Anyone else tired of oversaturated, photoshopped to death, photos of corals?

[schminksbro]

It is worth noting that taking pictures is an art form. Corals are one of the more difficult subjects to photograph and post processing is a part of producing quality digital photos. As a vendor, quality photos are one of the most challenging things for me. The last thing I want is someone to receive a product that they purchased from me and be disappointed. I would hope that most vendors feel the same way. Any small business survives by building a customer base over time. Happy customers mean repeat customers. I routinely ask my customers for their honest feedback in reference to their purchases with me. From beginning to end, the flow and ease of use of my website, communication, packaging, shipping, and of course representation of the product. My survival and success rides on all of these things. Again, I would think most vendors feel the same.

 

[revsgirl]

Tiptoeing and being scared has definitely not been my experience on this forum. I enjoy R2R as a community, but when there are entire threads of negativity, and in the photography forum oh: it tends to suck the joy out of all the positivity that goes on. If I am looking to buy from a vendor, I will go to their feedback and make sure they are in upstanding with the community before I purchase. Unfortunately, for some one who cares for this site and all its contributors, members and sponsors alike, it is not enjoyable to read all the "general" negativity displayed in this thread. I say put it in its proper place.

 

[Dave3112]

While I agree with the overall sentiment of the not "over saturating" a photograph. People also at the same time need to understand that when you buy something online it's because you can't get it local. And with that comes the shipping process. Things will not look as vibrant as a photograph after sitting in a dark box in a small amount of water for 12-24 hours. They may "look" better or healthier at a LFS because they have already been acclimated after the shipping process that brought it to the store. Just go to the airport and look at the people getting off of a local or 2 hour flight and see how much more "lively" they look as compared to the people coming off of a cross country or international flight. May be over simplifying things a bit but it makes sense to me.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

I've seen enough of them, for so long now, that I have a sort of built in filter in my brain at this point. If they aren't overdone too much I can make out what they will probably look like. I've played around enough with photo editing software that I generally know what does what to a photo. The ones that look like they escaped from Chernobyl... well, I just chuckle and move on.

lolllllllllescaped from Chernobyl

 

[mnat]

Very interesting thread indeed. I am glad to see these threads and see people in here commenting on over saturation. I hope people remember that and know where to spend their dollars, in other words with honest vendors who have integrity. Glad to see others chiming in, thought I was going crazy.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

I am more tempted to buy from people without the "Chernobyl effect" normal lights and no photo touch.

 

[mnat]

I am more tempted to buy from people without the "Chernobyl effect" normal lights and no photo touch.

Agree 1000%

Quick aside, I also enjoy the excuses that come with oversaturation; like I can't take good photos so I have to make them look better. I would rather see a realistic bad photo then a shopped amazing picture.

 

[Dave3112]

Photoshop is not the problem either. It's OVER photoshopping. I photoshop every single picture I take. Be it aquarium shots or landscapes because I shoot in RAW mode on my DSLR. You have to post process in that mode. But ask anyone that has seen my tank and they will tell you my pictures are what the coral looks like in my tank. Exactly.

 

[mnat]

Photoshop is not the problem either. It's OVER photoshopping. I photoshop every single picture I take. Be it aquarium shots or landscapes because I shoot in RAW mode on my DSLR. You have to post process in that mode. But ask anyone that has seen my tank and they will tell you my pictures are what the coral looks like in my tank. Exactly.

Agreed and understood, I think people are discussing the love of the saturation feature in photoshop.

 

[Dave3112]

Agreed and understood, I think people are discussing the love of the saturation feature in photoshop.

Sorry. That wasn't directed at you. I was typing that as you posted. Lol. I was just pointing out some things that new people to the hobby might not know.

And I completely agree with the over saturation being a bad thing. It is an easy trap to fall in to though. It makes corals just POP out of the screen and say "hey you NEED me". Haha.

 

[thewackyreefer]

To me it's about as annoying as tossing someones name on a coral and jacking the price up 10X. People do it, they're not going to stop. You just need to learn what to look out for and maybe lower your expectations a little. :smile:

 

[droblack]

Corals online are like corals at your lfs, but there are more available online, and the cherry picks tend to show up on-site (albeit briefly). Harder to find a lot of unique pieces locally, at least where most people live. And most of the true coral freaks sell or buy online. Just because some vendors/hobbyists go too far with PS doesn't mean that it is foolish to buy online. That being said, the over-saturation in some photos is overwhelmingly obvious. My three-year-old remarked upon an online pic just the other day, "That looks silly Daddy!" and she was right. Send pics of prospective buys to me and will have her take a look.

 

[Tabasco1]

It's just tough. Online is pretty much my only source as the nearest lfs is 2 hrs from me. I made an order for some stuff that didn't look silly but just really nice. Paid about $50 per head for a couple different acans and when I got em, they weren't horrible, but not really what they were represented and not worth that in my mind.

Thought, that stinks. Maybe I don't have realistic expectations. Ordered from another vender w my adjusted expectations and was blown away. They were pretty spot on with the pics. And every single one was sweet and just like the pic. Even held up next to the tank on my iPhone for comparison.

The hard part is that I don't want to have to spend a lot of $$ to figure that out. Of course I will buy again from the vendor that was spot on, but I'm sure I would want to have a least a couple options

 

[mnat]

I think we should take vendors/hobbyists to task and not just accept it because everyone is doing it. Then the vendors feel they have a green light to do it and you will never get a true picture. It just sucks that there are vendors out there that don't care about the hobby and just want to gouge others for cash.

