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How to quickly recover from "soft or lack definition" rejections ?


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My latest batch submissions show all the same issue: Soft or lack definition.

I'm shooting RAW with prime lenses, both AF (Fuji X) and MF (Zeiss) with Sharpness to default settings.

After my first two rejections, i tried to apply more Clarity within LR and also tried to submit different images to understand the issue. Same result.

At the moment I'm experimenting with LR settings and/or 3rd party plugins but i don't want to waste months in this since every time a rejection occurs i need to wait 1 month Alamy QC to reply with the motivation and this is my 6th rejection in a row.

It seems this issue started with RAW , i uploaded in the past JPGs ooc and they were fine (3300+ pics on my portfolio).

What's your experience?

Which is the best way to avoid this issue? Do you sharpen each file individually in LR or using 3rd party plugins for each file?

 

Thanks in advance

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What aperture are you shooting at?

You mention that you are shooting with prime lenses so that could imply that you are using a very large aperture as prime lenses give you this option. A large aperture would imply a shallow depth of field. Only elements of the photograph which are within the depth of field will be sharp.. the rest could be considered to be out of focus or soft. So do you have an obvious point of focus? 

 

I'm forever throwing images that I take with my prime lens away because I miss the point of focus or the depth of field is just too small for the image to make sense.

 

Alternatively, i might be totally off the mark and going down a rat hole.. but worth asking...

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You say that this is your 6th rejection in a row.  Is that all for the same batch?

 

If one of the batch fails, then they all fail, so you may have just one rogue soft image in the batch.

 

I shoot raw and sharpen each image individually in LR (usually, I sometimes forget).  

 

You already have many images on Alamy, so you know what to look for.  I would check each image at 100% and upload in small batches (maybe only 1 at a time).

 

You should be able to find the culprit by checking each one very carefully at 100%

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Some of my images in these batches are F16, some others F8, some of course are less aperture since i used the MF lens (Zeiss, which is super sharp, so may be i made a bad focus).

Do you mean if i upload 1 image should my rejections or approvals being faster?

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Jill, i just read an old topic here where someone suggested not to do any PP sharpening at all.

So may be i completely made mistakes with focus.... probably the best advice is to use smaller apertures and upload 1 image to see what happens

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Some of my images in these batches are F16, some others F8, some of course are less aperture since i used the MF lens (Zeiss, which is super sharp, so may be i made a bad focus).

Do you mean if i upload 1 image should my rejections or approvals being faster?

 

Approval would be faster, but rejection won't be

 

Jill

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Some of my images in these batches are F16, some others F8, some of course are less aperture since i used the MF lens (Zeiss, which is super sharp, so may be i made a bad focus).

Do you mean if i upload 1 image should my rejections or approvals being faster?

 

 

No.  What I mean is, if you upload, say, 16 images, and one of them fails, then the whole batch fails.  As you already have many images on Alamy, your technique must be OK.  If you want people to have a look at the images, post them somewhere and post a link here.

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Mat you're right but i can't see aperture in LR for MF lens so may be i used a larger aperture (one of the Zeiss is 85/f1.4).

They said which is the bad image but when exporting i change the filename so what Alamy rejects is a different filename i see on LR

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You'd need a good eye, a steady hand and a static subject to nail focus on a Zeiss 85mm wide open, particularly when using a cropped sensor, and F16 is crouching into the realm of diffraction. Maybe this is where your problems are coming from. In either case, sharpening won't recover the softness.

 

In cases were I'm suspicious of a soft image I downsize which can improve the rendition. If this doesn't work, the image is scrapped.

 

Hope this helps.

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Ian i should try using original filenames to see exactly which one is wrong

 

In the new Image Manager, you should be able to see a thumbnail of the one which failed.

 

I never (rarely) change filenames when uploading, but I have a numerical mind - I find numbers easier to deal with than filenames.

