Forced Perspective Fish Photos

[Scott F]

Most everybody takes pictures of their catches but one thing that bothers me is why so many feel the need to push the fish toward the camera in order to make it appear bigger than it really is. If you catch a nice one, distorting the picture that way to me, is just like having the fish "grow" when you tell someone how big it was.  Is it really necessary to make that fish look 3 feet long, when it's already a very nice fish?

[WRB]

It's human nature to want pictures to look good and that doesn't always happen. Bill Dance is famous for having the biggest s thumbs in bass fishing, not just because of his bloopers, it's the way he holds bass towards the camera to increase size perspective, Bill is an expert.

Hands tell the story"; fingers average about 1" spacing when holding fish, basses heads are usually about 1/3 of the fishes length.

Tom

[Paul Roberts]

This has been a pet peeve of mine for a very long time. I worked in a tackle shop years ago and we'd joke about the posters on the wall and in the ads featuring Bill "Big Hands" Dance, Jimmy "Popeye" Houston, and Al "Thumbs" Lindner.

 

I understand the diff perspectives, that wide angle lenses can create bold statements, highlight the fish, and let's face it, big fish always seem bigger than life, esp when you first get them in the boat and are doing your war-woop, and then there's fact that media is 75% eye candy.

 

But, along with oftentimes poor weight estimation skills, distorted photos bug me too. It's one thing to show a fish well, another to hide its size, or distort reality. The flip-side is wide angle lenses can make nice fish look small, if you are not careful.

 

Bottom line I guess is: photos are often lousy at recording reality. Know that going in. My heart long ago stopped leaping at such photos, but it still does when I see photos that shows beautiful fish well and in unique ways.

[SudburyBasser]

I honestly believe that most people aren't trying to make the fish look bigger, they're just unconsciously making the fish the primary focus of the picture.

 

Take a look at pictures of people drinking. How many people hold their drink towards the camera when they know a picture is being taken. They trying to make their Coors look bigger?

 

Perhaps I'm naive.

[hooah212002]

I honestly believe that most people aren't trying to make the fish look bigger, they're just unconsciously making the fish the primary focus of the picture.

 

Take a look at pictures of people drinking. How many people hold their drink towards the camera when they know a picture is being taken. They trying to make their Coors look bigger?

 

Perhaps I'm naive.

 

This is my thought when taking a picture. I am saying "hey, look at this FISH I caught". Why would I want you lookin at my ugly mug instead of a beautiful fish? Also, what do I gain from making the fish appear larger? I may as well just photoshop a tarpon on the pic while I am at it. If I am worried about the legitimacy of how the size is perceived, they make scales and rulers.

[flyfisher]

I am with you on this one as well. I also think it is a conscious effort to hold the fish out in such a way that really isn't natural. In all my fish picks I try to hold the fish close to my body to show relative size in comparison to my body.

[OkeechobeeAngler]

Most are just happy they have a nice bass and want it to be the main focal point in the picture. Don't stress it. Not everyone is a professional photographer.

[Scott F]

It has nothing to do with being a professional photographer. Holding the fish in a natural position next to your body is one thing. Pushing the fish at arms length toward the camera is not normal and for the most part is done intentionally to make the fish look bigger than what it really was. I was looking for a guide on a web site who had hundreds of fish pictures. EVERY one was held with the fish as close to the camera as it could be. To me, it's all I see when I look at pictures like that. Ruins what could have been a nice shot.

[BradGuenette]

In my eyes people want to see the fish, not my ugly mug so why not hold it closer to the camera.less of me, more of the fish.

[senile1]

Picture taking can go both ways.  Sometimes the picture makes the fish look smaller.  My wife and I took a trip to Table Rock Lake last week and mixed some crappie fishing in with my bass fishing because she prefers to fish for that species. The top picture is a 2 lb 14 oz crappie, just shy of 3 lbs.  It was the biggest crappie I have ever caught.  My wife took the picture from a seated position in the cockpit while I was up on the front deck.  She also caught a crappie that weighed in at 2 lbs off of the same brushpile.  I took that picture and her fish looks very similar in size to mine in the picture even though it is approximately 2/3s of the size.  She usually outfishes me when we fish for crappie so I wanted proof this time that I actually caught the biggest one.  Alas, the pictures prove nothing.

 

 

 

[Scott F]

In my eyes people want to see the fish, not my ugly mug so why not hold it closer to the camera.less of me, more of the fish.

 

If that's the case, instead of moving the fish away from you toward the camera, all you have to do is zoom in or move the camera closer to the fish. You can fill the frame with the fish without distorting the size relative to   the size of everything else in the picture.

[SudburyBasser]

If that's the case, instead of moving the fish away from you toward the camera, all you have to do is zoom in or move the camera closer to the fish.

 

Which is the functional equivalent of holding the fish away from your body.

 

People need to chill...

[jhoffman]

Holding the fish out in front of you 3 feet is not the same as zooming on a subject. People do the same thing with bucks suddonly that little 60" deer looks like it makes P&Y.

 

Its not like its some big secret or people just figured this out. Its been known about for years. Ive heard enough times, "hold it out makes it look bigger". If it was all about the fish the person wouldnt be in the picture at all besides some hands.

 

Trout fisherman are the worst about this next to us archery hunters. They not only hold it out ten feet they **** it 60 degrees sideways so it looks like its six feet long too.

[Brian Needham]

am I the only one that has bigger worries than how others hold their fish.

