After the many years I have put in photographing nature/wildlife, I have come to the conclusion that there is a fundamental misunderstanding on what makes a technically sharp wildlife photo. Understand this is not about composition, lighting etc, but more about sharpness of the subject.
It is accepted among all professional photographers and editors that a wildlife photograph has achieved focus if the eye and the immediate surrounding is completely sharp. This is something I have found that stock agencies do not understand in their review process. With most stock agencies I have worked with, they want the entire head in focus (for the most part). That is often not possible and thus why it is acceptable to have the eye “area” in sharp focus.
I have basically come to the conclusion that I will probably need to purchase a 60mp camera, so I can stand off more from the subject to get more depth of field and then crop in post. I just get tired of the reviewers/machines not really understanding what a technically sharp image is.
It too me forever to get [removed by mod according to community terms] to understand this.