Honest SPS pictures
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Ducagoose
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Here's a ora green birds nest, a pc rainbow acro, a hollywood stunner chalice when I first got them. Bad cellphone pic sorry, but it's closest to real looking I had available on my phone
SeaDweller
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I mean, what’s not honest though? A picture taken under blues is just that: a picture taken under blues. Or a piece taken under daylight, it’s a piece under DL spectrum. I’d expect a piece to look like what it did in the picture, in whatever setting it’s taken in, to look like that in the exact same setting, white or blue. One needs to learn to decipher what’s in a blue light pic.
noobs see a blue light only pic and probably think a piece is going to come with say, X colored polyps and “blue skin or tips”, thinking its super rainbow, without realizing other things like a white frag plug or sand, is also blue in the pic. They then get like a piece that is white-Ish flesh without blue skin or tips and then get mad and disappointed. Some guy was on here asking about his common hammer that has “blue tips” because his whole spectrum is blue, and refused to think it’s the common one with light purple tips. I mean.. come on.
it’s not honest if a person or vendor sells a piece under blue light and claims that’s exactly how it’ll look under a whiter spectrum. A good eye will discern that certain bulbs like a B+ gives off a certain hue in life and pics, or how RB LEDs give off a certain hue, but they can filter out those colors and pics in their minds.
noobs see a blue light only pic and probably think a piece is going to come with say, X colored polyps and “blue skin or tips”, thinking its super rainbow, without realizing other things like a white frag plug or sand, is also blue in the pic. They then get like a piece that is white-Ish flesh without blue skin or tips and then get mad and disappointed. Some guy was on here asking about his common hammer that has “blue tips” because his whole spectrum is blue, and refused to think it’s the common one with light purple tips. I mean.. come on.
it’s not honest if a person or vendor sells a piece under blue light and claims that’s exactly how it’ll look under a whiter spectrum. A good eye will discern that certain bulbs like a B+ gives off a certain hue in life and pics, or how RB LEDs give off a certain hue, but they can filter out those colors and pics in their minds.
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Bill Bolton
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This is a nice, fairly natural looking lighting mix. Good job on "honest" lighting!!This is what you say that the environment color of the tank such as rocks is more in reality.
Big E
Valuable Member
I have literally hundreds of photos under white lights....I'd call it 14k. I use 50/50 coral+ and blue+ T5 no leds or actinics. Obviously you can run a white tank with LEDs as well.
If you want some extra edge pop or slightly more blue you could add one or two blue led strips and the tank would still have a nice crisp whiter look.
These are some of the corals people have pointed out when they have seen my tanks in person, so they would all be good candidates.
Paletta pink tip
ORA Pearlberry
[/url]Pearlberry
Red Planet
Navy blue tort-
Ultra Shortcake
OG Battlecorals Joker
SC Orange Passion
Aussie Ice Fire Echinata
If you want some extra edge pop or slightly more blue you could add one or two blue led strips and the tank would still have a nice crisp whiter look.
These are some of the corals people have pointed out when they have seen my tanks in person, so they would all be good candidates.
Paletta pink tip
ORA Pearlberry
Red Planet
Navy blue tort-
Ultra Shortcake
OG Battlecorals Joker
SC Orange Passion
Aussie Ice Fire Echinata
abbypoodle
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What is that?lights off WD
I see all-blue pics like this... some of you children of the 80s and 90s will know what I am talking about:
Your friend wants to set you up with somebody on a date. They hand you a Glamour Shot of the person (keep in mind that everybody had wallet photos to pass out back then). The smart people ask for a regular high school photo and just discard the Glamour Shot immediately. The Glamour Shot can make almost anybody look like Cindy Crawford and they were never the people who looked good anyway. Anybody remember Glamour Shots?
The only modern day equivalent that I can come up with are the Realtors who use a photo from 20 years ago on their business card - some of you know what I am talking about.
...or those ears and noses that people put on themselves for their online profile... why the hell does this happen?
Your friend wants to set you up with somebody on a date. They hand you a Glamour Shot of the person (keep in mind that everybody had wallet photos to pass out back then). The smart people ask for a regular high school photo and just discard the Glamour Shot immediately. The Glamour Shot can make almost anybody look like Cindy Crawford and they were never the people who looked good anyway. Anybody remember Glamour Shots?
The only modern day equivalent that I can come up with are the Realtors who use a photo from 20 years ago on their business card - some of you know what I am talking about.
...or those ears and noses that people put on themselves for their online profile... why the hell does this happen?
I also agree with Ed that corals grown under 14k look different than corals grown under other lights and then just illuminated to 14k for a photo. Some of you might really like the look of corals grown under 14k lights. Y'all should listen to Ed more... he knows what he is talking about and has the corals to show it.
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Yeah yeah yeah...I remember glamour shots. I remember when you said it back in 2017, 2018, 2019 and so on, lol. I agree that all blue Led and photo shopped is as deceiving as glamour shots or social media profile pics from 25lbs ago, but I don’t think it relates to all LED lighting and rainbow Tenuis pics. I have collectors (well known collectors) asking me my secret sauce when my frags arrive bc they are blown away by the color. No glamour shots taken in my house.I see all-blue pics like this... some of you children of the 80s and 90s will know what I am talking about:
Your friend wants to set you up with somebody on a date. They hand you a Glamour Shot of the person (keep in mind that everybody had wallet photos to pass out back then). The smart people ask for a regular high school photo and just discard the Glamour Shot immediately. The Glamour Shot can make almost anybody look like Cindy Crawford and they were never the people who looked good anyway. Anybody remember Glamour Shots?
