Airliners.net Reject Reasons

Airliners.net Reject Reasons

LEVEL
Your photo(s) did not appear to be level.

This problem is caused by not keeping the camera completely level while making the photograph, and particularly applies to pictures of aircraft on the ground. For shots of aircraft in flight where the ground is visible (take-offs and landings in particular), the general rule is that the camera should be level with the horizon and the aircraft be at an angle.

A good method for checking if the photo is levelled is to check the vertical lines in the photo (buildings, lamp posts etc.) for being vertical. Try to avoid using verticals at the left or right edges of the photo, because these are often subject to lens distortion. In general, these problems can often be fixed by carefully rotating the picture until the verticals are truly vertical, and then cropping the picture. When using a wide-angle lens, use the verticals in the centre of the image to level the photo.

If you think you have been able to improve the photos, please re-upload them. Do not forget to include a note to the screeners, detailing what you have done to improve the image. There is a special field available for such notes. Please note that we are still very interested in having these photos in our database, we only ask that you try to improve the quality of the images as much as possible.

BLURRY
Your photo(s) were blurry.

This might be caused by motion blur from trying to track a fast moving object with low shutterspeeds, or by inadequate post-processing of the image.

Look carefully at your original digital image or photo print or slide. If it is sharper than the uploaded file, you might try using a photo editing program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to sharpen the images, using the Unsharp Mask, Adaptive Unsharp, or Sharpen tools. If your photo has a high resolution you might try reducing it to 1024 pixels wide. This will mask any minor blurriness.

If the original image is not sharper then the version you uploaded, this image can probably not be saved.

BORDERS
Your photo(s) were partly or fully surrounded by light or dark borders.

These borders can be caused by rotating the picture in order to get it levelled and afterwards not checking the corners and cutting them off in a proper way. You can remove these unwanted borders by carefully cropping the photo.

Another source of the problem can be the sharpening of the picture. In these cases you can solve the problem by making the canvas size smaller as final step of your processing.

CATEGORY
When uploading these photo(s) you either selected the wrong categories or you neglected to select certain categories that should have been selected. Selecting the correct categories is very important, because many features of the Airliners.net search engines depend on it.

If this reason was the only one given in the rejection email, then please re-upload the photos, making sure you select the correct categories. If there have been other reasons also, please correct them before reuploading the photo with the correct categories selected.

If you are unsure which categories apply, please read the "Read Me" link next to each category button on the upload page. Note that several categories, such as special or hybrid colour schemes and classic aircraft, are ONLY for airliners and NOT for single engine props, helicopters.

CENTERED
The main subject of your photo(s) was not correctly centered in the image.

The most common reason for this rejection is that you have left too much "empty space" on any given side of the aircraft. Generally speaking the empty space on each side of the aircraft (both horizontally and vertically) should be equal.

You might also be getting this rejection for a shot where an aircraft is substantially pictured but a small amount of the wingtip, tail, or engine(s) is cut off. In this case you should re-crop the original photo to either include the whole aircraft or crop in tighter.

COLOUR
There was a problem with the colour in your photo(s).

This may be due to one of two reasons:

Your photo has a strong colour cast that makes the photos look too red/blue/yellow etc.

Your photo is saturated too little or too much. Over saturating is more common and causes colours to become very strong, almost neon like.

If you are using a digital camera, the incorrect colours can be a result of an improper setting of the white balance in your camera. A common cause of a colour rejection is an incorrect white balance in night shots. If your night photo looks very orange than please adjust your white balance so you get an image that is bluer.

Other colour casts can usually be corrected using the colour balance sliders in Photoshop or other image editing software.

If the image is a scan of a photo or slide, the please check your scanner settings to ensure you are using 16-bit colours or higher. You might also experience problems with poor colours if you use a too high compression level when saving your scanned jpeg files. You should also have your monitor and video card properly set up for 24 bit colour or higher (usually called "true colour"). Windows users can easily check this by right clicking on the desktop and looking in display settings.

If you are scanning very old pictures, particularly (but not limited to) E-6 slides more than 25 or so years old, there may be a very strong colour shift. Most recent scanning and photo editing software have specific functions designed to restore the colours of old pictures.

COMMON
The aircraft depicted in your photos was very common in the Airliners.net database, with many photos of this aircraft already present on the website.

In this case the standards for acceptance are higher than for aircraft of which we have fewer or no photographs on the database, and only photos of exceptional quality will be accepted.

Please understand that this is not a judgement on your abilities, as your picture may be of a technical quality which may be very decent. However, due to the common nature of the aircraft photographed, the highest standard is applied to avoid substantial duplication.

