14. Rejections - part II
14.1. Noise and Artifacts
This is for many THE main reason for rejection, especially on Shutterstock. Often the reviewers are correct but sometimes they misjudge it completely. Underneath I will give some examples and explain some things.
14.1.1. Clear Noise
The following image is a clear example of noise. Although ISO200 was used, it was underexposed. By lighting the image too much up in photoshop you can induce noise.
A full size version of this image can be seen here
Noise reduction software like Neat Image or Noise Ninja could save this image. But don't overdo it because otherwise it will get rejected for the overuse of noise reduction software.
Keep in mind that noise is much more visible in clean backgrounds than it is in parts with much detail. Therefor it's a good idea to apply the noise reduction only the areas with little detail and leave the detailed parts untouched. Do this by using a layer mask on the noise-reduced layer.
1. I wrote an article on how to remove noise in a background by using the gaussian blur tool. Click the button underneath to view the image.
2. Reducing the size of an image will reduce the visibility of the noise. Thus resize your images towards the minimum requirements if they are noisy
3. Sharpening increase noise levels. Therefore only sharpen the in focus part of your image, never the out of focus background.
4. Be cautious with saturation, it often sparks pixelation (see here under) which is often confused with noise. A gaussian blur of 2 pixels on those parts can do wonders.
14.1.2. Articfacts
Often confused with noise are artifacts. Artifacts look like noise, but they have another origin. While noise are little dots, artifact are often larger blocks several pixels. Most know that we can introduce them by saving a jpg in a lower quality, resulting in the so-called jpg-artifact.
But we can also get them because of the excessive use of the saturation tool, the curves tool or by too much burning or dodging. Underneath such an example. These images can't be saved by noise reduction software (because the affected area's are larger then with noise). You have to rework it again ... or just forget about them, like I did with the image underneath.
A full size version of this image can be seen here
14.1.3. Only Human
So far so good. But things start to get complicated when the reviewers reject images for reasons not clear to you.
Let's take a look at the example beneath. This file was rejected for noise which was already a surprise to me because it was taken in a studio on ISO100. But when I submitted it again without any changes (which is actually forbidden) it was accepted. Such things are confusing. I guess reviewers make mistakes too.
A full size version of this image can be seen here
14.1.3. Texture
I want the give a second example of a confusing rejection.
The image underneath was also rejected for noise. I admit it really looks like noise, but if you've seen the bottle, you'll know that the 'noise' isn't noise but the structure of the bottle itself.
A full size version of this image can be seen here
Since this rejection I often include a note for the reviewer if I think he or she can be fooled by the structure of the object.
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