Submitted Images- To sell or to reject.

Rejected images. They are a part of the Microstock business and every contributor has had one or two images rejected for reasons they just couldn't understand. It's something that seasoned submitters get used to and track the results of their submissions so they learn from their rejections. What can one do who is just starting out to get better at contributing to microstock sites to increase his acceptance rates?

There are a number of excuses and reasons for why an image could be rejected. Some of the examples below will highlight some of the few things you can do to fix the issues and get it accepted on the next try.

"Noise" can take place in every media file type.

Here are some types of image noise from Wikipedia,

" * In salt and pepper noise (also known as random noise or independent noise), pixels in the image are vastly different in color from their surrounding pixels. The defining characteristic is that the color of a noisy pixel bears no relation to the color of surrounding pixels. Generally this type of noise will only affect a small number of image pixels. When viewed, the image contains dark and white dots, hence the term salt and pepper noise. Typical sources include flecks of dust on the lens or inside the camera, or with digital cameras, faulty CCD elements.
* In Gaussian noise (dependent noise), an amount of noise is added to every part of the picture. Each pixel in the image will be changed from its original value by a (usually) small amount. Taking a plot of the amount of distortion of a pixel against the frequency with which it occurs produces a Gaussian distribution of noise."

If you have noise reduction software programs like Grain Surgery, Neat Image, GREYCstoration, Noise Ninja and pnmnlfilt (nonlinear filter) found in the open source Netpbm tools, you can remove some of the noise on a digital image. These tools are simple to use and can make the difference between a photo being accepted or rejected by many microstock sites out there.

At lower quality settings, "Compression artifacting" or hazing can be introduced by the camera and/or by your image editing software. Also, re-sizing, re-saving and re-sampling can all lower the quality of a JPEG image. A compression artifact (or artefact) is the result of an aggressive data compression scheme applied to an image, audio, or video so you have to always be careful when re-saving JPEGs as the image quality will become worsen with each re-save. One would obviously want to start with the cleanest and highest quality image to start. Always double check your camera settings to make sure it is on the highest quality settings.

“Composition or snapshot” Simply put, this is the setup of your image and the visual composition. Unfortunately this can be attributed to personal preference, but if you’re getting rejections for these reasons there are some basic rules that may help. Wikipedia covers them in the Rule of thirds here.

"The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in photography and other visual arts such as painting. The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph. Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would."

To utilize this, "When photographing or filming people, it is common to line the body up with a vertical line, and having the person's eyes in line with a horizontal one. If filming a moving subject, the same pattern is often times followed, with the majority of the extra room being in front of the person (the way they are moving)."

By making sure your images are free of as much noise, haze and artefact, you will significantly improve your acceptance rates when submitting images and footage to microstock sites. These are just a few reasons for rejection but there are more. My advice is to keep trying and mastering your craft. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard so keep it up.

For a great list on what it takes to be a microstock contributor read Lee Torrens writeup on the topic. As Lee puts it, "Rejection is part of microstock" and you need a thick skin.