Quote from: FD-regular on July 27, 2010, 04:23
There are more tricks that don't add noise. But I was so stupid to give the soft light away. Shame on me ;-) Keep da secret, will ya?  I also use it on models to get that 'special' glow.

Thanks for the feedback everybody, never thought of using layers like that to enhance a landscape so will give it a try.

Quote from: Tom on July 26, 2010, 20:17
I would go and shoot the castle again, before sunset, after sunrise or in broad daylight with a deep blue sky and fluffy clouds.
If it is illuminated at night, then a blue hour shot would be cool.
The point is not to get pics accepted but to sell them multiple times.
The reworked version is IMHO better, but still it is not very "stocky".

The foreground seems somewhat weak too, as far as I can tell DT reviewers don't like too much copyspace, they tend to reject such images for "lack of composition".

I would love to go back but have moved country since, but it is an area I would like to go back to and get some shots in better conditions.  I agree, the foreground seems weak and IMO it would have been but for the footprints and the copyspace can be cropped out by the editor (Is it DT the requires the full image and not crops?).  This is where photography becomes subjective and what one person likes, another dislikes.

Quote from: Magnum on July 26, 2010, 19:13
It´s a good shot so I would try to fix it.  Stock agencies likes bright images, almost overexposed.   

Hmm, food for thought.  If I increase the exposure it'll risk burining out the clouds and the snow.  There will be a limit, spose its finding it and adjusting accordingly, but watching out for noise as Donding points out.  Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Hi all

I am new to microstock and submitted some images to Dreamstime, expecting some rejections.  Of the twelve I submitted, they refused 6 and of those, I can agree with 4 - partly testing their submission criteria (model release for people with backs to camera?).

One of the images they refused for the following reasons:

- Lack of composition. Please visit the Stock Photo Utilities section of our site or the message boards for more information on how to produce stock-oriented images.
- Poor lighting setup, poor contrast or incorrect exposure.

I didn't think it was a composition issue, so I corrected the lighting, boosting the contrast and generally giving it a makeover. I resubmitted it failed just on poor lighting 

Your comments are most welcome, is it worth tweaking and resubmitting?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andym8y/4830824287/#

I use a Dell Studio laptop for all my image processing and when I get a chance I check the images on a 'proper' monitor.  I find that I need the screen at the right angle, the same at which I calibrated it using Windows 7 calibration tool.  Not perfect, but works for me.