When uploading you should always check our database for the amount of photos we have of the particular aircraft you are uploading. If a particular aircraft or registration is common in our database, you may increase the likelihood your photos of it will be accepted by photographing it from an unusual angle, under exceptional lighting conditions, or with interesting scenery in the background.

COMPRESSION
The quality of this image is too low due to the use of too much JPEG compression.

If your photo is wider or higher than 1600 pixels it will be downsized automatically during upload, which may lower the picture quality. It's best to keep the width between approximately 1000 and 1200 pixels and to save your photos with the lowest possible JPEG compression (highest quality, or 12 in Photoshop).

As a general reference, the size of a JPEG file without any compression, of 1024 by 700 pixels, will be somewhere in the range of 400-700 KB, depending on the composition and colour range.

CONTRAST
There was a problem with the contrasts in your photos.

The photos seem to have a too low or too high contrast setting. Too low settings result in whites that are not pure white, or blacks that are not pure black. The image looks "flat". Too high contrast settings result in very strong differences between dark and light areas in the image, and usually in very strange-looking colours. The image looks very "hard".

The contrast problem may be due to incorrect post-processing with image editing software. If the image is a scan of a photo, negative or slide, it may be caused by incorrect scanner settings. In this case, please try different settings and rescan the image. Finally, this problem may also be the result of certain difficult lighting conditions, such as heavily clouded days, where the aircraft does not stand out sufficiently from the background.

The best way to deal with this problem is to use image editing software to increase or reduce the contrast. A sophisticated and usually very effective method is to adjust the so-called black-point and white-point of the image, where you manually define which areas of the image should be absolute black and white, and let the software adjust the rest of the image accordingly. Most image editing software has tools for this.

COPYRIGHT
Text or graphics were added to your photo(s).

A small copyright notice in a corner is acceptable, but please remove any other text or graphics from your photos, including all internet addresses (URLs). If you prefer to add a copyright notice onto your pictures please make sure that they are not visible on the thumbnail. This can be checked on confirmation page of the upload progress where you can see the thumbnail of your picture as it will appear when your picture gets added to the database.

Note that Airliners.net now also offers a watermark option on the upload page. This watermark will be added when your picture gets accepted into our database.

Furthermore make sure you don't include any URL or parts of them in the field for the photographer name or the remark field. You will find more info on this issue in the Upload-FAQ.

DARK
Your photo(s) is underexposed or too dark.

If the photo is underexposed it is probably caused by incorrect camera settings or by incorrect processing. You can try to brighten the image during processing, but this can often result in a grainy appearance, thus leading to a GRAINY rejection. Try adjusting the levels in your image editing software, or adjust the exposure when converting RAW images.

This rejection may also apply to images where the overall image is exposed correctly, yet there is insufficient contrast between the subject of the shot (aircraft) and its surroundings. This can sometimes occur in dawn/dusk shots or when highly-reflective surfaces have affected the metering of the shot.

DIRTY
Your photo(s) had blemishes on them.

If the image is from a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR), these blemishes may be dust spots ("dust donuts"), which are often difficult to see. They are caused by dust on the CCD/CMOS sensor of your camera. DSLR are very sensitive to the problem, because of the removable lens. To minimize this problem, always hold your camera with the lens pointing down, when changing the lens. If your camera sensor is very dirty, you will need to have it cleaned. There are ways to do this yourself, but this is not without risk. You can also ask your camera dealer.

If the image is from a regular digital camera, the blemishes are probably caused by dirt on the lens. Please clean your lens regularly.

If the image is from a scanner, the blemishes may be dust, dirt or scratches. These may have been in or on the scanner itself, or on the photo, negative or slide. Always clean negatives and slides very carefully with a high-quality brush before scanning them, but be careful not to cause any damage. If this does not help, the scanner itself may be dirty. For a flatbed scanner, use microfiber cloth and window cleaner or another appropriate glass-cleaning product to clean the scan bed. For film/slide scanners, try using compressed air to blow out any dust. Scratches cannot be cleaned, but will need to be repaired with the help of image editing software. Depending on the location and size of the scratch, this may be a very difficult task.

You might also receive this rejection, because your photo had some "hot pixels" in it. These broken pixels appear in photos taken with all kinds of digital cameras and are often only visible on relatively dark shots with a long exposure time (e.g. night shots). They will usually appear as tiny red dots.

A simple way to remove dustspots using Photoshop can be done as follows:

Create a duplicate layer: Layer-> Duplicate layer.

Press F7 to bring up the layers window, this will appear to the right of your screen.

Select the new "Background Copy" by clicking on the name.

