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View Full Version : anybody else really sick of this?


footballdude2k3
07/07/2010, 05:00 PM
when i look for acans or any coral online, they only have pics of it under LEDs or actinics. i want to see what it looks like under day lights not when i have nightlights or anything like nightlights on....i think is bs. the worst part is that bigger sites are doing this, i.e aaf, cherrycorals, i just wanna see what its really gonna look like.

teddyzaper
07/07/2010, 05:06 PM
yea i know what ur talking about. my lfs orders stuff from wysiwyg and he shows me the pictures online and then he showes me the coral, NOT THE SAME CORAL! i swear lol.... anyways, i believe they should just have it with normal lights, sure some actinics, but not all actinics...... god that ****es me off lol

fihsboy
07/07/2010, 05:10 PM
I too cant stand it..........you look at it in the store under 400w radiums and tons of actinic.........get it home.....doesnt look even close! What a bummer!

phenom5
07/07/2010, 05:17 PM
I don't mind, at least not if they state clearly what lighting it's under.


I do have to chuckle though when someone is holding the coral in the picture, and it looks like the hand belongs to papa smurf...

AndyH5512
07/07/2010, 05:35 PM
But then how can they charge and arm and a leg if it doesnt glow? LOL.

footballdude2k3
07/07/2010, 08:28 PM
hahaha yea what a shame it costs less for us, oh well i will get every acan ever and sell them with real lighting pics;)

csmfish
07/07/2010, 09:28 PM
The reason they do that is most things are brown under regular light. It takes the actinics to make them glow. Still, it ****es me off to no end they show everything under blue lighting. We really need to stand up to this BS, though, there are too many "deer in the headlight" people burning the actinics with glee.

Unscrupulous sales people =
:furious:

:uzi:
:uzi:
:uzi:

Cerebral Fish
07/07/2010, 09:40 PM
Personally I think corals should be shown in the light used to grow them. That way you know what light will make that coral look that way.

Tajjo
07/07/2010, 09:42 PM
I think its a shady way to do business, photo shop is in my opinion a form of false advratisment

footballdude2k3
07/08/2010, 08:03 AM
bump for daytime RC'ers

TwistedEnvy
07/08/2010, 08:13 AM
Here is a pic of my tank:

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt192/TwistedlyEnvious/IMG_1793.jpg

But, I light my tank using 4 ATI Blue+ and 2 Aqua Blue Specials (white bulbs). No actinics, which IMO would give my tank a bit of POP. Is that "false" to you? I know what you guys are saying, but I think it is partly the responsibility of the buyer to make sure they aren't being duped.

Don't believe photos like this:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procgtaserv/47a0da24b3127cce98548c2185cb00000035100AcMWTRm4YsmIg

Believe photos like this:

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu23/ZildjianDevil/IMG_4225.jpg

TwistedEnvy
07/10/2010, 09:24 PM
bump, since I think more people should see the difference between a "doctored" pic vs a non doctored

Drewbaby
07/10/2010, 10:09 PM
It's really no different than any other sales pitch. I mean look at car commercials on tv. They show the newest model car racing around rainy city streets with no problem. Sure they have a disclaimer telling you it is a professional driver on a closed road, but still you and I both know those cars can't hold up to that abuse. They make their products look as good as possible same as coral farmers. It's the buyers responsibility to have the common sense to notice a doctored image. I'm glad someone finally spoke up about it though and I like the comparison photo of those acans. I'd like to see more side by sides of the actual coral against the picture from the supplier.

fihsboy
07/10/2010, 10:13 PM
It wouldnt really matter what kind of lighting they used if there white balance was correct.....They should put a white balance card next to the coral to give you an idea on the actual amount of blue light being shed on the coral. :)

drwilliams.52
07/10/2010, 10:34 PM
I don't care for pictures made with photoshop or taken under LEDs only. They can and do fool some people. However, at some point the buyer has to take some responsibility for it. Most times you can tell when the image is doctored, but if not and you are questioning the picture, ask for more pictures. If the seller refuses to send new pics, then don't buy from them. If people quit buying corals from the sellers that do this, then this would stop.

DanMgy
07/11/2010, 01:27 AM
Maybe it is up to the buyer for him or her to use their own judgement...

But if they use certian lighting to make the coral look at certian way, you can always mimic that lighting to get that look??

Dave VG
07/11/2010, 08:01 AM
Maybe it is up to the buyer for him or her to use their own judgement...

But if they use certian lighting to make the coral look at certian way, you can always mimic that lighting to get that look??

Ditto

Ask what lighting they are using. If you duplicate there lighting and it still does not look like the pic then you were duped. Problem is who can afford LED lighting that most of them are keeping them under these days. We all know how these scams work ask before purchasing.

Edit: Photo editing should be illegal under false advertising laws.

Chris27
07/11/2010, 08:59 AM
Another reason to support your LFS.....

Drewbaby
07/11/2010, 09:15 AM
Another reason to support your LFS.....

+1 it's always nicer to see it in person

gregr
07/11/2010, 09:44 AM
I used to take pictures for a store's wysiwyg site and I used the same lights that are on the tank during the day- metal halides and T-5's. A couple of comments might help people understand this issue a little better. First though, I will say that upping the saturation and contrast in Photoshop is unethical in my opinion. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET... That's a pretty simple statement.

