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Author Topic: Focus Pocus?!  (Read 11795 times)

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« on: November 02, 2021, 12:31 »
0
Almost every landscape photo that has trees with leaves is being rejected for focus (The main subject is out of focus or is not in focus due to camera shake). The other agencies have no issues with my photos. How is your experience?


« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2021, 13:02 »
+3
Certainly a few months ago and last year it was an issue.
Theory is the initial AI screening works out a "sharpness" score with a threshold and foliage,leaves confuses it.
Similar issue with video as well.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2021, 13:39 »
+2
Almost every landscape photo that has trees with leaves is being rejected for focus (The main subject is out of focus or is not in focus due to camera shake). The other agencies have no issues with my photos. How is your experience?

Sand, water, mist, and others can get rejected for focus, pixelation  or shake. But I have to ask, and I don't agree with them, but is the wind blowing are the leaves moving?  :)

For Real

« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2021, 14:26 »
0
Certainly a few months ago and last year it was an issue.
Theory is the initial AI screening works out a "sharpness" score with a threshold and foliage,leaves confuses it.
Similar issue with video as well.

Bingo! AI is killing the artist but saving a ton of $$$ for SS  :-\

« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2021, 15:07 »
+2
Happened to me a couple of months ago with a landscape. Resubmitted it a couple of times and it was rejected again. Adobe liked it so their gain is Shutterstock's loss.

I don't bother resubmitting any more for those rejections. I find that AS are usually okay with them which suggests that the error isn't mine. So I move on.

« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2021, 15:32 »
+3
Very easy to fix, delete and forget about this is the easiest way for me

« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2021, 16:44 »
0
I don't bother resubmitting any more for those rejections.

I thinking doing the same

« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2021, 01:30 »
+1
Haven't experienced this at all. But I don't submit all that many landscape photos.

« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2021, 10:37 »
0
Haven't experienced this at all. But I don't submit all that many landscape photos.

always curious, how big is the stock photo need for landscape photos to be honest. 

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #9 on: November 03, 2021, 10:56 »
+1
Haven't experienced this at all. But I don't submit all that many landscape photos.

always curious, how big is the stock photo need for landscape photos to be honest.

Good enough that I sell some now and then?

 Sunset over corn field with glowing orange and yellow clouds reflecting the sun light.
   1    $84.00


I'd agree, this is not a volume kind of subject, but Sunsets, Landscapes, Waterfalls, Rainbows, Flowers, Pets, tonight's pizza, breakfast eggs, and many others, aren't very big either. On the other hand, they sometimes, make something. I wouldn't call any of that "best subjects" or best earning.

Sunset over cornfield Fall colors with clouds. Panorama
   1    $28.00


You say I shouldn't have uploaded these?  ;D

Yes you are right, not a big need, easy to shoot, easy to find, and anyone with a camera can go for a walk and snap some.

« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2021, 11:43 »
0
There are 5,652 Sunset over corn field photos. As usual many of them have a wrong description or keywords. For example https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/drone-flying-over-field-sunset-1750530749 or https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/majestic-sunset-over-wheat-field-ears-1924616825
Anyway it's still hard to compete with the remaining ~2,500 sunset over corn field photos

« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2021, 11:45 »
0
I forgot to mention that I have no luck with landscape photos. Occasional 10 cents earnings and this is it.

« Reply #12 on: November 03, 2021, 14:25 »
+2
I forgot to mention that I have no luck with landscape photos. Occasional 10 cents earnings and this is it.

So I sell landscape photos regularly, but mostly from my area.The competition here is quite clear and photos from here are obviously in demand and quite popular for bike tours.   
However, I assume that the photos are not found via terms such as "forest" or "lake", but rather the location was searched. And as with Pete, there are also quite times higher revenues here.
 
