Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic

mdhillison · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:29 am

Well, I had ALL my photos rejected from my batches from 2/27 to 3/2. I have 64 other approved photos so now that they've uped the standards, I'm not making the cut.

Can someone offer me some thoughts about this image?

Noise/Grain/Focus/Upsized was the comment on this.

Shooting with a Nikon D100, on Large and Fine settings.

http://hillison.com/030105-005a.jpg

And yes, the stop sign WAS really dusty.

I blurred out some of the background and just added 10 to the brightness and 10 to the contrast to bring it up slightly.

Thoughts on what else I should - or shouldn't be doing?

thanks!

andresr · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:12 am

Its a good image but is out of focus. I would also crop it vertically so it looks like this :

mdhillison · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:35 am

Thanks. I blurred out the background - would you have not blurred it?

Also what about this one, which got the same thing:

http://hillison.com/DSC_0034.jpg

mdhillison · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:44 am

Oh and anyway to save that first shot? unmask sharpened?

andresr · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:07 am

I would not blur the background that much, maybe just a tiny bit if you want the guy to outstand more from the background.
Try the "unsharp mask" in photoshop as well to see if you get good results :)

mdhillison · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:23 am

Thanks so much Andresr! Any thoughts on the other one - I didn't blur that one at all but got the same thing.

andresr · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:39 am

The other one is also a bit soft, try unsharp mask, I would maybe also cut it vertically like the other one focusing on the girl and the head of the donkey :)

fncdigital · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:58 pm

I would also be more precise with my blurring...you can see an obvious outline around him that isnt blurred in the background.

Nir Levy · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 282

I like it but it is a bit out of focus.

StuartE · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 6:50 pm

'Faking' depth of field effects involve more than a selection and a blur, if you want to make them look realistic rather than out of focus... Photoshop CS now has a 'camera blur' filter, which helps a great, great deal - so does using masks rather than selections, allowing zones of depth of field blur, and using gradient masks to help distance the background and subject...

Personally, if you can't do the depth of field you need with your camera because of aperture settings or it being a compact digital with a small sensor (hence everything is sharp), chances are it'll probably fly better if you leave it unaltered, from a stock viewpoint... a good crisp shot is going to be easier to use than something that's been manipulated and needs changing...

Cheers,
Stuart

mdhillison · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:30 pm

thanks so much guys! this is good stuff!