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

[Akwarius]

@Edds Coral Cave

The pic is altered. To my knowledge there is no zoanthid with a pastel pink and blue body with yellow skirts. It just looks like a messed up eagle eye.

I really dont see the point of that exercise. Is anyone debating that a photo's color can be changed with computer software?

 

[ritter6788]

To my knowledge there is no zoanthid with a pastel pink and blue body with yellow skirts.

I don't know if the pic is real or fake but there are zoanthids with pastel pink, blue, yellow, green, you name it. Coralmorphologic had loads of crazy pastel colored zoas.

 

[m and m]

@ Edds Coral, I am 99% sure that it is altered.

 

[Dave3112]

I'm 100% sure that pic is altered. The one in the far left of the frame is what the zoas look like.

 

[k2parkstar]

I've followed this thread but tried to keep from commenting, but I've come across a seller on ebay, to my knowledge they are not a vendor on here. They have the absolutely most noticablely altered photo's i've ever scene, its just obsence these photo's, and yet some how they have what I would consider "good" feedback. Just makes me sick! I've never dealt with them personally but I wouldn't trust them with a dollar.

 

[Akwarius]

I don't know if the pic is real or fake but there are zoanthids with pastel pink, blue, yellow, green, you name it. Coralmorphologic had loads of crazy pastel colored zoas.

Thanks for the lesson.

Guess I meant to say I'm 99 percent certain THAT particular pattern/color combination doesnt exist, but new zoas are popping up all of the time so who knows.

 

[Edds Coral Cave]

yep its fake.

this is the original....

as for the comment above about the one on the left being the right one..it isnt. the pic is of a mixed colony, so the zoa on left is a different colour/morph.

im only posting these to show how simple it is to fool people..or not lol..

i am also fed up with false adverts for zoas. everyone knows they can be very bright but showing them off after photoshopping should be a crime...in fact im pretty sure it is...

 

[Edds Coral Cave]

these are all REAL macro shots, with no touching up or editing...

as for how to get these shots, heres a rough guide for you

on the top of the camera youll find the mode seleting disc, i set it to the picture of a camera (little red picture on mine, in between SRAUTO and P)
Then you can press left twice on the DPAD around the OK button.
This puts it in super macro mode. this means you can zoom right in to just a polyp size or smaller and still get a nice clear shot.

heres one of some montipora, again not edited

I love macro photography, its probably the main reason i got this camera and the main type of pictures i take. corals are especially good to do macro with, as long as they stay relatively still lol

 

[Edds Coral Cave]

heres 2 more. the macro makes it look huge, but in fact its only a small colony on a frag plug

macro...

frag plug

 

[Edds Coral Cave]

this is my frag tank..

and some of my nicer pink zoas

 

[Dave3112]

So this should be a crime to show them off or if I offered them for sale? I photoshopped this picture. Like I do every picture I take. But this is EXACTLY how they look in my tank. Don't believe me? Fine. There are folks on here that have seen my tank and will vouch for me. PLUS well my feedback is pretty good too....

 

[turbo21]

So this should be a crime to show them off or if I offered them for sale? I photoshopped this picture. Like I do every picture I take. But this is EXACTLY how they look in my tank. Don't believe me? Fine. There are folks on here that have seen my tank and will vouch for me. PLUS well my feedback is pretty good too....

I don't see a problem at all with those photos, but i also have the same zoas and know thats what they look like in my tank too. The hard part is when new stuff is being sold that i haven't seen in person and you dont know what they are supoosed to look like. and Dave with pics like that, i would by from you any day. and by the way, your last pic that is top down probably is showing a litlle less color than what you would see in person.

nice pics

bob

 

[Paul B]

Double post

 

[Paul B]

My tank always looks faded out, but then again, I don't i know how to photoshop so maybe it looks great.

 

[chort55]

Imagine if some old timer with his 6500K MH lighting starts buying some of these new corals. NOTHING is going to look like it did in the picture, in his tank :bigsmile:

Even someone running all 10k t5's aren't going to see the beauty in corals that are under 20+k leds (or even t5's for that matter).... quite honestly I am surprised how long this has gone on after this ^ comment alone.

Heres a little example...

Pretty huh... thats no lights, only flash, no editing.