 

[303travism]

I think a new thread should be started titled "What I thought I was getting and What I really got"

 

[Reefing8EZ]

I would like to say that you can state your opinion without saying that buying something online is not the smart thing to do, or should not be done, since that is basically all R2R vendors do-sale on line. Not every online vendor is a dirty rotten scoundral, and should not be grouped with any that are. Since this is a concern of the community, I am sure Rev will be addressing it privately with mods, vendors, etc. But to say the only way to buy is from the local fish stores is not, IMO, accurate. We have been doing this for a little while , and the vendors on R2R are amazing, and are always looking to satisfy its customers, or they would not be in business. And if you experience problems with vendors, please reply in their feedback.

I was not trying to say don't buy online, I still do. There are many great vendor here on Reef2Reef!
I feel like the over-photoshopping is getting worse and worse. JMO..
Id rather see a picture under some daylights with minimal enhancements and be surprised when it looks even better in person, than to see an awesome picture send over some big $$ and just be disappointed. I have purchased a coral labeled tricolor lobo before and got a green lobo! Adding colors that are not there is not cool. IMO..
I see a few posts saying I should have knew better but I'm a noob at this saltwater thing and there are many others very new to this as well. I think it discourages some to buy online when they have a bad experience. I think this thread can change things for the better, I didn't mean for any negativity..

 

[slojmn]

Tiptoeing and being scared has definitely not been my experience on this forum. I enjoy R2R as a community, but when there are entire threads of negativity, and in the photography forum oh: it tends to suck the joy out of all the positivity that goes on. If I am looking to buy from a vendor, I will go to their feedback and make sure they are in upstanding with the community before I purchase. Unfortunately, for some one who cares for this site and all its contributors, members and sponsors alike, it is not enjoyable to read all the "general" negativity displayed in this thread. I say put it in its proper place.

I am surprised you feel that this thread has an air of "general negativity". I totally respect your opinion but I see it as a pretty mature conversation about an issue that is pervasive in the hobby. These threads generally get pretty gnarly and I am rather impressed after reading through 8 pages that, for the most part, people are agreeing to disagree on some things and stating opinions and facts just as they see it. I think you give sage advice with your example of how you go about purchasing from vendors. I have gone back to the well from one vendor in particular and I blame myself for what I received the two times after the first....I should have taken that first purchase for what it was, chopped wild pieces that, for the most part, did not do well color wise or health wise for me. I only have myself to blame for the results of the next two times I ordered from that particular vendor....I just thought maybe it would be different .
I occasionally get a bad apple in a box of corals from my favorite and trusted vendors but for the most part the corals are true to their pictures and I buy from those few vendors with absolute confidence. I do have a relatively short list though of favorite and trusted vendors This , of course, does not mean that there are not a high number of great vendors here or online in general...I just only choose to deal with a few. I figure if it looks too good to be true it probably is. However, a few pieces I have taken a chance on have made me smile BIG!!!

 

[sherita]

I'm with most everyone else. I'm sick of it. At this point very few people are fooled by the over-shopped photos. I simply won't buy from any vendor or individual that tries to trick people with oversaturated, over photoshopped pics. I can take pics of my corals and make them look like that, but in reality they DON'T look like that, and it's a mean trick to play. And dishonest. I think anyone who pulls such a stunt should be held accountable, then maybe it would stop.

I would much rather see a "plain jane" picture, at least then I know what I am getting. There are two corals out there that I covet, but I won't buy because I have never actually seen on in the flesh and I don't want to be disappointed. I'll save several hundred dollars and spend it on corals I can actually see.

And I love the "escaped from Chernobyl" comment from earlier. Very apt description.

 

[Poseidon]

Here is my take, in the 20ish years I have been in the hobby lighting has changed a LOT. Back in the day, as has been mentioned, the 6.5K bulbs were what we NEEDED to keep things alive, the color was awful! Then we went through a switch to 10K.... 14K.... 20K.... and now wherever Royal Blue LEDS fall, which is insanely hard to capture on a camera.

There are limits to the technology, as Cherry Corals and Schminksbro has mentioned, photography is a science and an ART, I doubt that many "photographers" of today would have the skill required to capture an image on film, much less SLIDE FILM, but the digital tool has opened up a whole new world which I am grateful for.

As soon as digital camera's were made available, people started using them for their tanks, and with good reason, it is fun to share. When photo editing software came available, the saturation slider was discovered with it... add in the "fad corals" and the increase in price for a named coral, and POW you have the perfect storm, people who don't know how to capture a corals true color + that adjustment slider = bigger money for that 1/8" frag.

I have taken images under ALL lighting conditions now, and I can tell you that LED is by far the hardest to get right. There are many reasons WHY, from the technical, to the way our own brains process and interpret light into images. However, the nice thing about LED, is that just about everyone has the ability to crank up the blue for the BEST COLOR even if it is "artificial". Add to that color, the PAR produced by the blue LED, and you have a perfect scenario for producing colors in corals that were unheard of even 5 years ago.

Wall of text aside, if the fingers are purple, or the eggcrate is DAYGLOW BLUE, then you know you will have to reproduce THAT LIGHT to see the colors that are represented by the image you are looking at. (You also have to factor in your MONITOR, how many of you OWN a color calibration tool for your screen?)

As for posting a vendors image in this thread, that breaks copyright laws, unless you have permission from the owner of said copyright.

 

[M@!]

I recently bought some King Midas Zoas at a frag swap. They were an awesome vibrant yellow under the sellers lights. I got them home and they were completely green in under my lights. I'm still trying to figure out how that guy photoshopped my eyes!