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As ReeRay suggests above your basic settings may be the problem. When I read you were using f16 and primes I immediately thought of macro photography as depth of field can be limited, now I don't know what your failures were but your portfolio seems to consist of sport and street photography. I'm not familiar with Fuji cameras but diffraction will definately have set in by f16 softening the image. Try not going above f8 and staying between f4 and 5.6 if possible; this should also allow for a faster shutter speed and a sharper image.

 

good luck

Joe

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As ReeRay suggests above your basic settings may be the problem. When I read you were using f16 and primes I immediately thought of macro photography as depth of field can be limited, now I don't know what your failures were but your portfolio seems to consist of sport and street photography. I'm not familiar with Fuji cameras but diffraction will definately have set in by f16 softening the image. Try not going above f8 and staying between f4 and 5.6 if possible; this should also allow for a faster shutter speed and a sharper image.

 

good luck

Joe

Only an hour ago I was reading a blog article by Phase One. The images illustrating it made the point very well, for APS-C (like Fuji) diffraction starts to become an issue at f9 apparently. I was aware of that but seeing the illustration from an 100Mpx MF camera was an eye opener as to how quickly the the image degrades with smaller apertures. As a Fuji X user I will now aim to avoid going beyond f11.

 

http://blog.phaseone.com/compensate-lost-sharpness-small-apertures/

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I throw away / delete far more images due to focus, I'm on a steep learning curve, I try to shoot at 2.8 as I like that effect but in macro you need that little bit more depth, I used to be a focus puller for TV and the trend a few years ago was wide open and as long a lens as possible, one shot I had to try and keep sharp was a man running towards me 180mm T2.8 at  8' only 8' was sharp absolutely no depth of field, it was impossible, it was time to move on career wise. I remember the technical guys saying that the lenses were best between T4 and T11, I don't know if that is the case for stills work, I presume so.

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This may seem obvious, but are you watching your shutter speed? If you are hand holding street shots, your hands may not be steady, or you may be introducing movement while pressing the shutter. Lower shutter speeds will absolutely ruin those shots.

 

But I think surely you are aware of that, or you wouldn't have so many successful uploads. Although doing it right before doesn't mean you can't get sloppy with technique and overconfident.

 

Have you gone from Fuji 16mp to one of the new cameras with 24mp?

Each time you increase megapixels, you technique comes under fire.

 

I shoot Fuji, too. By the way, I remember failures when I went from. Nikon 12mp camera to a 16mp. I had to improve my technique in a hurry, because 80% of my stuff is hand-held.

Betty

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Thanks again all :)

Actually it seems my rejected pics are all F16 or similar (Fuji X mount 18-55) , but may be some are slightly out of focus using the Zeiss 85 MF lens.

I did these pics on summer sunny days so i used F16 / iso200 which was a no-brainer since there were a lot of light..may be 1/250s...i've to check.

Betty, i'm using my Fuji X-E1 since 4 years but actually my previously accepted images came from different cameras with a lower res so may be the increase of megapixels is something i should take care of.

Thanks all for the Fuji small apertures issue, i didn't know it....

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Thanks again all :)

Actually it seems my rejected pics are all F16 or similar (Fuji X mount 18-55) , but may be some are slightly out of focus using the Zeiss 85 MF lens.

I did these pics on summer sunny days so i used F16 / iso200 which was a no-brainer since there were a lot of light..may be 1/250s...i've to check.

Betty, i'm using my Fuji X-E1 since 4 years but actually my previously accepted images came from different cameras with a lower res so may be the increase of megapixels is something i should take care of.

Thanks all for the Fuji small apertures issue, i didn't know it....

 

A problem I had with the Fuji 18-55 on an X-E1 was finger marks on the rear element/cover glass which resulted in shadows or degraded sharpness. It took me by surprise  but it seem the sensor can resolve the marks especially at small apertures. It was not correctable in post-production sadly, I lost some rather good images. :(

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