The Art Behind Our Photography - Aquamarine Aquaristic

Written by Jonathan Jordon — reef keeper with 10+ years of experience specializing in SPS, LPS and reef aquarium chemistry.

At Aquamarine Aquaristic, we have spent over a decade refining aquarium, coral, and fish photography to a professional level. This is not just part of the business — it is a genuine passion of ours. Photography has become one of our favourite hobbies within the hobby itself, and just like our reefing standards, we have pushed ourselves far beyond what is generally expected in the industry.

Our Camera Setup

Over the years we have tested, modified, and custom-built countless pieces of equipment to create a photography setup that delivers true-to-life results. We have invested close to $10,000 into our system to ensure that what you see is genuinely what you get (WYSIWYG).

Our setup includes:

• Canon R6
• Macro and micro lens systems
• DJI accessories
• Custom-built submerged lens covers
• Gel filters and specialty photography modifications

Every piece of equipment has been selected or designed with one goal in mind — accurately capturing coral colour, texture, and detail.

Our Lighting

We do not photograph under unrealistic “all blue” lighting, and we also avoid full white lighting, as neither reflects how most reefers actually view their aquariums.

Instead, we photograph under lighting that closely matches real-world reef tank conditions:

• 20–30% white
• Maximum blues
• Approximately 5% red and green

This gives a far more honest representation of how the coral will appear in a typical reef aquarium.

Our Editing Process

We understand that photo editing is often frowned upon in the reefing industry — and honestly, that reputation exists for a reason. Many sellers heavily oversaturate images to create unrealistic colours that simply do not exist in person.

That is not what we do.

RAW, completely unedited photos often fail to represent what the coral actually looks like to the human eye, even with professional equipment. Because of this, we use a careful editing process in Photoshop to bring the image back to what we genuinely see in person.

Our editing is limited to:

• Cropping
• Minor shaping and alignment
• White balance and temperature correction
• Matching the image back to real-life visual appearance

We do not artificially boost saturation or manipulate colours to create fake results.

We believe this commitment to honest, high-quality photography is why so many customers say we have some of the best coral photos in the game.