Hi,
Here are two images I would appreciate help with.

http://imageshack.us/g/9/p1050950copysmall.jpg/ [nofollow]

I submitted them as part of my shutterstock application and they were rejected as 'Poor or uneven lighting, or shadows. White balance may be incorrect.'

I would have been OK if the rejection had been something like, 'fake plastic gold coins are fake' but the lighting on these was something I had actually spent two or three days tweaking to get perfect, shooting many dozens of images to get a setup I liked.

The idea behind these was to use reflections to make the piggy appear shiny and 3D as opposed to the somewhat flat white shape it appears in real life.

These images have been accepted at every other stock site I've sent them to. I am not sure what I am supposed to do differently on these?

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for your ideas. I can guarantee the highlights are not clipping on either image. However in order for something to appear shiny there have to be bright pixels. This SS image looks like the white may actually be clipping but they accepted it anyway.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-87890857/stock-photo-background-of-defocussed-golden-lights-with-sparkles-christmas-new-years-disco-party.html [nofollow]

I'll accept that the second one may appear too flat.

On the first image, it has shadows beneath the ears and I've heard SS doesn't like shadows, so maybe another light was needed shining directly into the piggy's face?

I don't know anything about SS, but evening out the light has made the second piggy too pale and flat. These shadows on the left hand piggy look much more natural (not too harsh) and bring out the shape of the pig.
Other than that, I'll leave you in the capable hands of those who use lights.

In the first image, I am pretty sure the issue is with the bright reflections in the coins. Shiny coins are tricky and you really need to make sure that they are facing away from the lightsource/camera so that there is no chance of a direct reflection. I think the plastic coins here are worse than normal ones as they obviously have a very shiny surface. However, you run into a different issue then with your plastic coins in that they have pretty low contrast and no sharp engravings to create a shadow. Tricky!

I think the best you could probably do with these sort of coins is a hard raking light from the side to try to bring some contrast to them and then have some fill light on the pig.

The second one is probably suffering from that lack of contrast in the coins - all I can think to say about that is that it is a bit bland and probably SS have given it the "poor lighting" rejection because of that. That is about as good as I can do with an explanation!

Steve

You asked for help on the SS forum and didn't like what you were told so you came over here and asked for help and apparently didn't like what you were told so you went back to the SS forum and didn't like what you heard so you deleted everything so no one can see or know anything now!

What the Hayull is wrong with you are you just POED because if so it is much better to be POED then to be be peed on

Get a life and get your self together this is real stuff not the crap mommy and daddy like.

So deleted pics from your link here as well as a blank website.

Looks like we have a TROLL

Quote from: ruxpriencdiam on August 04, 2012, 23:43

You asked for help on the SS forum and didn't like what you were told so you came over here and asked for help and apparently didn't like what you were told so you went back to the SS forum and didn't like what you heard so you deleted everything so no one can see or know anything now!

What the Hayull is wrong with you are you just POED because if so it is much better to be POED then to be be peed on

Get a life and get your self together this is real stuff not the crap mommy and daddy like.

So deleted pics from your link here as well as a blank website.

Looks like we have a TROLL

I don't understand the "troll" rules anymore. You're a troll if you ask questions now? Or is it that he replied to the critiques politely that made him a troll? Is it because he had follow up questions? Or is it because, after he had his questions answered he removed the images because the matter was closed?

Or maybe, he's not the one that behaves like a troll.

He removed all of his post's, none of the links are legit, the pics are not there?

He got mad because his pics were shot down and they weren't great like all of his friends and family have told him.

So  he threw a tantrum and deleted everything?

Except what was quoted, and now no one knows what the hayull is or was going on!