Photoshop: when is enough enough

[Waynerock]

I dont know what you are talking about? This is the way my torch always looks! Also here is my cat. No photoshop I promise

 

[92Miata]

It’s blatant misrepresentation point blank. I go into several shops and see there corals, than see their Facebook pages and say, many, they must have a different holding facility, cause those sure are not it .

Then when you get to know more of these vendors from behind the screen you find out they are tech/computer guys. A few on here are former programmers, now they have the coral with colors no one else sees, that is until they show up at your door.

Come to think of it, one of the bigger zoa guys on Facebook has “IT” as his profession.

This whole post is prejudicial and aggravating. The vast majority of programmers and IT people don't know anything about photography or Photoshop, and the vast majority of people jacking with these photos aren't programmers.

 

[paintman]

You know, I get a kick out of reading threads like this. You guys complain about getting ripped off for photshopped colors, smaller then expected frags, etc.etc. But yet you have no problem getting fleeced for a coral with some stupid name given to it by a vendor.

 

[Thaxxx]

What is just as bad or worse is pictures with a blacked out background, with nothing else in the picture for size reference, and not stating the size in the description.
NEW RULE..... Show the frags on this forum in "actual size" in the pictures.
That will go over like a turd in a punch bowl with sellers here.

 

[tehmadreefer]

It’s all about $$$$$$$

you really think that vendors care about anything else, with the exception of a very select few?

and then to complain and then go and actually buy said livestock is just freakin hilarious!

 

[ForTheLoveOfCoral21]

I will at least try and request a picture with whites on before i make a big buy. I also ask for a "cell phone" picture. If they do not want to do it, i get it, but ill just move on to the next vendor. Cant never be to careful when spending a lot on a frag.

 

[rogersb]

I like to see pics with other corals in them. Pic that have an all black background look awesome but if I can see other coral in the pic I can tell the level of saturation. Most of my online purchases in the last 2 years have been because I could see other corals and knew what to expect based on that. There are multiple vendors I won't buy from again because all they do is the black background pics and saturate the pics to death without having to show the saturation to surrounding corals.

 

[James Johnson]

This thread is a waste of time according to what you guys are saying you would never spend more than maybe $50 on a frag? And you want photos in blue and white lighting? Go ask a photographer to give you photos for $50 and he will laugh at you. The frags you guys are complaining about are out of your price range, that doesn’t make them overpriced you just decided to be cheap on your hobby other people don’t , why hate on other people for what they buy, just because you think it’s overpriced doesn’t mean it is. It’s a free market and if they were charging too much it wouldn’t sell. I love the whole, let’s out the business so that everyone can hate on them......... if you don’t like a business don’t shop there, but don’t use this website to slander a business because you disagree with the way they Photoshop their pictures just don’t shop there. Do you guys go to movies and complain about the editing and the digital effects? Do you complain every time you read a magazine because they photoshop all the models? I don’t see any one of you posting a picture of the listing compared to the picture of what you received showing that it was not accurate I only see hearsay. So tired of these posts, just don’t shop there.

 

[JCTReefer]

You know, I get a kick out of reading threads like this. You guys complain about getting ripped off for photshopped colors, smaller then expected frags, etc.etc. But yet you have no problem getting fleeced for a coral with some stupid name given to it by a vendor.

You mean names like.

OUT OF THIS WORLD INDO FLORESCENT LEMONLIME PEE IN YOUR PANTS TOXIC GREEN BLUE-PURPLE PAINTED ULTRA COLORED HAMMER.​

EXTREMELY EXTREMELY RARE.

 

[Duncan Tse]

You mean names like.

OUT OF THIS WORLD INDO FLORESCENT LEMONLIME PEE IN YOUR PANTS TOXIC GREEN BLUE-PURPLE PAINTED ULTRA COLORED HAMMER.​

EXTREMELY EXTREMELY RARE.

IMO names keep it interesting in this hobby and is a fun way for hobbyist to collect all these different types of corals

If it weren't for names then how would we describe an acro we have?

"Hey do you have that bright green tenuis with hints of pink and yellow poylps?"

 

[JCTReefer]

IMO names keep it interesting in this hobby and is a fun way for hobbyist to collect all these different types of corals

If it weren't for names then how would we describe an acro we have?

"Hey do you have that bright green tenuis with hints of pink and yellow poylps?"

I agree names are needed to identify. But some vendors go overboard with names IMO. Lots of the common names for corals are pretty standardized across the hobby without writing a paragraph to name a coral. It’s all a selling point.
The name above in the post is ridiculous IMO.
They could have just called it a green and purple hammer which some vendors do. And that’s the vendors I purchase from.

