Enhancing photo's

[Paul B]

Now I realize that there are some really beautiful tanks on here out of the thousands of tanks we have featured, but I also notice that many of the photo's are enhanced through photoshop. Many corals are really colorful as are our fish but some of the shots are over the top. I see a lot of purple hippo tangs, fluorescent clowns and glowing mandarins A mandarin is arguably the most colorful fish and hippo tangs are certainly the nicest color "blue" but I have spent time under water with almost all the fish we keep and those fish are no where near the colors represented on some of these forums. Corals either. I even see photo's of my own tank posted in different places on the web and they are enhanced by others.
It certainly makes it look more beautiful and the corals are radiant. But that is not how any of these things appear in nature.

There is nothing wrong with enhancing colors in pictures, all magazines do it as do painters. When I worked Penthouse Magazine I used to see the models come in and watch as they took the pictures. (only for the artistic value of course) and those girls coming in looked nothing like the girls in the photo's. Not that I am complaining, just the opposite. But we don't want noobs to get the wrong Idea that that is what these tanks look like because some of them have some really garish colors that although look beautiful, are not what the tank looks like in person. Besides, I don't even know how to use photoshop. If I did, I would always have hair
I just would like Noobs to realize that some of the tank photo's are photoshoped and your real life tank will never normally look like that.

This is a real coral reef in Bora Bora with just the camera flash.


This is that same reef under the Tahitian tropical sun with no flash.



I recently took this in Hawaii in shallow water with no flash.

 

[shifty51008]

is that a morish idol hiding below the black tip sharks?

as for enhancing, I agree there are a lot of people that go over the top trying to make their stuff look better. I on the other hand set the white balance to my tank lights and capture the pic. I don't even know how to use Photoshop lol. I feel like the colors of my corals are beautiful the way they are. I'm not here trying to impress anyone, as long as I am happy with my tank and everything is healthy that should be what counts.

as for the penthouse mag. how come I am having a hard time believing "only for the artistic value of course" part

 

[PeterHall]

I also agree that people go overboard with photoshop, but most of the photos I've seen seen fairly true. The reef and its inhabitants are colorful which makes it a joy keeping them at home.

Heres a few photos i've taken scuba diving to show how colorful they are, its amazing what some light underwater can bring out. I do use photoshop, but for minor corrections.

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[andrewkw]

Some of it is enhancing but some of it is people not knowing how to set the proper white balance. With newer led lights it can be even trickier then t5 / mh which to someone with no photographic knowledge was hard enough.

 

[Paul B]

Yes that is a Moorish Idol, they are very common, And as for Penthouse Magazine. Well, you know. :dance:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Seriously, Paul, that two headed fish in your first photo (middle left red fish) is clearly photo shopped.

 

[Paul B]

Now Randy, you know I am not smart enough to know how to use photoshop so even the third leg sticking out of my back in this top picture is not photoshopped. That is actually the secret of how I swim so fast.

 

[snorvich]

Well, as I am sure you remember from dive training, as you go deeper you lose the ability to see colors in the order Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, and since from your scuba picture you don't carry a dive light (or do you?) your eyes are doing a reverse photoshop as you go deeper. And, of course, with LED and metal halides providing coloration that is customizable, corals and fish will look different under, say 20K light versus 14K lighting, and some folks intentionally fluoresce their corals with "designer likghting". So it may not be as much Photoshop as you think.

 

[justinky]

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but are you saying to have a really colorful tank pictures you have to photoshop?

 

[faithenfire]

photoshop is a tool. any tool needs to be used properly ot get decent results. I think a lot of the odd looking photos are often WB related as many people do not know how to properly adjust and frequently just shoot AWB and upload without any shopping

however, i think, yes, some tanks are simply brilliant. one of the local reefers has simply amazing colors in his tank because he matched his lights and his corals and his fish.

i don't do a lot of color adjustment in my shots. don't feel much of a need

 

[Paul B]

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but are you saying to have a really colorful tank pictures you have to photoshop?

