speed_freak03 Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Hello all, are these zoanthids PPE's. Thanks for any responce. The lower portion of this colony is a very bright green (GPE? ..I just made that one up ). and the upper portion is purple (PPE's?) Here is another colony of zoo's Link to comment
fade2black Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Probably not. IMO, the infamous PPE are a myth and a result of Photoshop. Here's why Link to comment
speed_freak03 Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 Originally posted by fade2black Probably not. IMO, the infamous PPE are a myth and a result of Photoshop. Here's why Yah, I agree, ive noticed alot of "nice" zoo's posted on websites have been enhanced. EDIT: Just for fun, I made some pink zoos, with yellow and blue skirts. and here is the original picture Link to comment
fade2black Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 yeah, there has been such a demand for zoos in the past year, that everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. A lot of them "enhance" their photos to make the sale. Not to say everyone is like that. There are a lot of good, honest retailers that sell awesome zoos. But it is getting rediculous with some of these "colors" that are showing up. Nice photoshop job! Those top ones should sell for $4-500!! Link to comment
just dave Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 They are if you want them to be.: Link to comment
dodgerblew Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 I disagree. If they were a sham, then you couldn't sell them on Ebay and successful buinessman like Blane Perun of Farms Of The Sea wouldn't be in business. As far as the pics posted on this thread, they do not look like PPE right now. I have some palythoa that look just like those. Some are a brownish color with a purple tinge and some are green. But, I have heard that over time if the lighting is right and the water is good they can change color. My rock has about 200 polyps and has been in my tank for a couple months and the colors are changing, some to a bright green. I will just sit back and watch. Your piece is nice and will look good no matter what! Link to comment
fade2black Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 You can sell anything on eBay and Blane doesn't have the best reputation on the web either. I have never seen a photo (a REAL photo) of these PPE, other than the one on Blane's website, that look anything like his photo. I have seen lots of pictures of what people bought as PPE, or thought were PPE, and they always look very plain and unremarkable. I'm not a believer in this anyway Link to comment
Angel Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Hmm, interesting. I wouldn't go so far to say that all are photoshopped, but I have definately seen some that I questioned. I know when I "try" to take pics of my zoo's, that they never seem to show how bright they really are and thought it was just the camera or the user. I know that is part of it, but always wondered how some peoples photos would show up sooooo bright. Makes one think. Link to comment
kappa Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Not PPE, those are the fake ones. The PPE are dime sized polyp, purple, green mouth that does not bleed, and has a distinctive shape that gives it a umbrella appearance. It would be alot of photoshop to get them to look like PPE, not just changing the hue of the zoos orginal color. Anyways, you got nice looking zoos that you can later frag for 50 dollars a polyp, j/k. I have a nice looking green and orange zoo colony, with a little hue color change, what do you know! it's Eagle Eyes. Link to comment
matt the fiddler Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 a lot of zoo [some] are photoshoped. however that does not eman all. remember LIGHTING is a big factor. i have zoos that suck under halide and glow under pcs, and the other way around. i have seen some nice looking zoos- includidng some p.p.e.s so don't be ssoo quick to say they are ALL photoshopped.... heck the day an dmood of the zoo has a big influence on teh color of the zoo. just a FYI.. but yes- i dod get soick of a lot of PSs jobs. but i have been suprised with what are auctually real... also that pic you possted of the 2 ppes one had a crap camera, bluury and lighting that dind't loook cream of the crop. there are so many factors. one bad on cna't mean the whol ebatch is crap... ask birdman how much a camera makes a difference on pics these pics are of the same zoos all taken by me. no photoshopping other than contrast adj. and see the difference in cameras and lens, etc. vs the same ones and bet you can't even find these in the first pic- they are there.. Link to comment
kappa Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Oh yeah, zoos are zoos. To me they are all worth 10 bucks for a frag of 10-60 heads. Link to comment
AReeferIsExpensive Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 what are you doin in photo, playing with saturations n color balances n such? zoos arent zoos... theres the brown ones, and then there the neon colored ones that REALLY look nice in your tank. Link to comment
Sushi Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 Originally posted by AReeferIsExpensive zoos arent zoos... theres the brown ones, and then there the neon colored ones that REALLY look nice in your tank. i highly agree. a tank full of brown just looks like crap Link to comment
footbag Posted August 26, 2004 Share Posted August 26, 2004 Blane doesn't have the best reputation on the web either I have ordered from Farms of the Sea three times, and I've been pleased every time. He has the best color morphs and he gives you huge frags. Most of the rocks are the size of my fist, with the rarer frags being 30+ polyped. I have heard that he photoshops his images, but the ones I received in the mail looked exactly like the ones on the site. Actually, I cannot bring myself to order from another site after seeing Blanes product. He raised my expectations to the point where everyone else seems to have inferior corals. BTW the PPE's that Blane sold were tied into a charitable auction. This may be part of the reason it got $600. After all, the PPE's aren't nearly as nice as his other morphs. Link to comment
