Rejected  by  2  sites:

While not seeing the image at 100%, I would reject this based on bad composition and low commercial value etc. because this is just a bad picture of a horse.

That horse looks SO much like the horse I used to have. I miss him terribly.

Regarding issues with the picture: horizon should always be straight (kind of what Ivan-dreamframer said). The leaves to the right in the sky don't add anything, they would be easy enough to clone out...declutters the picture. I agree about being above the fence. OK to get fence in, but all you really see is fence, not so much the horse.

Colors look good, at this size I don't see noise or CA. Try not to get shadows in the picture, for instance if you would have moved a little to the left, perhaps the shadow from the tree wouldn't be there. But I do understand shooting in bright sunlight is a pain.

It looks like a cool farm. Maybe you can go back for more?

flat, flat light. You should work the contrast some to make it pop. As well as the slant.

To me the main subject of this shot should be the horse and there is a fence blocking it.

Either step forward and exclude the fence or if you could get some height (a ladder,climb on your car a tree) then you could include the fence have a clear view of the horse and the barn in the background. Also you would have a different angle to the other picture of a horse in a field photos.

6200 of them on istock
9850 on shutterstock
8999 on dreamstime

there's a fence in front of the horse - or a horse behind the fence; either way, it's annoying

edit: dreamframer's version above is great, now even the horse behind the fence make sense, submit it like that!

I don't see what is the subject of your photo, too much confused. Many errors: tilted frame, flat colors, disturbing objects...

  Thanks  everyone  for  te  help.  Took  this  photo  before  i  went  in  for  my  foot  operation.  Will  be  8  weeks  before  i  can  get  back   to  the  location  (on  crutches  -  can't  put  weight  on  my  foot).

Quote from: Dreamframer on July 31, 2010, 02:04

Here you go, vertical lines straightened, colors and contrast added, branches on the lest and right removed, and shadow on the bottom lightened up.
I didn't crop it more than I had to due to straightening vertical lines. You can crop it more.

It's still a horse, dissected by a fence !?  If this is stock worthy, I've been wasting my time !!??  

...selling fences? 

Actually I had not considered that until cclapper pointed it out.  Yeah, if you are making the fence the subject rather than the horse, then we might be on to something.  Then the horse becomes a point of interest in the shot rather than the subject, and you aren't competing against 100,000 horse shots.

But even still, the focus looks soft to me.  Hand held?  It might be something as simple as slight camera shake.  Bring a tripod and fire the shot with a cable release.

Also even with the edits you did, the image doesn't pop enough to stand out from the multitude of similar shots.  With a common shot like this, you have to work a lot harder.  That means shooting in optimal lighting conditions, and probably using a high quality polarizer to produce a striking blue sky.

I'd approach this shot 2 different ways if given a second chance to do it (which you will have).  First would be to make the fence enclosure the subject, which honestly may not be easy to pull off and still be interesting.  

Second would be to make the overall agricultural setting as the subject, with the horse and colorful barn as points of interest.  You could raise yourself above the fence and get rid of that distraction.  Or you could move in closer to the fence and use the fence to "frame" the image and lend a sense of place.  That might require bringing a reflector or off camera flash with you to ensure the lighting on the front of the fence is even and bright enough.  Try to shoot the image very early or during the evening magic hour and take advantage of the warm colors of the subject matter.

Or just go back home and isolate an apple over white.

Don't sell yourself short.  I like some of the shots you have on SS.  You have a good eye and you are doing some interesting processing (which SS tends to like a LOT more than iStock).  Just need to clean up some technical issues and keep shooting. 

And feel free to comment, because you can learn from people's opinions of your comments.    Heck, look at my iStock speedometer.  I'm not exactly a high end contributor, lol.  But I'm definitely better than I was 3 years ago.

Quote from: thaimacky on August 04, 2010, 00:37

Quote from: Stu49 on July 31, 2010, 09:15

Quote from: Dreamframer on July 31, 2010, 02:04

Here you go, vertical lines straightened, colors and contrast added, branches on the lest and right removed, and shadow on the bottom lightened up.
I didn't crop it more than I had to due to straightening vertical lines. You can crop it more.

It's still a horse, dissected by a fence !?  If this is stock worthy, I've been wasting my time !!??  

...selling fences? 

Which proves the point that somebody can use the photo. Even though the horse is not prominent, the fence is. So a white vinyl fence company could certainly use it in a brochure!

Rushes off to shoot LOTS of pics of horses and fences !!!!