I often begin my day going through several sources of reptile and amphibian related news articles. Earlier this week, I came across a sensational story out of Indonesia:
Security guard nearly loses an arm in brutal battle with 25ft python.
I kinda scoffed and rolled my eyes at the headline; I know snakes (and pythons) enough to disbelieve that a snake "battled" a human, especially unprovoked. As I read through the story, my suspicions were more or less confirmed. A security guard (with no prior experience with snakes, especially large pythons), had found a python and attempted to catch it and put it in a bag. Naturally, being a wild animal, the snake defended itself by latching onto his arm with powerful jaws (this is why I say don't attempt to capture or kill snakes; you're only MORE likely to be bitten!). Fortunately, the man survived, but the snake was fried up by the local village.
"I tried to catch it, my hand was bitten, and I managed to wrestle it." -Robert Nababan Source
Despite the bizarre claims made in the article, it was the photos that stood out to me.
The snake in this photo looks absolutely gigantic...almost impossibly large. It is through a technique called force perspective that the photographer is able to make the snake look much bigger than it actually is. Don't get me wrong, this python is a massive snake, but not nearly as large as this sensational photo would have you believe. By holding the subject of the photo much closer to the camera, it greatly increases the appearance of the subjects size, especially compared to subjects in the background. Here, the snake's body looks almost as thick as the child's torso in the foreground, however in reality is it probably only about five to six inches in diameter (a single man would never be able to take on something as big as it appears to be!). This illusion is quite common; I've seen fishermen hold their catches towards the camera to create a larger effect on their catch!
Fun fact!: In the Lord of the Rings films, forced prospective was used to make the hobbits and dwarves appear much shorter than other characters. The actors playing these shorter characters are often much further away from the camera than it appears!
The reason the photo stood out to me is that this practice of forced perspective is very common in the world of herpetology, especially among snakes. People have a habit of taking photos like this, both in professional and informal situations. When showing off a snake someone has captured (or killed) they often employ the illusion to make the animal more imposing. The press is no different; news outlets often used these forced perspective photos to create a more sensational photo that draws in viewers and readers.
As comical as it is for me to see these photos, it's also a bit frustrating. I certainly know these animals cannot possibly reach the size they are portrayed as, however this does nothing to help the public image of these animals. Photos like these give the impression that snakes are far larger and more dangerous than they truly are. Such a photo, combined with the headline above, gives the impression of a man-eating super snake attacking a human, when in reality it was a scared animal lashing out in defense. In order to begin protecting these animals, as well as other animals the public often regard with fear (sharks, alligators, spiders, etc), we have to keep in mind how we portray them. Creating an attention grabbing photos is certainly tempting, but it is very easy to create the wrong impression!
Because Frodo and Gandalf are here you deserve an upvote HAHAHAHAHHAH, they are far apart! T.T I should really make Lord of the Rings fan art. I love LOTR really... do you?
Hi, well this is interesting. We often find snakes here and mostly cobras and some Boa constrictors, the largest our neighbors caught was about a meter long and a bit thicker than my arm which was quite big and alarming. most small snakes, our cats play with them and kill them. we caught a small spitting cobra once, i think. not us our neighbour caught it for us we found it in our house then we put it in a plastic cage and it stood up and spat we set it free afterwards ..... we also found a blind snake too which was really cute. Resteemed this. upvote and follow :) right, snakes are harmless if you leave them alone i think, these animals are more scared of us than we are of them.... :)
come to think of it, some snakes people catch here are killed which is sad :( messes up the balance.
theyll only think youre crazy if you tell them "Oh set it free"
I found you from papa-pepper's selfie challenges, and really glad to have found something like this on Steemit!
This is a really interesting post and would be a good technique to use in the selfie challenge for some fun :)
Had a Homer Simpson DOH! moment here. I thought pictures/videos of this ilk were photoshopped/edited, not simply a camera perspective trick.
Idea for future post?
Being a hobby photographer myself, mainly for animals and nature, I like to use this too. Or macros of tiny things, making them look huge. Like in this picture:
https://steemit.com/steemitphotochallenge/@beatminister/steemitphotochallenge-42-animal-portrait
If you dont know what the background is, its hard to estimate size. We always try to make sense of what we see in our brain, and that can fool us at times.
I love the effect of the last photo with the construction equipment. It's just too bad that these photos can enhance people's dislike of snakes...
As a photographer, I can confirm this article. Totally forced perspective. I learned that technique from my dearly departed and tricky grandfather when I was knee high. He would show me pictures of the impossibly huge fish he would catch. He would eventually give up his secret which somewhat sparked my photography interest. P. S. I just wrote an article you might be interested in, if you have not seen it yet.
https://steemit.com/photography/@davidwilliams/sad-news-about-our-snakes
Lol it seems to be a popular tool for anglers and fishermen! Can't say I'm not guilty of doing it myself once or twice!
I read your article; I actually wrote about the very same incident just a few days ago. I'm glad to see it's getting more and more attention and sympathy! Upvoted and followed!
https://steemit.com/animals/@herpetologyguy/what-really-grinds-my-gears-some-graphic-content
I must have missed it. In terms of steemit features, I really hope that they code a better way to unfollow people. I miss a lot of good articles just in the sheer volume of posts in my feed. I'll go check it out.
Well the title makes it harder to find lol. I think they need a "recommended for you based on tags you read" feature!
That would be a nice feature actually. Like a live tab along the right side or something. Constantly updating.
first, that guy is an idiot. Second, click bait photo is clickbait XD
Well said. I saw this article and thought the same thing. This is a valuable lesson to learn for those who are inexperienced with photographic techniques and the natural specimens depicted
If an animal doesn't look proportional in a photo, It's probably a disproportionate photo. That python's head is HUGE in the photo in addition to the neck possessing a widening taper
Nice post , here one photo when i visit Bali few years ago with the snake in the shop :)
I learned something new to grow my photography practice :) forced prospective (perspective?) here I come hehe