AReeferIsExpensive Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 very true. PPEs arent even all the great looking....it more like a fad or something. Its like "designer zoos" or something. There are MUCH nicer looking ones. i know that PPes grow REEEEEEEEAAALLY slow, which is one reason why theres a demand for them Link to comment
matt the fiddler Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 what are you doin in photo, playing with saturations n color balances n such? auctually just mainly contrast. ocasionally i will tweak the blue level.. or the red level.. those are always going wierd on my camera.... sometimes i try the "auto adjust pic" where color ballance and contrast are automaticall ballanced to nutrality.. and find most of the time i am pleased.. and it looks closer to the tank than anythign else amazingly!!! LOL Link to comment
TiGs Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Originally posted by AReeferIsExpensive what are you doin in photo, playing with saturations n color balances n such? "The camera, you know, will never capture you. Photography, in my experience , has the miraculous power of transforming wine into water." -Oscar Wilde I think photoshopping is great to show the true color of the object. When photoshopped is used to enhance the original color to make it into something it's not is where the issue is. Link to comment
brahm Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Yea I agree with Tigs, The reality is not every photo comes out true, depending on your camera settings, white balance, tank lights, shadows ect. Photoshop is a tool. It can be used to Correct a photo or to Enhance a photo. Everybody has diffrent lights, a shot takin of the same coral under a 20k or a 10k bulb are going to make it look complelty diffrent, with photoshop you can adjust the warmth of the ligth, and correct that. ie if you take something under a 20k bulb, you can adjust the white balance to show what it would look like under a 10k bulb. Also things, like sharpen and fixing the conrtrast help give a more accurate example of what the coral looks like specially if your shots aren't the clearest! What I normally look for is white in the photo, and if it's a true crisp white, then usally the rest of the colours are pretty close.. Now don't fergot there are several other factors involed! 1. Your Monitor (Not everybody monitors are calibrated the same, most like none are! ha.. If you have 2 computers send the same photo to each one and set em side by side.. You'd be SUPRISED at the world of diffrence from one computer to another!).. Example. I know alot of people used to complain about my photos showing up dark that was because I used to play alot of CS and had jacked up my brightness on my monitor so i could see dark corners in the game! So when I would bring in a photo they would all look to bright and over exposed on my machine, so i'd fix that and they would be to dark on everybody elses!!! 2. Tank Lighting, since our systems are diffrent and are lighting differs, pieces are going to look diffrent, even if we have the same bulbs! They could be at diffrent age points and colour warmths, placing the piece in diffrent locations in relationship to the light as well. 3. Your tank, ever look through an acrylic tank, or a starfire tank, colours of the same pieces come out much diffrent then your standard glass which has greenish tint to it! 4. Alot of photos on for sale sites at least are takin from above! Sometimes it for ease of ability to shoot multi pieces, and so you can easly show the whole pieces & it's size realatshonship, to 1/2" egg crate squares. But in doing so the colours are usally much more satured then how it would look viewing through the glass (I Desaturate (remove colour!!) when i take photos from the top down!) 5. The Camera and how you shoot!, I have a 10d if my photos don't come out looking nicers, truer, and cleaner then some guys point and shoot 200$ camera.. I seriouly wasted alot of money!! The reality is, any photo you see of an item for sale should be taken as a representation of what that piece looks like to them in the owners tank. IT will give you a good idea of what it should look like in yours but it's impossible to adjust a photo so it looks 100% accurate on everybodies computer across the entire internet.. Somebody is going to have there monitor settings all jacked up, and it's going to like like it was colour with crayola. Link to comment
matt the fiddler Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 dont' foget tank parameters.. corals change color for more reasons than lighting Link to comment
Nudibranch Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Here's a shot of PPEs I recieved from Logical Reef. This is taken under a 13W 50/50 PC bulb. This piece regularly has an 13W Actinic 03 PC AND the 50/50 PC for lighting. The pic wasn't anything like the actual coral so I clicked the auto level adjust hing on Photoshop so it would balance everything out properly. I was really impressed in how accurate it is. This is a true PPE Link to comment
Nudibranch Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 under both bulbs (50/50 AND Actinic 03) Link to comment
TiGs Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Photoshop is a great tool. Here is the same pic but I've applied some sharpening to it so it looks more in focus. Link to comment
TiGs Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Nice. The first pic Nudibranch posted mentioned that the colors are accurate so I didn't really bother adjusting the colors, just the sharpness. Didn't want to misrepresent the colors of his PPE. Link to comment
speed_freak03 Posted August 31, 2004 Author Share Posted August 31, 2004 Originally posted by Chyendra more photoshoping Isnt that the truth! EDIT: See my photoshopped avatar. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.