Some Cherry Corals photo's

[Gooly001]

Nice Corals Todd, really wish we had them up here to sell.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Todd and seeing first hand his corals at a trade show down in the states and I can say that the photos pretty much reflect what they look like in real life under his lighting conditions.

Whether he uses PS or not is irrelevant in my opinion as he is here posting for us to enjoy. Shooting photos in a closed system under various degrees of lighting is very difficult and I'm sure Todd is not here to mislead anyone. I've seen other photos (RR) that the whites (ie egg crate) look purple as well as their fingers looking purple but Todd's white balance looks good IMO.

He could be shooting his images in RAW and adjusting for white balance post edit, but again; I've seen his corals in person and they are very impressive.

Todd has a great reputation for his corals in the States, and he wouldn't be known for it if he was "over marketing" his corals by using PS.

Nice pics Todd, keep em coming.

Cheers

Paul

[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.

[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!!!

[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

[Rbacchiega]

Originally Posted by 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

I'm setting up a nano for our tattoo shop in Jersey...sometimes I keep forgeting I"m IN the states...oh hello awesome Acans...Oh hello awesome Zoas/Palys....

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by 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

++ me too

[RCFA]

Since this is a Photography Forum, I thought I would chime in as an amateur underwater photographer and the whole PS issue.

I personally see no problem using PS to post process digital stills as this is an integral part of photography. What was once done in a darkroom we now do with software, but the principals remain the same.

I shoot all my images in raw and post process any that I print. While I am underwater, I shoot in Manual mode, but I still can't make every adjustment to WB, exposure, ISO and Strobe power exact for each shot. These cameras are optimized for shooting at surface lighting conditions, and the depth of water greatly affects the ambient lighting. I do not remain at the exact same depth during a dive, so I am not able to make every single correction underwater to represent the actual conditions encountered.

Similar issues have to be dealt with when shooting under reef lighting as we are trying to recreate the lighting conditions underwater that corals are used to. It may be easier to make the adjustments on the camera when it is not in a bulky housing, but whether you change the WB, exposure, saturation, etc. on your camera or with software, exactly the same thing is happening.

Now when sand is green (not from algae ) or egg crate is neon or something, then that is another story.

But to criticize a photographer for post processing their images to some degree is not fair, and you should realize that this is not something new since the advent of digital cameras and PS. Many underwater photographers rely on post processing to accurately represent the conditions underwater. Depending on the photo, I may change WB, exposure, contrast, crop, saturation or vibrance slightly. You can tell when a photo is over processed and it doesn't look good. You can also tell when a photo is under processed, and that isn't accurately portraying the scene. Not going to get into vendor ethics photos, but photography is an art and unless someone is purposely misleading people for personal gain, then just enjoy the great shots!

Just my opinions as a diver who likes to take pictures.

[jorjef]

Hold on a second, am I to believe the photos in question may not be of actual size!!! THIS IS outrageous, egregious, preposterous..... What next, I suppose Festivus is not a real holiday!!!

Jackie Chiles