Pond Boss Forums INTRO Common Pond Q&A (archives) Secrets of Bruce Condello Photo Technique Revealed

This news flash just in!

Bruce Condello holds his fish out in front of him for photos! Now I know this may come as a shock to many of you. As a matter of fact, you've probably just assumed that I was holding the fish behind me...but no, it's true, I've got the fish out in front of me.

If you would like to know some of the secrets to this technique, read on!

Rule #1. Catch a big fish. No matter how hard you try, you're not going to make a 9 inch bluegill look like a 12 inch bluegill, nor will you be able to make a 15 inch bass look like a 22 incher. There are certain morphological characteristics that are highly distinguishable between small and large fish. Using good photographic technique you can make a small fish appear medium. You can make a medium fish appear large, and you can make a large fish appear even larger! But there are limitations to what you can do and maintain a modest plausibility factor.

Rule #2. Get the photographer close to the subject. Close to the fish AND close to the human subject. You don't want to be so close that the camera can't focus down, but if you're too far away, the photo will lose impact. Look at the following three photos.

In this photo, the subject is too far away. It is difficult to identify any characteristics of the fish, and the background is too predominant.

This photo is about right. Both subjects are in clear focus. I am holding the fish about half way to full extension of arms.

In this photo, the photographer has gotten too close. Plausibility is lost, and you lose perspective on location of human subject in three dimensions. The human subject begins to lose focus. In this photo I am holding the fish out to full extension. This is not a pleasing photo.


Rule #3. As hinted before, do not hold the fish at full extension. This tends to ruin the plausibility factor, and makes it much more difficult to maintain a focus on both fish and human subject. Here are a couple of examples.

Here's a spotted sucker being held with no extension.



Here's the same spotted sucker being held at full extension. As you can see, when the fish is held out at full arm extension, focus is lost in either the fish or human subject, both of which greatly diiminish the impact of the photo.





Rule #4. Hide your hands. I purposely took some photos to demonstrate this problem. Bob had asked me last week to do an article in Pond Boss magazine on this, but the situation lead me to believe that I needed to do something on the forum.

Look at this photo. My hand is not obscured, thereby giving the viewer an additional near perspective. which diminshes the impact of the photo.





But look at this next photo. My hand is hidden behind the fish, and this photo, which was taken with Dr. Jim Morgan becomes much more impactful. Keep in mind. We are not lying about the size of the fish. This is not photoshop. This is simply using techniques to emphasize what is already an incredible fish.



Rule #5. Take some photos of the same fish with full perspective. I tried taking the same fish shown above using a quarter laid on the fish to give some accurate and reproducible perspective. (No this is NOT a dime)



With ruler (sorry, but I couldn't focus down on the numbers on the tape while still getting the fish's head in the shot.



Boga grip.



..And I thought you might enjoy this one the most. It's our esteemed Birthday Boy Mr. Lusk taking a photo of me during a "Condello technique" pose.



And the same two fish "displayed" for possible publication in In-Fisherman magazine.



To be perfectly frank with you guys, I could be holding the fish out a LOT more than I am. Note the photo of Lusk taking my picture during the technique. The fact of the matter is that I was being brought to Richmond Mill for the specific purpose of writing an article for In-Fisherman. The article is meant to be detailed, accurate, informative and YES, it was meant to be entertaining. Had the photos not been taken to their standards there would be no article, and hence no promotion or benefit to Richmond Mill. I know that Dr. Morgan would have let me fish regardless because he is a generous and gracious host, just like Bob Lusk, but it really was to everybody's benefit to use modern photographic technique to give the fish a little "oomph". I make no apologies for the technique, and my lengths, and depictions of the size of fish were extremely accurate. Let there be no mistake....Richmond Mill Lake grows 2+ pound bluegill, amongst other high quality fish!

Rule #6: When taking pictures of an exceptional fish, make sure to know how to use your camera's "fill flash" override. And then USE it!

Look at the photos during the day that I was wearing a ball cap. Notice how the shadows aren't so harsh on my face. That was because of the fill flash function. You'll run your battery out a little quicker, but how many chances are you going to get for a great picture of a great fish?

From Bill Cody

I think there are some good things that can come from the Condello Fish Photography Technique. However, firstly in my humble, personal opinion Bruce did not invent the basis of this technique. Bruce’s picture technique is used by good photographers in many professional angling publications. Pay attention to great and impressive fish / angler pics in the magazines. You will see a similarity or continuity of method. Although Bruce does have the method practiced and perfected, so it is very easy for his photographer to get a good picture of the fish and angler. It was named Bruce's technique here because Bruce commonly used it in the early history of the forum, it was popular, effective and the name became common usage with the "regular" members.

1. Displaying or holding the "subject" fish out in front of the angler and squarely in front of the camera to produce a well posed photo of angle and subject is just good basic photography method. Good photography is both model (subject) and photographer. I did have a photography class as an undergraduate in college - grade earned: A.
2. Showing the fish squarely and directly in front of the camera lets a picture be produced that clearly shows the features of the individual fish. This allows for one to see distinct body features, any common abnormalities, and allows for easy identification especially if there are any questions about the identity or general body condition of the fish. Example the photo of the spotted sucker that CJ aptly was able to identify from a good quality photo.
3. In the Condello technique Bruce suggests to hide the hands. But it is very difficult to hide all fingers when holding the fish using the Condello method – at least the way Bruce normally does it. If one wants to get a good idea of the real size of the fish look for a finger holding the fish in a picture. Then use some simple math proportion ratio to verify a length in the picture. Example; width of normal middle finger nail in pic 6mm, width of nail in life 13mm, length of fish in pic 155mm. 13mm x 155mm = 2015/6mm=335mm. Then 335mm/25.4mm = 13.1”. Very close to what Bruce said the Richmond BG was.
4. Condello Method gives novices and everyone a clear picture of the fish to learn the specific features of individual fish.
5. A good clear, undistorted close picture can provide a taxidermist an accurate natural coloration and pattern for preparing a truly quality mount.

IMO and for me, when one is distorting a fish photo I can usually spot the fake; usually by using the method in item 3 above.
In general, you too can get good pictures of your fish if you use some of the techniques shared with us by Bruce. Thanks Bruce for the advice. Now, if I could figure how to get a good quick self portrait when I am alone and catch that dandy fish that I quickly want to release with minimal stress.