Some Cherry Corals photo's

[NanoHuman]

I think the acid is wearing off, these "candy apples" don't look the same!



Quickly, someone shoot lightning bolts at it! <lightning bolt sound>



Phew, close one. Almost saved my self a couple hundred bucks.

Good thing I have a clue about what I'm talking about. I'm talking lightning and cherries people. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by NanoHuman

I think the acid is wearing off, these "candy apples" don't look the same!



Quickly, someone shoot lightning bolts at it! <lightning bolt sound>



Phew, close one. Almost saved my self a couple hundred bucks.

Good thing I have a clue about what I'm talking about. I'm talking lightning and cherries people. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I love what you can do with some actinic lighting and careful use of the "colour saturation" slider in photoshop.

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by fkshiu

I love what you can do with some actinic lighting and careful use of the "colour saturation" slider in photoshop.

The first photo is Lariat zoas the second is Candy Apple Red Paly's, two very different looking species. Cherry Corals like many online retails is great at creating names and providing amazing photos, this creates hype which increases the price. It's a brilliant marketing strategy, just targets to a different market.

Fortunately () we don't get to participate in this US market so it's a very different story. He only came on here to share some nice photos, no need to attack the guy regardless of his truthfulness in regards to the photo doctoring.

And If you have never seen the Candy Apples in person I wouldn't talk, the coloration is VERY similar to what is shown here. They are one stunning zoa, I would pay a mint to find them local.
Levi

[cherrycorals]

Creating buzz for what? I was just sharing some really good photo's.

I visit all the Canadian forums often, I see alot of "blue" thumbs in vendor photo's so its easy to spot a poorly taken photo. I see alot of really really bad photo's to.

As important as a crisp photo is post processing. You have to correct the photo, you have to! I make corrections to make a coral look like it looks. I don't give a crap about an exif file, I am well aware that anyone anywhere can analyze my photo's and see what I have done.

I didn't say that I don't photoshop, I was offended by the over enhanced comment. That is the part he/she has no clue about. If you run the lights I run, this is what a coral will look like. I could have taken a pic under LED's then you guys would all have been ****ed!

So here is what I have done in photoshop:

I correct my color temp to 20k(in photoshop this strips out blue)
I adjust exposure just in case I was off.
I adjust contrast to......add contrast.
I sharpen
Some photo's get a touch of vibrance
Very seldom do I add saturation


Oh, and NanoHuman, I hate to tell you but those aren't Candy Apple Reds. They are cool but just a deepwater zoa from China. They are called fruit loops. People still take acid?, that is soooo like 50 years ago.

So for reference here is an uncorrected photo. I don't see this with my eye but this is what the camera takes. My main concern is focus and exposure.

Is this the photo I should post?

[cherrycorals]

Good point Paul! Sometimes I forget that I do 12 trade shows a year.

Lets see......

MACNA(1500 people)
MAX (2000 people)
RAP (2000 people)

Just to name a few.

I am quite confident that all of the people who attend these shows and buy my coral are NOT on acid.

Since I am telling all my marketing secrets I will even tell that I use LED's at shows. They are AI's and fully tunable so I can tailer the light source to what my customer is accustomed to. I can go from pure actinic to 10k and all points in between. This helps my customer make an informed decision.

[bigblack]

Let me just say that I have 2 brains from cherry corals don't ask how I got em, but they are the craziest pieces in my tank, I have not seen anything like them in any of our lfs , so all the people ahem retailer cough ! Cough! Making comments are prob just jealous they don't get the cherry picks from vendors here in Canada no pun intended. Please continue posting pics of ur killer corals there are many here in Canada that appreciate it even if we can't get them.

[Chaloupa]

Gotta say, I'd be a buyer if I was in the states, or if it was easier to get them here! Nice corals, and great pics

[Atomikk]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

The first photo is Lariat zoas the second is Candy Apple Red Paly's, two very different looking species. Cherry Corals like many online retails is great at creating names and providing amazing photos, this creates hype which increases the price. It's a brilliant marketing strategy, just targets to a different market.

Fortunately () we don't get to participate in this US market so it's a very different story. He only came on here to share some nice photos, no need to attack the guy regardless of his truthfulness in regards to the photo doctoring.

And If you have never seen the Candy Apples in person I wouldn't talk, the coloration is VERY similar to what is shown here. They are one stunning zoa, I would pay a mint to find them local.
Levi

Palys Levi. Palys. We are working on getting you guys all of those types of Zoas. But so you all know, Cherry Corals represents their corals as accurately as any online vendor can. Trust me, I have seen some that are so blatant, their substrate is green!!!

[noirsphynx]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

the coloration is VERY similar to what is shown here. They are one stunning zoa, I would pay a mint to find them local.
Levi

Agreed, these are mine when they're happy and there is NO photo editing here except cropping.

[fkshiu]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

And If you have never seen the Candy Apples in person I wouldn't talk, the coloration is VERY similar to what is shown here. Levi

Levi, I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and will assume you didn't mean your comment to be as insulting as it appears.

In any event, I don't believe there's anything inherently wrong with colour correction and white balancing. It's used all the time in professional photography. There is, however, a fuzzy line where "correction" becomes "enhancement". Whether there's a issue with "enhancement" is a matter of degree. Cherry Corals is entitled to make their stock look as attractive as possible. But (photo-editing technicalities aside) at some point things may give the appearance being too good to be true. And to dumb schmucks like me who according to you, shouldn't be talking, several of the presented photos seem to have reached such a point.

If the photos are not enhanced, then fantastic. And good on Cherry Corals for showing an untouched original photo. But the concern is for potential consumers of their product (i.e. people who don't know what they are talking about like me) who may be dissapointed with the real thing after they've paid for them. There have been a lot of instances involving other vendors where great looking corals turn out to be not as great in person.

Even if Cherry Corals did not mean for these pictures to create marketing buzz, it sure hasn't hurt them judging by "ooh", "ahh" and "I wish I were in the US" comments on this thread. It's simply free publicity and good marketing on their part.