Yes, you are misunderstanding me. I didn't say it was bad or wrong to photoshop as all magazine photo's are photoshopped. I just want Noobs to realize that most fish and corals do not look like that in nature. If you see a purple hippo tang or irridescant orange copperband, that is Photoshop. I like photoshoped pictures.
Snorvich, of course when I dove in Tahiti my dive light croaked. The best dive site I have ever been on and the thing didn't work so all I had was the stupid light on the camera. You can see the flash in that picture of the long nose butterflies above. I could only take close ups because of that and all my pictures of manta rays came out dark.
Also I never said our tanks should look like real reefs underwater because as you can see, they are mostly blue because of the depth. Photoshop all you like. I can tell when pictures are enhanced to look better than they really look because I know what most fish really look like. But a Noob may think his fish are sick because they don't look like that. :dance:

 

[justinky]

Yes, you are misunderstanding me. I didn't say it was bad or wrong to photoshop as all magazine photo's are photoshopped. I just want Noobs to realize that most fish and corals do not look like that in nature. If you see a purple hippo tang or irridescant orange copperband, that is Photoshop. I like photoshoped pictures.
Snorvich, of course when I dove in Tahiti my dive light croaked. The best dive site I have ever been on and the thing didn't work so all I had was the stupid light on the camera. You can see the flash in that picture of the long nose butterflies above. I could only take close ups because of that and all my pictures of manta rays came out dark.
Also I never said our tanks should look like real reefs underwater because as you can see, they are mostly blue because of the depth. Photoshop all you like. I can tell when pictures are enhanced to look better than they really look because I know what most fish really look like. But a Noob may think his fish are sick because they don't look like that. :dance:

I understand your standing on photoshop, but what I don't understand is do you think you can only achieve colorful reef photos by using photoshop/program similar?

 

[Paul B]

Of course not, as long as your corals are that color, that is fine. Many people offer frags for sale and they are obviousely "over corrected" to look better than they really do.
And I am sure you realize that many tanks on these forums are also over corrected. That is fine and if I knew how to do it, I may color up mine. I have a painting on my wall with garish colors and I love it. Some corals are colorful and some are not. As I said, plenty of times, I just want Noobs to realize that "some" of these tanks are not really that color as shown in the picture. I also would like them to realize that not all corals are colorful and the color of the coral does not necessarily mean the coral is healthy. Color in corals is not even part of the coral but of the symbiotic algae and sometimes that depends on the amount of light or type of food the coral gets. The coral itself can't see color and most of the depths corals live, color is not seen. I have been diving since 1971 and saw a lot of corals some colorful, some not.

 

[justinky]

I see now, and yes I agree you can tell a lot of tanks have been altered.

 

[Paul B]

I like this picture of my tank from many years ago. I don't remember when I took this but I think it was a film camera. I could be mistaken and I am sure you guys would know how to figure that out. I don't think there was any SPS in the tank then but I don't remember. The purple looks to be enhanced as does the green codium seaweed that I collect. If it is a film camera, it was slightly enhanced in the developing and if it is digital, someone did it for me as I don't know how to do that although maybe at one time I did. I am old now so I forget what the heck I did. This obviously is not a reef tank that would appeal to a lot of people as it more resembles a lagoon and not really a coral reef. I like it and feel it is more interesting than the normal, common, cookie cutter reef that is common now. I still strive for this look and in a few months I will again collect codium. It only lives a couple of months but I think it is really nice looking.

 

[faithenfire]

i don't know that any tank is cookie cutter. every tank is scaped different, every tank has different corals, every tank has different fish and CUC

and if you know how to shoot in camera, the postwork is minimal

i slighty increased contrast and sharpened his eye.

the shots themselves can be as cookie cutter or as out of the box as you want them to be as well

again slight increase in contract and sharpened the pof

 

[d2mini]

Yeah, some are over corrected.
Some are the result of funky auto wb on the camera.
Some are taken under "black light" mode under LED.

Personally, I shoot in RAW and color correct mine to represent what I'm seeing when standing in front of my tank.

 

[Paul B]

Faithenfire, nice pictures.
d2mini, my camera doesn't shoot in RAW. But I think my newer Hero camera does.
I am not to concerned with taking great pictures, (obviousely as my pictures are not that great) But I do like it when a picture teaches something about a particular animal.