Here is that same piece in my reef later that day or maybe a couple days later:

With a more accurate coloration, I didnt do anything more then cropped it and maybe hit auto color/contrast.....if I even did that.


I'm not good with photoshop or taking pics in general but I think this should pretty much prove the point that if your lights suck, your corals aren't going to look like they could, or should.

Just incase tho...

Different piece, same holding tank, same flash

Same piece in my reef:

Here is another with my reef lights on, just a closer shot and while it was still coloring up some:

and just for fun, same piece in my reef only blue lights:

Sure these aren't the most amazingly colored pieces, but as you can clearly see from these examples lighting alone plays a huge factor in the colors of coral, so before you point the finger at the vendor whos pic doesn't look the same as the coral does under your lights maybe you should ask yourself if your the one misrepresenting the piece with inadequate lighting

 

[Reefing8EZ]

Even someone running all 10k t5's aren't going to see the beauty in corals that are under 20+k leds (or even t5's for that matter).... quite honestly I am surprised how long this has gone on after this ^ comment alone.

Heres a little example...

Pretty huh... thats no lights, only flash, no editing.

Here is that same piece in my reef later that day or maybe a couple days later:

With a more accurate coloration, I didnt do anything more then cropped it and maybe hit auto color/contrast.....if I even did that.


I'm not good with photoshop or taking pics in general but I think this should pretty much prove the point that if your lights suck, your corals aren't going to look like they could, or should.

Just incase tho...

Different piece, same holding tank, same flash

Same piece in my reef:

Here is another with my reef lights on, just a closer shot and while it was still coloring up some:

and just for fun, same piece in my reef only blue lights:

Sure these aren't the most amazingly colored pieces, but as you can clearly see from these examples lighting alone plays a huge factor in the colors of coral, so before you point the finger at the vendor whos pic doesn't look the same as the coral does under your lights maybe you should ask yourself if your the one misrepresenting the piece with inadequate lighting

The point you bring up about diff lighting is valid but think of it this way.
I buy a coral that looks awesome online in a pic, I get it home and it doesn't look like the pic no matter what lighting.
6500k, 20k, MH, T5, LED. We're talking about photoshopping not difference in lighting.
Some corals are so photoshopped they won't even look like the pic under all top of the line Royal blue LEDs! That's the point we bring up.

 

[Reefing8EZ]

So this should be a crime to show them off or if I offered them for sale? I photoshopped this picture. Like I do every picture I take. But this is EXACTLY how they look in my tank. Don't believe me? Fine. There are folks on here that have seen my tank and will vouch for me. PLUS well my feedback is pretty good too....

Dave, photoshopping is not a bad thing if it is done to more accurately show a corals true colors.
We are talking about people, not just vendors, that intentionally OVER-photoshop they're pic knowing darn well it is not an accurate pic with intention of selling it faster or for more money.

 

[Reefing8EZ]

In the beginning I doubted myself. Thought it was my lighting or something.
But I don't run iwasaki 6500k and I don't think anyone else does anymore..
Even under my Radion, not an el cheapo LED, or under my ati sunpower I cannot get some of my corals to ever look like what they were sold to me as.
It's sad because I believe this is one big reason why many new hobbyist get out.

 

[Edds Coral Cave]

photoshopping is a very broad term.

if someone were to take a photo of their corals for sale, ie zoas, adjust the white balance etc thats ok.
if someone takes the above photo then runs it through photoshop to clear up any noise in the pic or to basically take any irregularities out then thats ok..

its when someone take sa pic of a zoa and photoshops it so that the colours are different, or more vibrant and saturated. thats where the problem lies.

like the examples i posted in previous pages, some are very easy to tell if fake, but others can be made more colourful and vibrant in PS and this isnt fair.

I recently got some Blue Steels from someone online, they looked very bright blue in his pic, just under T5s. i received them, and had them under T5s but a few more tubes than the seller, and they look dull as anything lol
then a week later i bought a large colony of unopened zoas (they had only just arrived at shop) and after a few days they fully opened to be the brightest pale blue zoas ive ever had!

 

[k2parkstar]

I don't think a little photoshopping to adjust white balance and what not is bad. As the OP stated its the over saturation that is getting bad, like these. These are for sale on eBay right now.