Hi ,
I have just had an image rejected and would like to understand the reasons why please. This image was just featered in the Nikon DSLR Group. It has not been manipulated except for minor cropping.
Regards,
Wayne Pearson

We’ll need to see the image, can you link to it please?

I took the liberty of posting up the image, Wayne, hope you don’t mind.
I will wait a while for others to comment (hopefully) before giving my opinion.

Thankyou Mark I appreciate it.
Cheers,
Wayne

Well, seems like you aren’t getting any bites, so I’ll throw my hat into the ring.

Wayne, I rejected the shot personally.

Firstly, please understand that not only are we not (and I mean this in the least offensive way) interested in what awards a photo may have won – we are not even concerned with who the photographer is. We base our selections on the sole merit of the photo, as we see it, and that only.

I will copy/paste my selection process here for you:

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*What we want-
First and foremost – photography of the highest order.
We are not block-headed purists – but there are many places for other forms of art in general. We want photography with minimal manipulation.

Tweaks-
Sharpness, brightness, contrast, cropping, colour de/saturation – these are acceptable, providing they are not overly done, and only performed to enhance the photograph – not as an ‘effect’.

Burning, dodging, distorting, vignettes, HDR treatment, selective colouring – these will more then likely get your image rejected, unless used in the most gentle way, and ONLY as an overall enhancement – not as an effect.

Overlays, textures, montages, compilations, 3D work, Photoshop filters – are not accepted. Yes – they can look beautiful. But this is not the gallery for those works.

When screening an image, we will try not to consider the artist. In other words – we are interested in the Art, not who performed it, their reputation, their previous work, or their potential.

We will screen entries on the above guidelines, followed by these three criteria:

Story – by this, we mean the emotion/message/impact of the work
Technical Quality – including focus, sharpness, composition, framing, light
Originality – how uncommon this particular style, point of view and/or subject is

A successful photograph will have a very high score (figuratively speaking) in at least one of these criteria – but not necessarily all.

Example:
A photograph of your pet in your garden, your baby or a seagull would need to be of extreme technical quality since the other two criteria are low.

A photograph of a person leaping from a burning building could be taken with your camera phone, blurry as all heck, and composed horribly – yet still make the gallery based on the ‘story’.

A photograph of an endangered animal in the wild, or a particularly poignant photo-journalistic event would have a high originality score, and would be forgiven a slightly lower score in the other two criteria.*

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Now, your work specifically:

First thing I notice, is what appears to be a red (or overly warm) cast to the portrait. This immediately stands out to me, and is not appealing.

I can tell that there is a mood trying to escape the portrait – perhaps anger, or angst – but I cannot really feel it. I am not sure whether this is a staged shot, or a candid. But either way, it just does not have the power to overcome the fact that it is a relatively mundane portrait of a man in a hood. Lighting is not exceptional, the blue reflection on the hood almost mocks the mood, and there is (at least in the RB version) no detail in the dark areas (yes, I realise the difficulty of a night shot with a white top and black hood :) )

The only redeeming features I feel this photo has, is that the man is good looking, and it is framed perfectly. But I am afraid it is not enough, sorry man.

Hi Mark, and thankyou for your feedback, it’s always good to get constructive criticism as it gives a different perspective. It is also important that the observer feels the emotion in the image, otherwise it hasn’t worked. The blue reflection is a logo on the hood,and he is of Indian background, perhaps that may explain the red cast.? The image was taken around 6.30pm and I used a flash.
All in all I am satisfied with your decision eventhough it is dissapointing, but hey, it just makes me try even harder. Thanks again Mark.
Cheers,
Wayne Pearson