Fact or fiction

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Jerry Hartley
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Fact or fiction

Post by Jerry Hartley »

repaphin
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by repaphin »

Forced perspective
Jerry Hartley
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by Jerry Hartley »

Call me a dummy, but what does that mean?
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Helleri
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by Helleri »

repaphin wrote:Forced perspective
I agree. Notice how the tongs are wider with the end that is closer to the camera. The article also differs from the title (title claims 8 foot and the article says nearly 8 foot). It's a big rattlesnake. Just how big is probably exaggerated.

In any case, where they found and released the snake is pretty specific. That a potential problem?
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Brian Hubbs
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by Brian Hubbs »

I say BS too. I'm really tired of these fake pics...
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Helleri
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by Helleri »

Raises the questions though. What is the biggest rattler you ("you" being whoever) have seen in ca? I seen one at about 5 feet in the low desert once with dad (might have been smaller though...it was a long time ago). And, how big do you think this one might actually be?
hellihooks
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by hellihooks »

forced perspective Jer... is when they hold an object closer to the camera to make said object appear larger.

Jahred... that was a 5 ft ruber (red) we saw... it was big... but i've seen bigger... back in the 70's... hatd to find true monsters anymore. :roll:
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shredsteban
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by shredsteban »

repaphin wrote:Forced perspective

It's like when people catch fish and have their photo taken while holding the fish straight out toward the camera. If you can't see their arms too well and have a plain background with nothing to judge the distance between the fish and fisherman by, the fish will appear huge. At least bigger than if the fish was just held close to the fishermans body. That tong is coming at an angle and it's hard to judge the distance between the end of the rattler and the guy holding it. There is nothing between them but that tong. Even the shadows on the bottom right are cropped out, or were never captured in the original photo. The distance between the two shadows would have been a great indicator of the distance between the two.


All in all, I call BS as well.

-Nick B
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SurfinHerp
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by SurfinHerp »

To me, the rattler appears close to 6 feet long, which is within the realm of possibility.

I saw a So. Pac. of similar size once a few years ago. It bolted down a burrow right before I took a photo of it. Underneath it was a coiled up 4 foot long helleri. The 4 footer was quite sluggish since it was completely covered by the huge one and wasn't getting any sun to warm itself up.
I keep going back to that spot hoping to get a photo of the monster helleri, but I haven't seen it again. I think the local ranger may have relocated it since it was right next to the parking area.

Jeff
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Brian Hubbs
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by Brian Hubbs »

I saw a rattler once that stretched across two lanes of freeway and its head was resting on top of a telephone pole, and it was eating an eagle...

Now, I made that up...but once I did see a 5 foot + helleri (two of them) in the mtns of San Diego county. They were so huge they scared me. But, that was 27 years ago...haven't seen a monster like that since.
hellihooks
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by hellihooks »

Back in the mid 70's, when I was 'teaching' myself to find, capture, and keep snakes... I came across a helleri that was probably close to 6 ft., in the berdoo foothills. I hadn't yet figured out that you don't noose snakes, and had a noose made of those dlb thick cutain rods with the 1/16th dia. cords that was part of the rod, as a noose. He was in a big coil and after getting the noose around his head (which seemed the size of my fist) I tried picking him up... got him bout 4 ft off the ground (belly button height) and he still had a coil and a half to go... before the rod bent in half and he got out of the noose and got VERY pissy. I... turned... and.... RAN.... :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:
reako45
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by reako45 »

Definitely agree with the forced perspective acounting for the exaggerated size of the rattler. I guess the term "forced perspective" for photographers is kinda like "foreshortening" for comic book artists. Interesting. Didn't know it was called that.
Largest rattlers I've ever seen were a 5' helleri in Santa Susana State Park hiking with my probation kids, and a very light reddish 5' Ruber in Borrego.

reako45
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Calfirecap
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by Calfirecap »

Back in the late 70's I saw a Nor Pac that had to be at least 6'. It was stretched out across a back road in Fresno Co. I was with a few of my buddies at the time and we all amazed and certain it was longer than the Stebbens field guide said they could be. We did get a good look at it as it crawled off into a hole at the base of a tree. I haven't seen any come anywhere close to that since.
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Gary N
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Re: Fact or fiction

Post by Gary N »

This guy has collected a lot of the giant snake pictures that are sent around and explains forced perspective on his blog here:
http://www.livingalongsidewildlife.com/ ... snake.html
and his specific comments on this picture are here:
http://www.livingalongsidewildlife.com/ ... meron+Park
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