Now equalize the image, (3.0) Filter-> Adjustments->Equalise,(2.0) Image->Adjustments->Equalize

Select the "Background layer" instead of the "Background Copy" layer. You will still see the equalised image, but all changes are being made on the original image.

Select heal tool, you will need to set the heal tool so press 'Alt' and click, (left click) near the spot in question, do this for each spot. Photoshop CS2 has a "spot healing brush tool" which allows removing dustspots by a single mouseclick.

Heal the dust spots on the image. You will not see the spots disappear, but they do disappear on the original image so remember which ones you did already. If you healed all dust spots continue to the next step.

You can now delete the "Background Copy" layer. Select the "Background Copy" by clicking on it and then delete, Layer->Delete Layer

You should now see the original image, which if the above steps are performed correctly is free of dustspots.

DISTANCE
The aircraft in your photo(s) was too far in the distance, resulting in too much 'empty space' in the image.

The best way to avoid this problem is to get closer to the aircraft, or use a lens with a longer focal length.

In some cases this problem can be corrected by cropping the image more tightly. However, severely cropping an image will always lead to a decrease in image quality. This in turn may lead to a subsequent QUALITY rejection of the corrected image.

DOUBLE
You already have photos of this aircraft in the Airliners.net database that are the same as, or very similar to these photo(s).

In order to receive this rejection, the other (similar) photos in the database must also have been taken by you, at the same day and at the same airport. Please do not upload multiple sequential shots of an aircraft during landing, taxiing or take-off, taken only a few seconds apart. Even though these photos may appear to be from different angles, we consider them similar. Please select the best shot from the sequence and upload only that one. One shot taken during landing, and another during take-off will generally NOT be considered a DOUBLE error.

In certain cases you can also get this rejection if there are photos in the database that are nearly identical to the one(s) rejected here, but taken on another date by you. Examples of this are photos of stored or preserved aircraft that have not moved since you took the other photos.

For window views we accept 2 shots per flight and side of aircraft when they show considerable different motives. So in other words the maximum number of accepted window views of the same registration on the same flight all taken by you would be 4.

We only accept multiple cockpit shots if:

They clearly show different parts of the cockpit.

When the outside view is showing a different airport.

When one is taken in daylight and one taken at night.

Note: This rejection might also occur if you have similar photos in the upload queue that are still awaiting final screening.

EDITING
Your photo(s) appeared to have been processed incorrectly.

Generally, there are two reasons for this rejection.

Incorrect use of certain features of the image processing software.

Deliberate attempts to alter the image, i.e. by digitally removing or adding objects, or by purposely changing certain items in the image. This is considered a serious offence on our site.

Examples of the first reason are incorrect use of grain/noise reduction tools (such as Neatimage). Noise reduction tools should be used with care. Generally speaking images that were taken in daylight, or ISO 100/200 images from a DSLR should not need any noise reduction. Incorrect use of noise reduction will often result in a loss of detail, and a soft or washed out appearance. Another example is incorrect use of the shadow/highlight tool or the dodge/burn tools. This will often result in light or dark halos around the areas you tried to lighten or darken.

The second reason is more serious. Airliners.Net does not tolerate ANY deliberate alteration of the image for the purpose of the removal of objects from the image, addition of objects to photographs, deliberate blurring of objects (to create an artificial depth of field) or faces, or changing the registration or even entire colour schemes. These type of EDITING rejections can result in a ban from the site.

Editing of images should be limited to rotating to correct horizontals and verticals, cropping, colour and level corrections, and some careful sharpening. Cloning should only be used to remove minor imperfections such as dust marks and scratches.

ERROR
During or after uploading your photo(s), an error occurred.

This may be due to an incorrect or not unique filename or to a server problem. Please note that our scripts cannot process files whose names include "jpg" or "jpeg" in the main filename (before the dot). Example: 747jpg.jpg would not work. Furthermore, the filename needs to be shorter than 50 characters and fairly unique (1.jpg would be a very bad filename).

If your filename seems OK, then it's probably our problem and we ask that you accept our apologies and please try to upload the shot again. Please note that ERROR rejections do not count as a rejection in your acceptance statistics, because it can be our fault we had to reject this image.

Please do not appeal these rejections! The second time around the problem will still be there. The only way to proceed it to upload the image again using a different filename.

OVEREXPOSED
Your photo is overexposed.

In the case of a digital camera, the problem is almost certainly caused by incorrect exposure settings on your camera.

In the case of a scanned image, it may be a problem with the original photo, negative or slide. Check your original photo, and if it appears to be correctly exposed then please change the settings on your scanner and rescan the image.