 

[Streetcred]

Too much photoshopping and too much unnatural light manipulation.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Not sure anything can irritate one more than misrepresentation of anything in life.

These coral photos that circulate the web of corals you know dont really look like that are beyond frustrating.

Was at an lfs the other day and he should em me some wholesale corals from a coral place I will leave unnamed.

On the frag plug a zoa was on, was a snail. Not just any snail, a completely “gold” snail.
The picture was shopped so hard and careless they didnt realize they turned a turbo snail gold.

Why can’t we just sell things as is,
Not pose them as something they are not?

Because once started doing, others have to play catch up otherwise they will lose the “game” of selling. Just like in sports, who doesn’t take steroid.

 

[JCTReefer]

Mama said “corals are like a box of chocolates”

Here’s a 400$ orange hammer I purchased.
And this is what it looked like in my tank.
Talk about a little disappointment. Is what it is though. Photo edited heavily? Who knows. But not even close to the picture. Maybe it expelled all of it zooxanthellae during shipping. Lol. Now that’s funny! We live and we learn.

 

[Da8]

Things got out of hand long ago.

Actually people loved following IG accounts and vendors who really just show blue massively contrasted, filtered and photoshoped corals with ultra rare premium ****** names.


But for me the saddest is the more and more common use of orange filter glasses to watch your tank.

I attach some examples of my IG of how can they easily trick somebody even without being 24k turbo or weird looking tiles or egg crates.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Photoshop is a powerful tool, and just like any powerful tool there are ethical ways to use it and unethical ways to use it. It’s not just our hobby that it affects, unethical use of it has warped our view of aesthetics and beauty as well.

I’m not a fan of overly post processed photos by vendors, especially when it is so over the top that it is truly misrepresentation of what they are selling. I do understand that some color correction has to occur when blue LED’s are involved as they overwhelm the cameras sensor. Simply lowering the blue spike in “curves” on the histogram on photoshop is the easiest most accurate way to fix this (IMO).

Photoshop is such a vast and encompassing program that there are many ways to skin a cat and very few people use it the same way. Professional photographers the more they use it, the more their use of it becomes personalized and unique.

My guess is very few vendors actually use photoshop but instead use some other rudimentary program to do their post processing. But I ”get it” that “photoshop” is the “Kleenex” of the photography post processing world.

That being said, If you aren’t here trying to sell anything I personally don’t care what hobbyists use to photograph their tanks with. Photography is Art, you can do what you want with your pictures you are posting here. It’s your tank it’s your story, tell it how you want to.

I personally think it’s pretty easy to spot a bad job at post processing, especially when someone just messes with saturation. But maybe that’s experience based of training and education in photography and photoshop. If someone has done a good job at post processing you can’t tell at all, it just looks right.

 

[SebastianReefer]

Not sure anything can irritate one more than misrepresentation of anything in life.

These coral photos that circulate the web of corals you know dont really look like that are beyond frustrating.

Was at an lfs the other day and he should em me some wholesale corals from a coral place I will leave unnamed.

On the frag plug a zoa was on, was a snail. Not just any snail, a completely “gold” snail.
The picture was shopped so hard and careless they didnt realize they turned a turbo snail gold.

Why can’t we just sell things as is,
Not pose them as something they are not?

I’m with you just take the pic normal how the coral looks I won’t even buy from places that do it, it’s like thinking your buying a corvette and you get a ford pinto!

 

[gonzo620]

One thing about threads like this is , the lack of Accountability. We need to be able to blast these vendors. We need to be able to air their dirty laundry. I would love to be able to search a vendor and find an overwhelming amount of post about their products, good or bad.

I think these people will change when their pockets start feeling it. These places stay around because of business from first time buyers and new inexperienced reefers.
Always support your LFS! #vendorshaming

 

[rogersb]

Mama said “corals are like a box of chocolates”

Here’s a 400$ orange hammer I purchased.
And this is what it looked like in my tank.
Talk about a little disappointment. Is what it is though. Photo edited heavily? Who knows. But not even close to the picture. Maybe it expelled all of it zooxanthellae during shipping. Lol. Now that’s funny! We live and we learn.

I bought a 'yellow' hammer from them. It's one of the nicest green hammers I have ever seen, but under halides, t5, or led it is nowhere near any color you might call yellow. Live and learn, and never again.

 

[najer]

I run a T5 hybrid over my display, my camera won't work under blue leds only and I only shoot jpegs, I don't sell but if I was going to sell this then this is what you would get.