Honest SPS pictures

[ZachP]

Anyone willing to post some pictures of some more “high end” sps without heavy blues on or editing of pictures?
I’m just starting to get really into SPS and would love to know what to actually expect. I see all the pictures online but I know that isn’t necessarily what they will look like in person

 

[PicassoClown04]

Well, I did have my normal blues on but I run a fair bit of white as well. No editing I don’t have much so sorry about that. Just a garf bonsai, some green Birdsnest, red dragon, and Anacropora.

 

[BAUCE]

Images that look too saturated or colorful a lot of times are just poor photography skills with the 20k LED setups a lot of people are running today. There are for sure some vendors that "photoshop" their photos to make colors look more saturated than real life. A lot of people dont have orange filters to balance out the 20k look and they arent trying to be deceptive. I'd even argue that a lot of people these days would actually benefit from photoshoping their photos. I have to do a lot of work in lightroom with the raw image editor to get my photos to look like blue. I go in a play with white balance, contrast, brightness, highlights, etc because otherwise they will look bluer than normal. If I was a good photographer with good gel filters I wouldnt need to edit so heavily post shooting.

 

[BAUCE]

You should expect to have colors pop and have more vibrance under bluer lighting. A lot of pieces will look washed out under that lighting as well though. Asking for photos under the spectrum you plan to run would be more helpful imo. If you're not sure what spectrum I'd just ask for stuff under 12-14k spectrum.

 

[vpoiu1263]

This is what you say that the environment color of the tank such as rocks is more in reality.

 

[Crustaceon]

I run t5 bulbs and the coloration is pretty close to what you see in person.

 

[Big E]

What type of lighting are you running? You will get a lot of reflective fake colors under heavy blue or poorly mixed leds. It may be best to make a list of corals that interest you as high end and then people can post actual pictures with whiter lighting.

The best thing to do is focus on buying corals that have countless pictures in many tanks. Stay away from hyped corals without seeing colony pictures in many tanks over many months/years.

If you do this your choices are still basically endless and your tank will fill up with a virtual rainbow of colors.

Right now there are about 2000 named corals and only about 200 different corals

 

[NitrateKillah]

This is what you say that the environment color of the tank such as rocks is more in reality.

That is one WICKED reef bro. What is your parameters? are you running ulns?

 

[vpoiu1263]

That is one WICKED reef bro. What is your parameters? are you running ulns?

Thank you bro, this is just a normal 40 gal , I don't have much nice species acro.
My water is natural sea water, and do water change 10 gal every week.

My parameters is just following the natural sea water below:
Alk:6.7
Ca:410
Mg:1320
Nitrate:0.2
Phosphate:Hanna is undetectable
I love whole spectrum look because it's much more comfortable for my eyes.

 

[NitrateKillah]

You are running close to ulns!

 

[jda]

My whole flickr album has unedited photos under 14k Phoenix MH with no supplements (mostly - there are a few pics in there that are not mine). That gold millepora is really that gold.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/2dveqP4]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/2dqR4B1]

 

[jda]

BTW - high end is subjective. For most people who have been in the hobby only under LEDs, they like rainbow tenuis where the lights can make even so-so corals look better to their eyes. For people who have been around, they don't care about any of that stuff since they can (and love the challenge) to make corals color up with patience, time and actual skill and not just with lights alone. You will probably get more specific responses if you clarify what you are looking for.

What I consider high end is not what most on this board does, but nearly all of the long-term acropora keepers will agree with me. It takes more skill to get a Vivid Rainbow Delight to color absolute perfect beauty (most have never even seen this) than it does to keep a Walt Disney in a middling tank and shine some blues over it... but either can be really cool depending on what you want with none being better than the other, just different.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I can’t stand the edited orange filtered under all blue leds either but my eyes can’t stand a 10-14k spectrum as well. That’s why all my pics are under my ab+ spectrum with a brown Clip filter to block the ambient blue light from the camera. Anyone that shows you a non filtered 14k pic isn’t giving a realistic representation either bc the camera is picking up blue light that the eyes can’t see. Here’s a 12k spectrum example
No Clip on filter

Here’s that same spectrum with a clip on filter to show what 12k really looks like

 

[SeaDweller]

You are running close to ulns!

...he IS ULNS.

 

[Big E]

I can’t stand the edited orange filtered under all blue leds either but my eyes can’t stand a 10-14k spectrum as well. That’s why all my pics are under my ab+ spectrum with a brown Clip filter to block the ambient blue light from the camera. Anyone that shows you a non filtered 14k pic isn’t giving a realistic representation either bc the camera is picking up blue light that the eyes can’t see. Here’s a 12k spectrum example
No Clip on filter

Here’s that same spectrum with a clip on filter to show what 12k really looks like

The problem with picture comparisons like this is that those colors were produced under bluer LED settings. 14k lighting is not going to produce most of the washed out coloration shown, especially in that main tank shot.

The people that grow out their corals under say 14k lights for most of the daily duration would be a much more accurate representation how the corals will look in person, especially if a DSLR camera is set right with a correct white balance.

To the OP--
Some corals will color up the same and some better/different depending on your lights. The corals that look great without the fake reflective coloration from overly blue lighting are the true high enders and are only defined by price if they are rare or have slow growth rates.

 

[dohc97]

I am one of the old school reefers that used to only keep sps under mh. In 2013 I took a break from the hobby and 4 years later I did not recognize what was going on at swaps. I take pictures and edit to make them look as they look under my lighting, to my eyes. I have neglected my tank lately with high nitrates and dosing so here is a few of my corals as of yesterday, they do look better when I'm up on maintenance...

 

[Steven Garland]

[QUOTE="

Right now there are about 2000 named corals and only about 200 different corals
[/QUOTE]

This is the TRUEST statement I have seen in a VERRRRRY long time.

 

[dohc97]

I do respect the marketing that goes on now with the designer corals, getting an entire new reefer generation to buy into it is amazing. I'm still stuck in my old ways, give me the classic sps and I'm all good.

 

[najer]

I can’t stand the edited orange filtered under all blue leds either but my eyes can’t stand a 10-14k spectrum as well. That’s why all my pics are under my ab+ spectrum with a brown Clip filter to block the ambient blue light from the camera. Anyone that shows you a non filtered 14k pic isn’t giving a realistic representation either bc the camera is picking up blue light that the eyes can’t see. Here’s a 12k spectrum example
No Clip on filter

Here’s that same spectrum with a clip on filter to show what 12k really looks like

Love the second set, I don't understand the "blue" look.

 

[najer]

The only acro left in my tank, a few issues, T5 hybrid, the led is only 75 watts, this is normal daylight in the tank, not a fan of the blue look!