Pics of sps. Daylight or blue light preferred?

thaveteran · Oct 16, 2018

jda said:
While not a big trend anymore, there are some corals that actually look better under 5500-6500k. Legitimately better with better colors AND pop. These are not all that popular anymore, but just about any blue acropora will look better under 6500k after a while... even better than with just blues. Strawberry Shortcake looks amazing under sunlight type of spectrum. This is certainly not for the masses, and not really for me, but for those who have seen it, it is not an unreasonable request.

Well what I was referring to was no tank lights at all. The lights were off and the tank was lit by the lights in the room only.

Anyway...

Don't get me wrong, I run whites for at least 6 hrs a day. I need it for blue mille's and oregon tort even vivid's rainbow. But I love looking at the tank late in the evening with all blues. I think pretending corals don't look good under blue or that its some how deceptive is a lame argument. I'd rather hear my preference is to view my tank under whites. No one could argue against someones personal preference.

happyhourhero · Oct 16, 2018

I think what you do with your shots is about perfect. I’d rather see pieces like you shoot or Adam shoots than say WWC.

I look at my tank more when full lights are on. I don’t really enjoy looking at most sps in the blue light. Especially when my favorite sps colors are actually blue.

thaveteran · Oct 16, 2018

bubbaque said:
I don't think there is anything wrong with viewing your tank in all blue. I even enjoy my tank when it's lit with all blue leds. The poll is for pictures of all blue, as all blue pics aren't really realistic to what you with your eyes in all blue.

I was more curious if people preferred unrealistic but pretty pics or realistic but doesn't blow you away kind of pics.

I actually think your "realistic" pics are blow you away pics and that's what gets my vote. My point was I don't think that's what people prefer to see. The likes don't lie, anything else is just not being real with ourselves. The masses prefer all blue and we have admit it.

sawdonkey · Oct 16, 2018

I don’t feel like anyone is trying to fool anyone. Well, maybe a few vendors [emoji57]. I just prefer to look at a nice oil painting more than a Pink Floyd black light poster. (No disrespect to Pink Floyd)

My tank shifts from blue to very daylight to blue light every day and I like looking at it under the different spectrums. My preferred spectrum is the bluer end of daylight.

pnether32 · Oct 17, 2018

I must be a minority on this but I love the blue lights. It makes the colors pop! Esp with the orange glasses. When my tank is on with whites I can’t wait until it turns blue in the afternoon. Whites are dull and boring...makes the corals look blah. Just my opinion...but my Kung Pao monti Is fire under the blues.

Wrangy · Oct 18, 2018

Spectrum on pics is completely irrelevant if the coral doesn't have any colours lol. Personally I love both daylight and blue pics and both are an accurate representation of the coral. Over saturated or not even.

That being said, your pics are some of the best out there Bubba so no matter what you post, I inherently trust it and get as much enjoyment out of either lighting. Take the pics under whatever lighting you're feeling at that time. That's how I do it lol if I'm feeling the blues it's blue pictures, if I like the way the tank is looking with the halides and everything on, that's how I take the pics! You're the photographer, take what you want lol never mind us! We'll love them regardless haha

peder · Oct 18, 2018

Dont like blues, looks very artificial.

Graffiti Spot · Oct 18, 2018

MarinaP said:
Having been in this hobby for 20 years, I do not quite get the recent uptick of sps pics under heavy actinics. Nobody grows sps under such light longterm. It looks cool in a scifi kind of fashion, but the value of actinics pics stops right there.

Well said!

Graffiti Spot · Oct 18, 2018

jda said:
While not a big trend anymore, there are some corals that actually look better under 5500-6500k. Legitimately better with better colors AND pop. These are not all that popular anymore, but just about any blue acropora will look better under 6500k after a while... even better than with just blues. Strawberry Shortcake looks amazing under sunlight type of spectrum. This is certainly not for the masses, and not really for me, but for those who have seen it, it is not an unreasonable request.

So true!

Ibn · Oct 18, 2018

I prefer white lights since that's what I usually see when I'm in the office. I run my LEDs pretty white in comparison to others having come from using PCs, T5s, and MHs in the past. The 10k settings shows up in Camera Raw at ~9,100k, which tells me that my actual lights are along the lines of ~11,000k. I prefer the whiter look since I love blues, oranges, and the other colors that actinics and blues mask.

One of my favorite frag at the moment is a simple orange Aussie piece that caught my attention. The mother was a tabler with beautiful orange tissue and yellow tips. This frag doesn't scream fire and probably won't ever, but I do love how simple the color combo is. I shoot with a pro-slr that does tend to white balance pretty well, so decided to shoot it under the different circumstances as mentioned by others. The first two are very true to what I see whereas the orange filter doesn't, since I'm never viewing my tank through an orange filter or glass.

ectoaesthetics · Oct 18, 2018

+1 for Both!

Since most run a tank 1/2 the time on whites and 1/2 the time on blues it is nice to see what they all look like in both conditions. It is my hope to balance out a tank so that it looks good in both conditions rather than just one. Seeing what these guys look like under both is hugely helpful!! Most of the time I can only find the actinic shots.

MTBake · Oct 18, 2018

I don't even have actinics or blues on my tank, lol. Not a fan of the blue Windex look I see in lots of pics these days. 14k MH is my favorite look in a reef tank. Even the Kessils I run are on the whitest setting I can get them at. If I look into a deep blue colored tank for too long, it messes with my eyes. I'm sure I'm in the minority here

And this is purely my opinion.

I vote daylight, obviously.

Ericsalt · Oct 19, 2018

bubbaque said:
See I think the problem with actinic pics is the use of the orange filter. The filter changes the color of the coral and adds color you don't even see under actinic with your own eyes.

Example is the WD. Looks great under actinic with your own eyes but take a pic with an orange filter and it adds so much more that aren't really visible.

If you can white balance your camera to take pic under blue with out a filter things are more accurate.

Agree this

I like sps under actinic lighting

But orange filter maybe isn’t right color

I use Olympus tg4 to set a right white balance

I think if we talk about pic

What you see and do something to make the same color

dodgerblew · Oct 20, 2018

18k-20k daylight is my preference but I also like to see them under the actinic so I like to see them with both

Biggles · Oct 21, 2018

Blue - what my blues look like to me for an hour at the start and end of my light cycle. I lose a lot of color detail because i use blue plus type T5's which wash a lot more colors out without the pop benefits you get with actinics or blue violet LED's.

Red - the colors i see with my eyes when the 400W radiums are on for 8 hours each day. I choose all my acros for their colors under my version of ' daylight ' but i don't have issues with those who like the crazy altered spectrum pics.

Biggles · Oct 22, 2018

I swapped out two T5 tubes for actinics which i used 3 or 4 years ago for a few months and then went with blue plus type tubes for the extra punch they have. Anyway, long story short is i've decided to replace all the T5 tubes which are 25 months old anyway with actinics until the novelty wears off again. Since the 400W radium bulbs have been running for 26 months i'm going to replace them too.

Important - take care when swapping old bulbs for new ones !

I always use the same method for acclimating the acros to brand new 400W radium bulbs. I swap the bulbs, turn them on, slap the display glass with my hand and say loudly as i leave for work - ' suck it up guys '.

What i see with my eyes most of the day which is why it's at the back of the display not looked at very often. It refuses to ' pop ' under my radiums although it had 20 adult AEFW on it a few months ago so i'm cutting it some worm slack.