 

Maybe we should call our local/state game and fish commission and DEMAND standardized fish picture holding laws..... because clearly this is an epidemic that needs to be solved. 

[shimmy]

Most everybody takes pictures of their catches but one thing that bothers me is why so many feel the need to push the fish toward the camera in order to make it appear bigger than it really is. If you catch a nice one, distorting the picture that way to me, is just like having the fish "grow" when you tell someone how big it was.  Is it really necessary to make that fish look 3 feet long, when it's already a very nice fish?

 

Yes it is.

 

As long as you provide a weight and you make it look huge, who cares? I think the problem occurs when you get the full arm extension and the angler states the fish is 4 pounds bigger than it is. For people who like to catch big fish, it is fun to show pictures of a fish looking big. The pictures provide a memory of how exciting the relatively big fish was in our mind. Does anyone take a picture of a nice bass and hope it looks smaller than it really is? 

[SudburyBasser]

am I the only one that has bigger worries than how others hold their fish.

 

Maybe we should call our local/state game and fish commission and DEMAND standardized fish picture holding laws..... because clearly this is an epidemic that needs to be solved. 

 

This is how government grows 

[jbsoonerfan]

Which one of these fish is bigger? Two different pics to show the arm out vs. close to body.

 

 

 

[jbsoonerfan]

BTW, most cell phones automatically zoom in on the nearest thing in a frame. Which is what these pics were taken with.

[BassinB]

If I catch a big enough fish worth taking a picture I'm making that thing look as good as I can.  I don't care whether or not someone looks at it and says "that fish is smaller than it looks".  The only point of a picture is to capture something that you think is out of the ordinary, so why not make it look out of the ordinary? I know that's what other people do and it doesn't bother me one bit. Yes there are extremes but c'mon, as long as its not ridiculous what difference does it make?

[Bluebasser86]

Once you've seen enough pictures of big fish it makes it harder to try to pass a smaller fish as a big fish. I don't care if you want to hold it out to the camera, I'm looking at the picture to see the fish anyways. For me it's when someone holds out a 3lb fish and tries to claim it's 6 that bugs me. It's like this first picture I could try to claim it's 6 easy with it's frame and because it's close to the camera because of the self shot, but if you inspect it a little closer unless I had hands like bear paws you can tell it's just a solid 3 pounder.

 

Then this 6 1/4 pound Beaver Lake bass that doesn't look all that big at first until you start to compare it's length to my height or compare it to the 5" swimming flukes I was using on my A-rig. 

 

Off topic but I just noticed in that second picture you can see all the fish that were streaking around the point chasing shad on my graph, kind of cool!

[Tuckahoe Joe]

For the most part, I take pics of everything I catch whether its big or small.  I usually fish by myself so whenever I take a pic, I'm holding the fish in one hand and working the camera with the other.  Sometimes it can be difficult because I can only stretch my fish arm out so far.  I have pics of 12 inch fish that take up the entire frame.  With pics like that it can be difficult to determine size so I usually try and get the pic with the lure still in the fishes mouth to give it some perspective.  Everyone knows how big a KVD 1.5 is and if there's one hanging out of the fishes mouth,  it makes it easy to figure the size of the fish.

 

It doesn't particularly bother me when someone holds the fish out to the camera.  They're usually only trying to take a good picture.  Just don't lie about the size/weight.

[Comfortably Numb]

This is same fish. 24" and 8#. First pic is from camera and second is a vid capture. I did not purposely hold it closer to the cam but you can see how much bigger it looks.

 

 

[senile1]

Once you've seen enough pictures of big fish it makes it harder to try to pass a smaller fish as a big fish. I don't care if you want to hold it out to the camera, I'm looking at the picture to see the fish anyways. For me it's when someone holds out a 3lb fish and tries to claim it's 6 that bugs me. It's like this first picture I could try to claim it's 6 easy with it's frame and because it's close to the camera because of the self shot, but if you inspect it a little closer unless I had hands like bear paws you can tell it's just a solid 3 pounder.

 

 

Excellent point, Bluebasser.  I caught a few bass this past week in the 3 - 4 lb range and all were healthy thick females full of eggs.  I was looking at one of them and thinking how she might look like a 5 lb'er in a picture. 

[clayton86]

For the most part, I take pics of everything I catch whether its big or small. I usually fish by myself so whenever I take a pic, I'm holding the fish in one hand and working the camera with the other. Sometimes it can be difficult because I can only stretch my fish arm out so far. I have pics of 12 inch fish that take up the entire frame. With pics like that it can be difficult to determine size so I usually try and get the pic with the lure still in the fishes mouth to give it some perspective. Everyone knows how big a KVD 1.5 is and if there's one hanging out of the fishes mouth, it makes it easy to figure the size of the fish.

It doesn't particularly bother me when someone holds the fish out to the camera. They're usually only trying to take a good picture. Just don't lie about the size/weight.

Same here I fish solo 90% of the time I take pics of every fish just about. My arm only goes so far to get the fish in the frame. I usually catch smaller fish so it's not bad but the few times I get something big especially pike I wish I had some one else their to take the pic instead of just getting its head in the pic because they are so long.

[Ratherbfishing]

Instead of putting on pounds with people, the camera seems to subtract size and/or weight on fish.  I've caught what I considered some pretty nice fish until I see picture images of them, then it's like "huh? What happened to my giant fish?!"  Certainly, in my minds eye they were larger.  So, to make up for that "shrinkage", I hold out the fish some.  I think a lot of people do likewise.