Stock Agency Reviewers

Stock photography agency reviewers do a good job of quality control, but sometimes the inconsistency between them drives me crazy.

I can understand that different agencies are looking for different picture styles, but some quality comments leave me totally bamboozled, including:-

• An image is rejected because of “Limited commercial value due to composition”, when the same image is listed with three other stock agencies and has sold multiple times.
• An image is rejected for being “soft” at one agency, but accepted by two other agencies.
• Cases where one reviewer will reject an image for something like too much shadow or noise, but another reviewer at the same agency will approve it.
• An image is rejected for colour cast, when the slight cast is part of the image design.

I guess it comes back to the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone sees something different in an image.

This is an interesting lessen in personnel taste, and shows how futile it is to try and  design an image that suits everyone.