The only modern day equivalent that I can come up with are the Realtors who use a photo from 20 years ago on their business card - some of you know what I am talking about.
vanpire
Valuable Member
I have only dived in the Pacific, mainly Hawaii and the South Pacific, but there, 99%+ of the corals are in shallow water, ie less than 5 meters deep with very bright "yellow" light. Yes, there are a few corals deeper in blue spectrum but they rare and they seem more muted in color. And the blue light down there doesn't look like the blue you see with LEDs, at least not to my old eyes.
lemonade
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100% This photo was taken in 40ft of water. The majority of Acropora species could be found much shallower. Even at this depth it is still a warmer spectrum then what 90% of reef tanks look like today.
JCOLE
Grower of the Small Polyps
I have literally hundreds of photos under white lights....I'd call it 14k. I use 50/50 coral+ and blue+ T5 no leds or actinics. Obviously you can run a white tank with LEDs as well.
If you want some extra edge pop or slightly more blue you could add one or two blue led strips and the tank would still have a nice crisp whiter look.
These are some of the corals people have pointed out when they have seen my tanks in person, so they would all be good candidates.
Paletta pink tip
ORA Pearlberry
[/url]Pearlberry
Red Planet
Navy blue tort-
Ultra Shortcake
OG Battlecorals Joker
SC Orange Passion
Aussie Ice Fire Echinata
Beautiful! That shortcake is crazy!!
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Maybe it’s a microlados? Looks kinda like the purple and blue tip ones from Aussie. The growth is really space for one though, either way I agree that echi’s are a statement piece imo.
I love all the white light pics guys.
There are three separate issues being discussed and perhaps being misunderstood.
Photography 101: Pictures are effected by the lighting they are shot under. It doesn't matter whether you are using metal halides, t5's or leds. White balance is about dealing with lighting and color correcting. It involves both color temperature and tint. White balance can be done in camera as well as post processing . It should be done in both to get the best color rendition. Separately, cell phones have their own internal algorithms to color correct and they set their own preferred color temperature and tints. An unedited cell phone picture is not necessarily "real". Bottomline, it is a sliding scale from color correction to fakery.
Lights Tanks are lit by a variety of fixtures and they all have slightly different temperatures and tints. Most everyone has a preference between 10k and windex. Each to one's own. Blue leds are not the same from varying manufacturers. Reefbrites XHO actinic looks different than SB bars, or orpheuk or radions. Heck radions have presets for variations on their blue looks.
Honesty and integrity. The unfortunate truth is that some photos are likely manipulated and not realistic. If it looks faked it just might be. If you have been fooled by a vendor or hobbyist then you can aptly understand that photos are faked. We probably each have our own "smell test" based on visual cues in a photo as well as who may be posting it. I prefer not to shout out about who I think is or is not posting "real" shots. I understand the concern for not letting others be hoodwinked. Yet, as much as I think I may know, I appreciate that I don't know it all.
You don't need to be an expert on photography or lighting or be an ethicist to take photos or look at them. You just have to be someone with an interest in both reefing and photography. Of course people get fooled and cheated but hopefully not too often. When money, or greed or ego come into play, there is room for tomfoolery. I do think the suggestion that whiter light is more realistic or more honest is silly though. There are lots and lots very "real" photos of SPS under all types of lighting.
Photography 101: Pictures are effected by the lighting they are shot under. It doesn't matter whether you are using metal halides, t5's or leds. White balance is about dealing with lighting and color correcting. It involves both color temperature and tint. White balance can be done in camera as well as post processing . It should be done in both to get the best color rendition. Separately, cell phones have their own internal algorithms to color correct and they set their own preferred color temperature and tints. An unedited cell phone picture is not necessarily "real". Bottomline, it is a sliding scale from color correction to fakery.
Lights Tanks are lit by a variety of fixtures and they all have slightly different temperatures and tints. Most everyone has a preference between 10k and windex. Each to one's own. Blue leds are not the same from varying manufacturers. Reefbrites XHO actinic looks different than SB bars, or orpheuk or radions. Heck radions have presets for variations on their blue looks.
Honesty and integrity. The unfortunate truth is that some photos are likely manipulated and not realistic. If it looks faked it just might be. If you have been fooled by a vendor or hobbyist then you can aptly understand that photos are faked. We probably each have our own "smell test" based on visual cues in a photo as well as who may be posting it. I prefer not to shout out about who I think is or is not posting "real" shots. I understand the concern for not letting others be hoodwinked. Yet, as much as I think I may know, I appreciate that I don't know it all.
You don't need to be an expert on photography or lighting or be an ethicist to take photos or look at them. You just have to be someone with an interest in both reefing and photography. Of course people get fooled and cheated but hopefully not too often. When money, or greed or ego come into play, there is room for tomfoolery. I do think the suggestion that whiter light is more realistic or more honest is silly though. There are lots and lots very "real" photos of SPS under all types of lighting.