But also sunsets can work, the two following photos have brought me alone in 2 years at Shutterstock over $ 100, for whatever reason.

https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/view-on-spectacular-tropical-sunset-vibrant-1842845938

https://www.shutterstock.com/de/image-photo/burning-sky-sea-during-sunset-vibrant-1469193266


« Reply #13 on: November 04, 2021, 04:51 »
+1
Almost every landscape photo that has trees with leaves is being rejected for focus (The main subject is out of focus or is not in focus due to camera shake). The other agencies have no issues with my photos. How is your experience?

The same here. Not so sharp landscape photos with weak corners from a 1-inch compact camera in 6 MPx are accepted almost all the time, sharper landscape images from full frame camera and corner-to-corner sharp lens are rejected in majority cases because of focus. Have to make them worse, blur them a little bit and upload in 6 MPx. Non-sense.

thijsdegraaf

« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2021, 05:33 »
0
With landscape photos I often try to have something in the foreground that is in focus. Then you don't have the problem.
I often have problems with macros when they are slightly out of focus like this spider, which is approved by Adobe. Well, I should add that about an equal number of macro photos are approved by Shutterstock and rejected by Adobe. If they end up on one of the two sites, I won't worry about it.



« Last Edit: November 04, 2021, 05:39 by thijsdegraaf »

For Real

« Reply #15 on: November 04, 2021, 06:36 »
+3
Almost every landscape photo that has trees with leaves is being rejected for focus (The main subject is out of focus or is not in focus due to camera shake). The other agencies have no issues with my photos. How is your experience?

The same here. Not so sharp landscape photos with weak corners from a 1-inch compact camera in 6 MPx are accepted almost all the time, sharper landscape images from full frame camera and corner-to-corner sharp lens are rejected in majority cases because of focus. Have to make them worse, blur them a little bit and upload in 6 MPx. Non-sense.

Totally agree! Microstock images are not artistic at all.

« Reply #16 on: November 04, 2021, 13:30 »
0
Not so sharp landscape photos with weak corners from a 1-inch compact camera in 6 MPx are accepted almost all the time, sharper landscape images from full frame camera and corner-to-corner sharp lens are rejected in majority cases because of focus

It's funny that SS recommends in "Invest in a quality lens. Prime lenses, lenses that have a fixed focal length, are a great choice. They have less internal lens elements which result in sharper content. Zoom lenses, lenses with variable focal lengths, are more versatile but have more internal components which can result in softer focus."
https://support.submit.shutterstock.com/s/article/Why-was-my-content-rejected-for-Focus?language=en_US


Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #17 on: November 04, 2021, 20:40 »
+4
Not so sharp landscape photos with weak corners from a 1-inch compact camera in 6 MPx are accepted almost all the time, sharper landscape images from full frame camera and corner-to-corner sharp lens are rejected in majority cases because of focus

It's funny that SS recommends in "Invest in a quality lens. Prime lenses, lenses that have a fixed focal length, are a great choice. They have less internal lens elements which result in sharper content. Zoom lenses, lenses with variable focal lengths, are more versatile but have more internal components which can result in softer focus."
https://support.submit.shutterstock.com/s/article/Why-was-my-content-rejected-for-Focus?language=en_US

Well the prime lens vs the zoom lens is true, but that's not why there are bogus focus rejections. There are many, many reasons why an image is not perfectly in focus, but of all those reasons, that can't explain focus rejections for a  fine qualified image that some AI decides is out of "focus" because it's reading the edges or something other than the main content. Of course, yes, some images are soft and should be rejected, but I'm saying for those that are acceptable, no.

Have they changed the focus rejection? Because it's not just a one word rejection, and you need to read all parts and reasons:

The main subject is out of focus or is not in focus due to camera shake, motion blur, overuse of noise reduction, or technical limitations of the equipment used (e.g. autofocus searching, camera sensor quality, etc),"

Any of those can cause the rejection, it's not just focus.

