an illustration, but a vector of an image is a photograph?  I'm not following.  I know what a heavily processed image is, but I would say that does not include a vector.

Quote from: Reimar on June 02, 2022, 13:29

Quote from: Dumc on June 02, 2022, 04:03
Heavy photoshoped photo

Wait - are you saying a photograph of art is an illustration, but a vector of an image is a photograph?  I'm not following.  I know what a heavily processed image is, but I would say that does not include a vector.

Ah, I missed that is vector. Not it's not photograph then.

Quote from: Dumc on June 02, 2022, 14:56

Quote from: Reimar on June 02, 2022, 13:29

Quote from: Dumc on June 02, 2022, 04:03
Heavy photoshoped photo

Wait - are you saying a photograph of art is an illustration, but a vector of an image is a photograph?  I'm not following.  I know what a heavily processed image is, but I would say that does not include a vector.

Ah, I missed that is vector. Not it's not photograph then.

Doesn't matter, it was a photo, then a heavily photoshopped (or something else) version. I actually took some liberty and moved some of the stones on the left, closer to make a "better" image. Then after greyscale, did a trace in black and white, 2 tone, to make the EPS.

The point is, when does it stop being a photo and become an illustrations? As Reimer has wondered, when he takes a photo of a painting, is it a photo or an illustration? I was just going way overboard and extreme.

When is a photo, not a photo?

I can only say that when the photo is of something that's not a photo to start with, then it's art or illustration. The IS question was when is an illustration, not an illustration, but it's a photo?

I don't think there are any easy answers for any of this.