You may try to use an image editing program to decrease the brightness or exposure of the images, but in most cases this will not lead to satisfactory results, and you will most likely be unable to improve the shot to an acceptable standard.

GRAINY
There was too much grain or digital noise in your photo(s).

All scans contain a certain amount of grain, and all images from digital cameras contain a certain amount of digital noise, but these amounts should be kept at acceptable values.

In case of a digital camera, avoiding grainy rejections can be achieved by using a lower ISO speed, which will reduce the digital noise in the image. Avoid high ISO settings, as they usually generate too much noise for the image to be acceptable. This is the same with film cameras: high-speed films (i.e. 400 ASA or more) will show much more grain than slower films (i.e. 100 ASA or less).

Most image editing software has tools built-in for reducing grain and noise. However, these will always have to be used with great care, because improper use will destroy much of the detail in the image, which may lead to a EDITING rejection. There are also separate programs available, that can be used stand-alone or as a plug-in for image editing software. These programs often given better results than the standard tools in the image editing software.

Please note that grain can also be caused or intensified by too much sharpening. Flat, uniform areas (such as the sky) are particularly prone to becoming grainy if too much sharpening is applied. Take care not to oversharpen your image. Grain can also be caused by brightening an (underexposed) image too much.

INFO
Some of the information you submitted together with these photo(s) was missing, incorrect, irrelevant or in the wrong format. A common reason for this message is a missing registration or an airport name or location in the wrong format. In many cases this rejection can be avoided by using the Auto Complete feature at the top of the upload page. Please use this! It is your responsibility to be sure that information submitted including the information given by the autocomplete is correct, if you are unsure about the information you can request assistance from the Editors by sending an email to editors@airliners.net.

Next to each item on the upload page there is a Help link that offers very detailed information about that specific field. Please read this information carefully.

Some very common mistakes are:

Filling in an airline for aircraft that do not carry any titles.

Leaving the Registration field blank if you do not know the registration. Use the generic form **-*** or a country-specific registration such as N***** or D-**** instead.

Leaving the Registration field blank if the registration is visible in the photo.

Filling in a Code that is not painted on the aircraft (i.e. no selcals, flight numbers, airline codes etc).

You may also receive this message if some of the info you submitted was written in a non-English language or grossly misspelled, or to a significant incorrect use of upper and lower case letters (general rule: do not spell words or names in all capitals).

You will find more info on this issue in the Upload-FAQ. Also, Read more about required photo information in our Aviation Photography forum at:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/aviation_photography/read.main/183026
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/aviation_photography/read.main/129367

And for finding information resources on the internet, you can find many links here:
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/aviation_photography/read.main/174453/

If this reason was the only one given in the rejection email, please re-upload the photos and pay high attention to supplying the correct info. Always use the Help link next to each item. If there were also other reasons mentioned in the rejection email, please correct these issues first, before reuploading the photo with the correct information attached.

OVERSHARPENED
Your photo(s) were sharpened too much.

In most cases this problem is due to oversharpening of the photo during post-processing in image editing software. Try sharpening the picture less aggressively to get rid of the jagged edges. These jagged edges are usually very visible on titles, cheatlines, registrations, or other straight lines. Selective use of masks to avoid excessive sharpening or areas where jagged lines may occur is a difficult but very effective method to avoid jagged edges. A good Airliners.Net image should be sharpened to just before the point where the titles and edges of the aircraft start to turn jagged.

This rejection can also occur when an image is well sharpened overall but one or more parts of the image showed jagged lines. This problem is generally most evident on solid lines such as wing leading edges, particularly if several lines are close together, such as gaps between the wing and flaps, cheat lines spaced closely together, or the aircraft titles and registration.

A simple yet effective method to avoid "jaggies" is the use of layers in Photoshop.

First sharpen the image slightly, just enough so that no jaggies appear, and the image is still slightly soft.

Then create a new layer, after which you apply more sharpening.

You will probably see "jaggies" appearing now. Use the "eraser tool" on those parts of the image where you see jaggies.

The jaggies should now be gone and you can "flatten" the image.

MOTIVE
Your photo(s) showed a motive that is not accepted by Airliners.net. This problem may be due to a very wide range of reasons.

Some of the most common examples are:

Photos showing just a part of an aircraft (with no motivation for doing so, like a special sticker, damage etc.). Additionally, cutting off the nose or a part of the tail can also result in a motive rejection.

Photos with distracting or obstructing objects in the foreground (this is especially true for gate shots which are very difficult to get accepted due to their common nature and the large amount of equipment which usually surrounds the aircraft). Any equipment or objects blocking parts of the aircraft will result in a motive rejection.