With years of experience in the creative industry, Shutterstock takes great care to ensure that our marketplace offers a variety of licensing options and content that meets all the compliance requirements and quality standards our customers expect. Our marketplace includes traditional stock content intended for creative commercial or editorial use, as well as content intended for data licensing by customers seeking to train computer vision models. You can learn more about data licensing here.

All content submissions are evaluated through a mix of automated and human reviews against a number of compliance and quality standards to determine which type of licensing is appropriate for that content.

Photo and video submissions must pass a series of checks to be acceptable for either creative or data licensing, or both:

All submissions to Shutterstock are inspected for quality issues that are commonly found in photos and videos. To qualify for the Creative Marketplace, photos and videos must meet all the quality requirements outlined below.

Photos and videos must have a focal point that is in reasonably sharp focus. Additionally, when a shallow depth of field is used the focal plane must be appropriately located on the main subject matter. Subject matter that is out of focus or blurry due to camera shake or unintentional motion blur is not suitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Learn more about focus requirements.

Correct exposure is a fundamental aspect of a great photo or video. Submissions are expected to have reasonably well-balanced exposure that complements the subject matter. Creative lighting, such as high-key lighting and low-key lighting, must be skillfully executed. Underexposed content, overexposed content, or content with inconsistent exposure is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Find out more about exposure.

In digital photography/videography, there are two types of noise: chrominance noise and luminance noise. Chrominance noise is the fluctuations of color tone between pixels. Luminance noise is monochromic fluctuations of brightness. Noise is typically seen as a negative byproduct of using a high ISO setting and therefore is not suitable for the Creative Marketplace when excessive.

Film grain is granular or sand-like particles of metallic silver in analog film. Similar to digital noise, film grain is typically seen as a negative byproduct of using a high ISO setting and therefore is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace when excessive.

Compression artifacts are jagged square-shaped artifacts that appear when too much JPEG compression has been used. Compression artifacts are usually more pronounced around edges or in areas of the same color such as a blue sky. Because artifacts severely degrade image quality, over-compressed content is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Color banding a.k.a posterization is when transitions between different colors are abrupt and display as noticeable lines between tones. For example, instead of seeing a smooth transition between the subtle shades of blue in a sky, you’ll see jagged lines where lighter blue tones transition to darker blue tones. Submissions that display unintentional color banding are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Pixelation mainly occurs when a raster image is enlarged to a point where its individual pixels become visible. Because pixelation reduces image resolution, it is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

See examples and learn more about all these quality issues.

Composition is all about the elements that make up a scene. The visual elements that make up a scene should be consciously thought about, have a purpose, and be arranged to maximize an image’s aesthetic. Unintentionally tilted horizon lines, highly distracting elements in a scene, or elements that obscure the main subject matter of a shot are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Find out more about composition.

Editing and post-production effects can make good content look even greater but they can also introduce quality issues. Whether it be applying filters, creating composites, cloning, or isolating subjects on white, post-production edits and effects must be well executed. For instance, isolated subjects should have smooth edges, cloning or healing brush strokes should be unnoticeable, and filters should enhance the aesthetic of a shot. Edits or effects that have been applied in an unskilled manner or in a way that detracts from the overall quality of the content are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Learn about post-production.

Dirt or dust on a camera sensor or lens element, a.k.a. sensor spots or lens dust, causes undesirable spots to appear in photos or videos. Specks of water or moisture on a lens can create a similar issue. Photos and videos with such visible distractions are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Find out more about sensor spots/lens dust.

Reflective objects such as Christmas ornaments, windows, mirrors, chrome bumpers, etc., can show elements in the reflection that do not complement the scene. For example, sunglasses that show a photographer’s reflection, or lighting equipment that can be seen in a mirror. Content with distracting reflections is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Check out more info on reflection.

Digital conversion refers to the process of converting an analog medium to a digital one. For example, scanning a painting or converting a film print to a JPEG image. In the process of digitizing analog content, it is possible to inadvertently introduce quality issues. Common examples of this are blurry/out-of-focus areas of scans and visible dust, dirt, hair, lint, or other debris appearing on the original work. These particular issues are typically caused by not placing artwork flat on a scanner bed or not cleaning the artwork or scanner bed before the digitization process. Content with digital conversion issues like this is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Learn more about digital conversion.

White balance is the process of removing an unnatural blue, orange, or green color cast from a photo or video. Color casts, however, can be unintentional or intentional. Unintentional color casts typically occur when the color temperature of the light source does not match the camera's white balance setting (i.e., tungsten, fluorescent, daylight, shade, etc.). An intentional color cast is when a photographer/videographer deliberately adds a color cast to a photo or video as a creative effect to evoke a mood or obtain a desired look. Content with unintentional white balance issues or poorly executed white balance effects is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Read up on white balance in photo and video.

Styling refers to how presentable and “tidy” the subject and props within a scene are to the viewer. Generally speaking, elements making up a scene should be reasonably clean and arranged appropriately to strengthen the content’s narrative. Styling issues such as stains on outfits, haphazardly arranged food, dirty fingernails, etc., should be avoided as content with such issues is unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Jagged edges or wavy interference patterns that show up on objects with repetitive details such as tightly grouped sets of lines or dots (e.g., clothing with repetitive patterns such as pinstripes). Videos with noticeable aliasing/moiré will not be accepted into the Creative Marketplace.

Find out more about aliasing/moiré.

Camera movements such as panning, tilting, zooming, dolly shots, and handheld shots must be smooth and intentional. Videos with jarring, unskillful camera movements, vibrations, or zooming are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Learn about camera stabilization/movement.

Distortion/anomaly refers to technical flaws such as flickering, wobbly video, distorted/warped objects, and other similar visual glitches. Videos with noticeable distortion/anomaly issues are not suitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Read up on distortion/anomaly.

When clips have been edited, meaning multiple video clips have been cut and arranged in video editing software, the edits must be purposeful and well-paced. Videos containing partial segments of other clips, excessive black at the head or tail of the clip, and poorly executed montages are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Find out more about editing.

Frame rate refers to the number of frames in a video per second. Shutterstock accepts videos at a number of different frame rates. Nonstandard frame rates and issues that exhibit frame rate or shutter speed related issues such as ghosting, duplicate frames, skipped frames, frame blending, or jerky motion are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Learn more about frame rate/shutter speed and technical video requirements.

Interlacing, also known as combing, is undesirable horizontal lines that form alongside the edges of an object in motion. Videos with noticeable interlacing are unsuitable for the Creative Marketplace.

Read up on interlacing.

Clips of still photographs or photographs with basic motion effects applied to them in post-production, such as basic panning or zooming effects, are not suitable for the Creative Marketplace. More advanced still photo techniques such as cinemagraphs and parallax effects will be considered.

Find out more about using still photos in video.

If you don’t understand the reason for the rejection of your content or if you need additional clarification, you can always contact contributor support.