OMG 
I never thought that… Classic coke it is. Thank you… I forget to hit the reply
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I actually keep as my main assumption that photos that look oversaturated etc. are most likely just this. People who don’t know the details of digital photography taking pictures on phones. The automatic settings are tuned to make “appealing” pictures which usually means more contrast and saturation.
Similar thing with editing these autocorrected pictures, even trying to fix it back to “true to life.” All these displays are so different from each other you can edit it to look pretty normal on one screen and it’s like a psychedelic wonderland on another screen. It actually takes decent knowledge and foresight to set yourself up for success.
You need to know how to turn off any auto stuff on your phone/camera, shoot raw, get the color temperature setting on the camera at least close to the lighting temp. Ideally you manually set everything like ISO and speed on the camera so you can apply the same post process edit to a whole batch of photos using a calibration card. Then you need to know how to work all the calibration settings on pro photo editing software. It really takes a lot to get good photos that are an accurate representation. I understand a lot of it, and I still think it’s a challenge and know I have more I could learn.
Good idea to get a photo with something you know the color of
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As someone who is into photography, I would list this as editing. I can clearly see the difference. The yellow stands out more and the black is way beyond a standard black with that texture. Once the texture is gone, it is over edited.
With that said, what one looks more like the actual snake? Brighter yellow (2), or more faded (1)?
This would determine what one would I would post.
But as the OP talked about, #2 would also turn me away as I know it is edited.
This is a very hard discussion/decision, as you want to get as close to original, but also not have it look edited.
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In these 2 examples, I would guess the snake is actually in between the two. But this is a very good example of how the camera works with different lighting.
I would not post the first as it looks fake.
I would however edit both to try and get as closet to the original as possible and choose the best one from there. Keeping in mind that the hands must also look untouched.
I would never hold it, as it throws off the coloring and it is also a dead giveaway that it was Touched up. A solid background is always best, for a listing photo.
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Using a reference is a good idea. And can show there is no editing.
But (you know I had to throw more in :))
But, it can also throw off the actual coloring of the snake, just like hands, different lighting, or something that the camera will pickup and try to adjust for.
The best way to do it is to
1, use the same camera every time.
2, same lighting even time.
3, use the same background every time.
4, if using a reference find something that most people can identify with that will also work with the camera and background, but still keep the animal as close to original as possible.
This would mean doing test shots with different items listed above and different animals or test items. This also giver the buyer an option to compare to other listing you have and how they look.
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I had to laugh since you used a very clickbait title for a Photoshop thread. 
Big agree on it though.
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I personally plan just to post the raw photos that take. I am striving to prioritize costume service and will provide as many pictures and videos that they need to show my animals in good way to them. The customer will always say that my animals come better looking then they did in the photo/videos.
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I’m aways a huge fan of outdoors in natural light pictures, they seem to represent the natural colors really well
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Ive definitely been turned off by purposely edited photos knowing that in no way does that snake look as its presented. I dont say anything, i just remember the seller and avoid other listings. Big difference IMO with editing to make the snake look as it does in real life to just deceiving a potential buyer. At some point ot will come back to the seller with word of mouth. This problem is rampant in reefing world. Lol
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Agreed. I do the same as much as possible with the UK weather permitting.
Regarding obviously enhanced picture, just report them. If its obvious they will get a warning.
I always ask for a video and up to date picture. Thats another connected problem I made a discussion about. people posting bright baby pictures for a dull older animal.
Should photos on the market have dates?
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See if I can get the photos to upload correctly here. The snake is untouched but the background is changed - even so, the visual difference creates a varied perception of brightness and color. Since weather is incredibly variable here, I think I will decorate my photo box with a naturalistic background to use.
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Yes, background color will make a difference, as you can see in these examples.
With this snake, white will wash out some of the color and pattern.
Black will make the color pop and this will make the pattern stick out more.
A more natural background will give a better example of the actual snake.
With a darker snake, white will make it pop and black will blend in and hide the color and pattern. That is why it is best to play with different backend lighting. One setup can work with all. If you can find the correct combination.
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I never thought about reporting that honestly but its a good idea. I usually take a screen shot then show it to other friends in the industry and have a laugh. The one that was ridiculous was surprising to my friend as he aware of the seller and was disappointed. It happens I guess
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Yea, I did one once and they got a warning, it makes them think twice next time.
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I’m all for editing photos to make alterations that make the snake look closer to reality. But I disagree that the biggest issue is people intentionally altering photos in the other direction. In my view the larger issue is that so many people shoot with cameras that automatically alter the photo for maximum believable contrast and color intensity. Most commonly cell phone photos. Cell phone cameras are designed to create an “out of the box” photo that pops. People want to post directly to social media and have it compete with other photos, they don’t want to go through post processing to achieve that, they want it done automatically. Camera manufacturers understand this well and tune their cameras accordingly. I would guess 80%+ of the photos on MorphMarket are from cell phone cameras with the majority of those photos not very accurate in terms of actual color saturation (over saturated). For someone like me who uses a dedicated DSLR, white balancing photos, properly exposed, properly sharpened, I’m actually punished for the accuracy of my photos. Other sellers with photos next to mine selling similar animals will seem like theirs are much more colorful when in reality they will be very similar (mine probably even better! ahem). I sold an animal recently that had been sitting on the market and I looked through other similar animals that were sold that moved much faster and at higher prices - and I believe it was because their photos were over saturated.
Unfortunately there’s really no fix for this because the majority of people are going to take photos with the most convenient tool - a readily available cell phone. It just bugs me that people think their over saturated cell phone photos with “no photoshop” are actually accurate and that I’m punished for the accuracy of my own photography because my snakes look less colorful in comparison.
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Please flag any over-edited pictures 
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This is me. I do use a cell phone to shoot my pictures but it is a Galaxy S10 so pretty outdated. I will use the editing software but I am striving to make it look like what I see in real life, not better. Most times I use what is called the COOL filter but then I have to back the color down by about 30% to make it look more true to life. I have quite often had buyers tell me the animals look way better in hand then they do on my photos because I absolutely won’t oversell the image. I’d rather underpromise and overdeliver than anything to the contrary.
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Im fairly sure if you edit if it so looks close to what people recieve its ok… I have done the same when they come out too bright with a flash, so I try to take outdoors now, natural light seems to be more acurate.
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Yep that is what I recommend right there!!!
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Just thought I’d add an example of different lighting using my smartphone with normal settings which I believe is the automatic optimization setting.
I actually think this spicy boy looks more true to color in the indoor photo but that could be the smartphone trying to “fix” things. I’m not familiar enough with even the basics of photography so I haven’t attempted to fiddle with the individual settings.
OD Fire Enchi Calico
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