Lying about the size of your fish isn’t anything new, but new technology has made it trickier. Here are some tips to help make your fish bigger on camera.
Fishermen have been trying to make their fish bigger ever since lying was invented. Somewhere in a cave there is probably a drawing of a fish the size of a mastodon. In the fine print below, the hieroglyphics probably add, “And you should have seen the one that got away.”
Then thousands of years later cameras came along and it got trickier. Fishermen began to understand that the secret to improving the stature of a fish was getting it closer to the camera than the fisherman was. So, they started holding the fish as far out in front as their arms would allow. Pretty soon, we all began to discount the apparent size to allow for this distortion of the truth.
What I am going to suggest is that we can do better. We can lie with our cameras.
Here’s how:
Start with your fish on a line. This is important. You at least have to be able to catch a fish.
Second, choose a camera operator that is willing to lie on your behalf. This may be even more important.
Next have the fisherman back up about 8-10 feet and hold his hand up in the air like the line is going through it.
The camera operator then holds the line out in front of the camera to line up with the fisherman’s hand so it appears the fisherman is holding the fish. (Note: ladies, I use the male pronoun here as I find women who fish are far less interested in lying about the size of their catch. Apparently, this is primarily a male phenomenon.)
Focus the camera halfway between the two by selecting a midpoint and pressing the shutter button halfway in. This holds that point in focus. Hopefully, both the fisherman and the fish will be in focus, but if not, they will be equally out of focus.
Finish by getting the line and fisherman’s hand lined up and pressing the shutter button to complete the picture.
What you have now is the image of a fish that used to cover a foot of the fisherman’s frame and now runs almost head to toe.
Over the years, I’ve used this technique to make horny heads look like state records and small sharks look like Jaws. After your friends catch on, they will no longer trust a single photo you take, which is the whole point. This will let you get back to what you are really good at.
Not fishing, lying.
Lefty Kreh is one of the most experienced, well-prepared, and thoughtful anglers in the world. In this book he shares this wealth of experience with a variety of commonsense solutions to the problems that anglers face. Including: how to pacify a fish, which hook-sharpening tools to use, when and how to take a rod apart when it’s stuck, what to do when a fish runs under your boat, how to dry waders and find leaks and much more. Buy Now