« Reply #18 on: November 06, 2021, 16:04 »
0
Almost every landscape photo that has trees with leaves is being rejected for focus (The main subject is out of focus or is not in focus due to camera shake). The other agencies have no issues with my photos. How is your experience?

The same here. Not so sharp landscape photos with weak corners from a 1-inch compact camera in 6 MPx are accepted almost all the time, sharper landscape images from full frame camera and corner-to-corner sharp lens are rejected in majority cases because of focus. Have to make them worse, blur them a little bit and upload in 6 MPx. Non-sense.

If the sunsets are especially stunning there's a chance they'll sell

« Reply #19 on: November 06, 2021, 17:00 »
0
Certainly a few months ago and last year it was an issue.
Theory is the initial AI screening works out a "sharpness" score with a threshold and foliage,leaves confuses it.
Similar issue with video as well.

Their AI screening ask for too much sharpness...  I once sent a perfectly sharp and well focused image and it was rejected. Had to overprocess the sharpening to get accepted.

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #20 on: November 07, 2021, 10:24 »
+2
Certainly a few months ago and last year it was an issue.
Theory is the initial AI screening works out a "sharpness" score with a threshold and foliage,leaves confuses it.
Similar issue with video as well.

Their AI screening ask for too much sharpness...  I once sent a perfectly sharp and well focused image and it was rejected. Had to overprocess the sharpening to get accepted.

Then you will get rejected on other sites for over processed.  :o That's a joke but it's also true.

If the sunsets are especially stunning there's a chance they'll sell

Mine aren't. I don't know how anyone finds them to download. 11,419,303 sunset stock photos
Even if they selected the subject: 77,427 sunset corn stock photos

ps Download by keywords show nothing. I have no idea? I have 35 images with the keyword "Sunset" I think 20 are legitimately, mostly a Sunset image, while others are taken at Sunset.

I'm not complaining, I'm just amazed that they got any downloads at all, but the total in catalog manager is 12 DLs.


« Reply #21 on: November 08, 2021, 00:20 »
0
And why anyone would buy sunset photos, if there are many of them available for free elsewhere

« Reply #22 on: November 08, 2021, 06:34 »
0
Certainly a few months ago and last year it was an issue.
Theory is the initial AI screening works out a "sharpness" score with a threshold and foliage,leaves confuses it.
Similar issue with video as well.

Their AI screening ask for too much sharpness...  I once sent a perfectly sharp and well focused image and it was rejected. Had to overprocess the sharpening to get accepted.


thanks
Then you will get rejected on other sites for over processed.  :o That's a joke but it's also true.

If the sunsets are especially stunning there's a chance they'll sell

Mine aren't. I don't know how anyone finds them to download. 11,419,303 sunset stock photos
Even if they selected the subject: 77,427 sunset corn stock photos

ps Download by keywords show nothing. I have no idea? I have 35 images with the keyword "Sunset" I think 20 are legitimately, mostly a Sunset image, while others are taken at Sunset.

I'm not complaining, I'm just amazed that they got any downloads at all, but the total in catalog manager is 12 DLs.

thijsdegraaf

« Reply #23 on: November 08, 2021, 09:17 »
0
With landscape photos I often try to have something in the foreground that is in focus. Then you don't have the problem.
I often have problems with macros when they are slightly out of focus like this spider, which is approved by Adobe. Well, I should add that about an equal number of macro photos are approved by Shutterstock and rejected by Adobe. If they end up on one of the two sites, I won't worry about it.



With macro I have the impression that the background also plays a role in the rejection. I removed the dark parts from the photo of the spider (Zygiella x-notata) and did not change anything about the spider and now it is approved. This has happened to me several times on a comparable subject.

« Last Edit: November 08, 2021, 09:54 by thijsdegraaf »

« Reply #24 on: November 10, 2021, 08:45 »
+2
Im not sure you can really say that without a control.

From my experience resubmitting exactly the same thing with no changes at all often gets accepted regardless.

It could just be that effect.


 

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