Lying with pictures

[RMorrow]

As herp people we have all been sent those chain emails about the "giant" rattler terrorizing some farmer or eating the local pets, etc. Well, the next time you get one of those photos feel free to send this out to them explaining the visual illusion (delusion). A friend of mine found this posting and I thought it was great and about time.

 

[Wiggles92]

Interesting, I never knew that trick required a different lense.

 

[snakeguy101]

Here is another one that I made a while back:

There are a couple of things about that photo that you might want to know.

It's not an Eastern Diamondback (it's a Western Diamondback, easterns don't have the "coon tail")

If it's from North Carolina it's an escaped pet, but...

The buildings in the background are supposed to be the "old turkey creek gas works" in Fritch Texas.

I've attached a photo with an explanation as to the accurate length of the snake

The tongs that are in contact with the snakes body are manufactured by Genesis Reptile Co., a Texas company. The width of the jaws in contact with (and in the same plane as) the snake are .75" wide. Multiplying this width to give a digital measuring stick of 6 inches, the snake can be accurately measured. The snake is only 4 1/2 feet long.

As to weight, a fat snake that is 9 feet long would only weigh about 30 lbs.

If this one weighs more than 6 lbs I'd be surprised.

It does look big because of the camera angle though.

 

[303mfk]

Its like people stiff arming fish to make them seem bigger

 

[RMorrow]

Yep, I just thought it was cool that someone took the time to take those pictures to illustrate what is actually going on in the photos. Fortunately, the people who hang around this forum know that those snake photos are crap, but those crazy people down the road do not and can not imagine that the picture they are looking at isn't 100% realistic. People will believe what they want despite the mountain of evidence otherwise, all we can do is hold on to the evidence and hope logic will eventually win out.