Introduction to Microstock Photography – More Rejection Reasons
Table of contents for Microstock Photography
In this post I will continue discussing the main reasons photographs are rejected from the microstock sites today. I have already discussed copyrights, noise, and focus. In this post I will discuss framing and bad lighting.
Framing
In simple terms, your picture must not look like a snapshot. A snapshot is typically defined as those millions of vacation shots that come out each year of random things. More specifically, a snapshot is defined as a picture that didn’t require thought and looks like it. OK, so maybe that’s not so specific.
In order to have a properly framed picture, you need to pay attention to the layout of the objects inside it. For instance, watch what is creeping into the picture. Very often trees and other things find their way into the picture. If you find a branch coming into the shot from the side, use Photoshop to clone it out. Over time you’ll find yourself able to notice this when taking the shot and reframe the picture appropriately.
If you are taking pictures of buildings, make sure the tops aren’t clipped off. Many stock sites will reject shots of buildings with their tops cut off – even very tall ones. In general the entire subject should be in the shot – though there are exceptions to this. Distracting elements also should not be in the picture. When taking photos of the beach, try to find viewpoints that have the least amount of garbage – then clone out the rest of the garbage in post processing.
Another interesting aspect of microstock photography is that very often the shot that sells the best has the subject in the center of the photo. This is against the rule of thirds and will make many artists cringe – but the truth is microstock photos are made to be sold – not to be admired.
Bad lighting
Lighting is something you will just need to learn. Everyone needs to learn about lighting and I think this is the one area where we beginners often encounter issues. Positively the best book on lighting is Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
First of all, avoid lens flare. Sometimes this is a function of the lens and other time results from you shooting into the sun. Know the limits of your lens and avoid shooting directly into the light. Although some lens flare can be removed from a shot, in my experience most is quite difficult.
Always properly meter your subject. In this series I assume you have already mastered metering but I must still strongly emphasize that underexposed or overexposed photographs will not be accepted. This is often a problem on sunny days. If you are shooting models on a sunny day, make sure to use diffusers and other techniques to soften the sunlight hitting them. In my experience photographs rejected for lighting generally have a problem in only one part of the photograph – not in the entire shot. Most cameras today will tell you whether parts of the shot are overexposed and will give you a histogram for each shot. Pay attention to them.
One technique I use often for traveling and real estate is to photograph either early in the morning or in the late afternoon. This provides the best quality light and the most saleable pictures. Ironically when I wind up on a photogenic site during the day, I pray for rain because the dark clouds often provide better lighting.
For macro photography, make sure to use either a macro flash or a tripod. Very often I see severe lighting issues in macro shots where the photographer did not attempt to use any lighting other than ambient.
If part of your image is overexposed, don’t fret. If you feel that the image is worth saving, you can often fix it up in Photoshop. The two techniques I use most often are painting with lighting and cloning.
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Tags: bad lighting, framing, lighting, microstock, photography, rejection, stock