Photoshop: when is enough enough

[Anchor]

Is everyone here in the USA familiar with something called False Advertising? Ask your seller if they are familiar with it if you feel they are falsifying their products via photo editing. I wont give details but I know how it works..

 

[Anchor]

This isn't a new concept. For ex: women wear push up bras, make up, and high heels to distort the perception of them as is. Demand is driven by the perception of scarcity. Vendors photoshop frags bc it boosts sales.

Which of these do you feel is photoshopped? Or is this your own?

 

[stacksoner]

Which of these do you feel is photoshopped? Or is this your own?

These are from Vivid Aquariums. They post two photos of their super expensive frags, and I'd bet everything that they're both photoshopped to enhance color.

As a rookie, I got taken by Jason Fox and BRS via WWC and Pork Sandwich guy. Nowadays, I only buy from my LFS. Coral Vendors are my least favorite aspect of the hobby

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

Why not just shoot RAW and correct in post using Lightroom? Should be easy enough to do accurately...

Most hobbies probably just use their cellphones and never heard of RAW.

 

[Damage12]

When I was a vendor many years ago I always tried to take pictures of my corals that looked like what you saw with the naked eye. All these other vendors taking over saturated pictures and selling nubs for hundreds of dollars really turned me off to this hobby and I became disillusioned with it.
It just takes the fun out of the hobby and I just can’t seem to get that passion back.

I’m on the fence with doing a new monster tank build because I really hate to think about filling it up with corals given the current state of this hobby.

 

[EMeyer]

I think if people spent some time trying to take good pictures of their own corals they might end up a little less critical of online coral vendor photos. Usually when I see someone complaining that the vendor photo doesnt look like the buyer's photo -- the buyers photo is total crap. No filter, all blue, not even in focus. Unsurprising that the vendors photo looked better!

Its gotten to a point that anytime a vendor posts a blue light photo someone says its photoshopped.

Usually all thats been done is use a proper filter, and maybe some adjusting of white balance.

What buyers should really be critical of are the vendors who are *actually* photoshopping out the background, and filling it with all black. This allows them to do weird things to colors without affecting the color of the background, which would otherwise be a dead giveaway.

I second the suggestion that coral vendor photos should show two images: one blue, one white.

Actually speaking of lighting, one thing thats been bothering me lately is coral vendors showing a single pic in this weird heavy-blue but with still some whites lighting. There is no time of day when my tank looks like that. Just show me a daylight pic (~10k) pic and a blue pic, not this weird twilight half blue I've seen a lot of vendors using lately.

 

[blasterman]

How dare you speak badly of JF. His corals are fed unobtainium supplements and are the results of complex cross breeding with alien DNA. /sarcastic laugh.

I've experienced a trend where the big online sites that aggressively photo enhance their corals also have the most outrageous prices and refuse WYSIWYG photos. The smaller guys on Ebay are typically more generous with their frag sizes and dont play the lighting game. I just recently bought half a dozen fairly rare shrooms from a small reef store on ebay for $25. Those same shrooms would go for $60 a piece or more on the 'boutique' sites, so just support smaller vendors.

Even at frag swaps I have to nag pretty much all vendors to turn up the whites because most of them want to run blue only.

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

WYSI not always WYG... unfortunately that's how it is.
I prefer purchasing in person not only for the satisfaction of knowing what I'm getting, but for the experience and safeguarding against delivery issues.

 

[sixty_reefer]

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

Not seen many of those cats around! Are they to expensive to buy?

 

[Waynerock]

Not seen many of those cats around! Are they to expensive to buy?

Nope traded some frags for him

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

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

Looks like the kids got to the cat before photoshop

 

[Waynerock]

Looks like the kids got to the cat before photoshop

You have never tye dyed a cat? Gotta keeps the kids entertained during this Covid crap

 

[monti mike]

They got me once

 

[stacksoner]

Isn't it hilarious that there are WYSIWYG sections? For the customer who only wants to be mildly shocked when their order arrives.
The entire product catalog should be WYSIWYG.

Let is not forget McDonalds, who has been doing this same thing for as long as I can remember.

 

[itselenababe]

I made my first online coral purchase the other day and it was the biggest let down ever!

can I please pictures of your corals with regular white daylight?? Is it possible to buy truly colourful corals that don’t need altered lighting to look vibrant?

 

[scdigby]

I’ve started looking at the egg crate or the frag plugs , or even algae in the background .

you can normally tell whose over saturated their pics based on the common items

i kind of do the same thing! Especially with coralline algae in the background. If it is a weird color, or has strange unnatural looking pixels i know better. i haven't thought to look at the egg crate. Thanks for the idea!

 

[scdigby]

NEW! NEW! NEW!

Just received a shipment of 24K "Aztec Gold" turbo snails. Get yours today! Only $49.99 each!

Can we get a discount if we buy a hundred at a time?

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Can we get a discount if we buy a hundred at a time?

No, but we'll offer free shipping and a polishing cloth to keep their shells shiny.

 

[Sump Crab]

This is why I am done buying coral online. One of the site sponsors totally screwed me and it was mostly due to photoshop IMO. Live and learn I guess.

 

[EMeyer]

I’ve started looking at the egg crate or the frag plugs , or even algae in the background .

you can normally tell whose over saturated their pics based on the common items

This. When you see a coral picture with all the background edited out and filled with black, walk away, you're being had.

Blue light isn't deceptive, but showing only blue light images is. Corals should be sold with one blue image and one white.

And NOT this trick blueish white I've seen lots of lately where the egg crate stays white but the coral lights up. I mean straight up blue, and straight up daylight around 10k.

But the edited backgrounds without egg crate, those are the worst.