All photos have to be Photoshopped (or Lightroomed or whatever) if the goal is color accuracy. I've used cameras ranging from $200 to $30,000 and all the photos need to be adjusted to make them look real- that's just the nature of the beast. So what you see on-line reflects what the vendor wants you to see. The vendor has the choice of being as accurate as possible or showing you a coral that is over the top. But here's the thing- I've photoshopped about a million photos and I can tell you that it is not an easy thing to make them look accurate, no matter how good the camera is and no matter how good the lighting is- it's just not easy.

anothermineral
07/11/2010, 09:58 AM
I would agree that any manipulation of photos for sales purposes is a big no no in my book, however, as long as the site lists the type of lighting they are using to take the pictures/grow the corals, I have no problems purchasing corals that are not shown under daylight bulbs.

Personally, I'm running VHOs in my Acan tank on 4 separate circuits and can modulate the light between a mixture of Actinic White, Super Actinic and 454 bulbs. I've been able to make my Acans look exactly like the pictures from the sites I buy them from.

Lighting and photography are a big part of this hobby, from viewing our display tanks to the marketing of livestock. As the consumer, we should quickly reveal unscrupulous practices and hold suppliers accountable for their products. This will improve the overall marketplace and ultimately weed out the s c u m b a g s.

gregr
07/11/2010, 10:21 AM
I forgot one thing I wanted to mention and that's the time factor. Shooting all the photos and then adjusting each one individually takes a lot of time. I think a lot of the vendors just take whatever comes out of the camera and post that, with no adjustments at all. Hard to call that unethical, but if they do it that way they should at least label the pictures as far as lighting and their "un-touched up" state. It'd be nice if some vendors posted in this thread but I'm sure the only vendors that'd even consider it are the ones that don't mess with the colors :sad2:

SkyPapa
07/11/2010, 12:03 PM
...
I think a lot of the vendors just take whatever comes out of the camera and post that, with no adjustments at all. Hard to call that unethical, but if they do it that way they should at least label the pictures as far as lighting and their "un-touched up" state.


If they use the camera controls in a higher end or modes in an enthusiast camera to use, say, Vivid and bump saturation and contrast a little more, I think one can get close to the photo like the one above SOOC

But, I'm just a baby with PS compared to you, so I'll defer to you.:rollface:

gregr
07/11/2010, 01:47 PM
That's true but it's kinda the same as bumping up the saturation etc in Photoshop- it all goes under the head of 'what you see is what you get' means exactly that. If what you see in the store's photo is an outrageously colored coral and what shows up at your doorstep isn't... :mad:

footballdude2k3
07/12/2010, 09:11 AM
Another reason to support your LFS.....

I dont have an LFS that does coral closer than an hour away, and their prices are ridiculous, frag swaps FTW

I used to take pictures for a store's wysiwyg site and I used the same lights that are on the tank during the day- metal halides and T-5's. A couple of comments might help people understand this issue a little better. First though, I will say that upping the saturation and contrast in Photoshop is unethical in my opinion. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET... That's a pretty simple statement.

All photos have to be Photoshopped (or Lightroomed or whatever) if the goal is color accuracy. I've used cameras ranging from $200 to $30,000 and all the photos need to be adjusted to make them look real- that's just the nature of the beast. So what you see on-line reflects what the vendor wants you to see. The vendor has the choice of being as accurate as possible or showing you a coral that is over the top. But here's the thing- I've photoshopped about a million photos and I can tell you that it is not an easy thing to make them look accurate, no matter how good the camera is and no matter how good the lighting is- it's just not easy.

this, whenever i get pictures of my tank to make the corals look close to what they look like i mess with them just a little bit, but this is just when i am posting pics of my tank, i have not sold any corals.

I would agree that any manipulation of photos for sales purposes is a big no no in my book, however, as long as the site lists the type of lighting they are using to take the pictures/grow the corals, I have no problems purchasing corals that are not shown under daylight bulbs.

Personally, I'm running VHOs in my Acan tank on 4 separate circuits and can modulate the light between a mixture of Actinic White, Super Actinic and 454 bulbs. I've been able to make my Acans look exactly like the pictures from the sites I buy them from.

Lighting and photography are a big part of this hobby, from viewing our display tanks to the marketing of livestock. As the consumer, we should quickly reveal unscrupulous practices and hold suppliers accountable for their products. This will improve the overall marketplace and ultimately weed out the s c u m b a g s.

hard to weed them out when this has become the practice of the "higher end" online stores, see AAF and cherry corals

If they use the camera controls in a higher end or modes in an enthusiast camera to use, say, Vivid and bump saturation and contrast a little more, I think one can get close to the photo like the one above SOOC

But, I'm just a baby with PS compared to you, so I'll defer to you.:rollface:

you do not need a nice camera to take nice pictures;)

SkyPapa
07/12/2010, 10:14 AM
...


you do not need a nice camera to take nice pictures;)

Indeed!

Hal
07/12/2010, 11:04 AM
Agree with the OP. If the only pic available is heavy actinic then that tells me that the coral doesn't look that good in "normal" lighting.

I refuse to buy any coral that only has a pic with heavy blue lighting. If you want my money, show me the coral in 10K lighting.

DanMgy
07/15/2010, 01:44 PM
So for all the people that say it is wrong or should be illegal to modify a picture for advertising purposes, I have one question for you.

Have any of you ever seen a advertisement for fastfood? Seen a McDonalds hamburger in the ad and go to the store... how close do they look? Did you know it ice cream ads a lot of times they actually use crisco?!

I believe the point of advertisement is to "entice" the potential customer. A little common sense is all that should be required, maybe even a phone call to verify. Call the store and ask if the photo is how it will look under your light. If they say it should and you get the frag and it turns out differnt, then you have an issue to deal with and it is no longer advertising.

footballdude2k3
07/15/2010, 01:54 PM
but you are still getting the same product in a fast food commercial, the colors are all the same, just how it is put together is different, with coral, if the colors are different than what they show, it is technically showing a different coral, so yes it is false advertising...