Leonardo Mello - Pre-Screening & Postprocessing advice

[dlowwa]

Hi there!
I have a few questions about rejections related to cloning, specially those rejections due to digital manipulation and/or Bad Postprocessing.

1) Removing a fence from the edges of photos is accepted, or is it considered as "Digital Manipulation"?
Sadly, fences are very annoying when they show up on the picture edges. Some can be easily cropped off the picture. However, some might still be there, creating darkened corners, similar to vignetting issues. Sometimes, cropping them off would also lead to cropping parts of the plane, which is not what we want. This can be corrected by cloning parts of the sky or ground which aren't affected by the fence. Does this kind of correction lead to a rejection, even if the result is good? A good result would be: no cloning marks, well blended sky colors, etc.

This is considered manipulation and will result in a warning at first, but if repeated will result in the loss of upload slots or even an upload ban. DO NOT use the clone tool for anything other than removing dust spots, and even then, do so carefully.

2) Issues which can only be visible in the equalized version can lead to rejections?
Imagine that, after editing, you have a good picture with a nice sky. However, when you equalize it, there are many issues: color banding, some faint dust spots, cloning tool marks, etc. However, all these issues can't be seen in the normal version, they can only be seen in the equalized version. Can this pic be rejected due to these issues? Do we need to care about how our equalized pic look?
The same goes for halos. Some halos can't really be seen in the normal version, but can be visible (even if very faintly) on the equalized version. Is a "Bad Postprocessing" rejection really needed in these situations?

I'd like to know the opinion of the screeners about these subjects, because these are some issues i've faced before.
Please care to elaborate your answers, maybe to help other photographers aswell. Hope we can all learn a bit more
Many thanks in advance! Cheers!

If not visible in the unequalized version, it should not be a reason for rejection. Just be aware that we have a better sense of halos caused by bad processing (and dust spots, etc.), and don't necessarily need to use the equalize tool to see them.

[Leo 747]

This is considered manipulation and will result in a warning at first, but if repeated will result in the loss of upload slots or even an upload ban. DO NOT use the clone tool for anything other than removing dust spots, and even then, do so carefully.

If not visible in the unequalized version, it should not be a reason for rejection. Just be aware that we have a better sense of halos caused by bad processing (and dust spots, etc.), and don't necessarily need to use the equalize tool to see them.

Dana, many thanks for your considerations, they were indeed very helpful

[Leo 747]

Hello!
I've just edited this picture, but after uploading to the queue, i'm concerned about the equalized version.
Using the "Check for Dust" tool, I see there's a white halo on the front section of the aircraft... looks like a ghost I had to enhance that area during editing because the RAW file was quite overexposed there.
I can't really see the halo in the unequalized version, and IMO the edited pic looks acceptable, but I guess that halo area could lead to an "Overprocessed" rejection. That's why I decided to post here first.

I'd like to hear from you screeners.
Many thanks in advance!

[Leo 747]

Hello!
I've just edited this picture, but after uploading to the queue, i'm concerned about the equalized version.
Using the "Check for Dust" tool, I see there's a white halo on the front section of the aircraft... looks like a ghost I had to enhance that area during editing because the RAW file was quite overexposed there.
I can't really see the halo in the unequalized version, and IMO the edited pic looks acceptable, but I guess that halo area could lead to an "Overprocessed" rejection. That's why I decided to post here first.

I'd like to hear from you screeners.
Many thanks in advance!

Anyone?

[Leo 747]

Hello!

I'd like to question these two rejections here:

1) Gol 737

https://www.jetphotos.com/viewqueued_b.php?id=9815126

2) Azul A321

https://www.jetphotos.com/viewqueued_b.php?id=9816022

These were both rejected due to "Bad Postprocessing", which I suspect is due to halos around parts of the aircraft.
Using the "Check for Dust" tool, indeed I can see a faint halo wrapped around the tail of the Gol 737, and I can see a halo above the Azul A321. No questions about that

However, these issues can't be seen on the normal version of the pictures. I've showed these images to friends and they agree with me - photos look OK when normal.
My screen setings are well adjusted (brightness, colors, etc) and honestly I can assure you that.

So my question is: why are these images being rejected due to issues which are not visible unless the picture is equalized? This makes no sense at all.
I've appealed the Gol 737 picture. The screener comment was basically nothing helpful at all - hence why i'm writing here.

I've had pictures rejected due to halos in previous times, and this made me pay more attention during photo processing.

At the very beginning of this thread, i've wrote about this same thing, and this is what Mr. Gerardo wrote:

We will only reject a photo, if the fault is visible in the unequalized photo.

So it seems that either 1) screeners are seeing things which I'm not seeing 2) screeners are automatically rejecting pictures due to issues instantly popping out in the equalized version, and not even bothering to check the normal picture.

I'd like to hear some opinions, all would be very welcome and helpful.

Cheers, have a nice day!

[dlowwa]

Hello!

I'd like to question these two rejections here:

1) Gol 737

https://www.jetphotos.com/viewqueued_b.php?id=9815126

2) Azul A321

https://www.jetphotos.com/viewqueued_b.php?id=9816022

These were both rejected due to "Bad Postprocessing", which I suspect is due to halos around parts of the aircraft.
Using the "Check for Dust" tool, indeed I can see a faint halo wrapped around the tail of the Gol 737, and I can see a halo above the Azul A321. No questions about that

However, these issues can't be seen on the normal version of the pictures. I've showed these images to friends and they agree with me - photos look OK when normal.
My screen setings are well adjusted (brightness, colors, etc) and honestly I can assure you that.

So my question is: why are these images being rejected due to issues which are not visible unless the picture is equalized? This makes no sense at all.
I've appealed the Gol 737 picture. The screener comment was basically nothing helpful at all - hence why i'm writing here.

I've had pictures rejected due to halos in previous times, and this made me pay more attention during photo processing.

At the very beginning of this thread, i've wrote about this same thing, and this is what Mr. Gerardo wrote:




So it seems that either 1) screeners are seeing things which I'm not seeing 2) screeners are automatically rejecting pictures due to issues instantly popping out in the equalized version, and not even bothering to check the normal picture.

I'd like to hear some opinions, all would be very welcome and helpful.

Cheers, have a nice day!

Second one doesn't seem that bad to me, though the first is noticeable without equalizing. Some heat haze there too.