Stuff

The biggest problems with people’s snaps were ‘out of focus’.

Well, that’s what you would assume. Sometimes, the camera was indeed not focused properly – those simple cameras had fixed lenses and worked in a given range reasonably acceptably, but too close and it failed. Some, like the one in the previous post, had a simple switch that did help a little.

Sometimes the cameras were simply broken, or there was yuck on the lens.

But, for the most part, ‘out of focus’ meant camera movement. The shutter of the camera has to be open for a certain amount of time to allow the light in for a perfect exposure, and moving the camera in that time, which would only be a fraction of a second in daylight but could be longer in dark conditions, makes a smeary picture.

When I was learning how to take decent pictures, I was always told:

• hold the camera with both hands
• feet slightly apart
• arms by your body, tucked in
• hold your breath for a fraction of  second
• wait a fraction of a second after the pic is taken
• use a tripod at night, or some other stable surface, if possible

Having a camera with an eyepiece/viewfinder is essential, I think. A camera with only an LCD screen means you have to hold it away from your body, increasing the chances of shake. But, since, with a digital camera, you can take thousands of pictures until you get it right at no cost, it should be easier to take sharp pictures, shouldn’t it?

People would bring their exposed films before we closed at 10pm. The manager would drop them into the nearby processing house, George Stocks, surely long gone, and they would be delivered back by tea time the next day.

Then we did a slightly naughty thing. The manager would go through all the packs quickly to look at the snaps. There were several reasons for this.

Firstly, to identify any consistent issues, under or over exposure, out of focus, poor flash etc, so we could advise the customer what they were doing wrong.

Secondly, to find a nice picture with recognisable people on and put it to the front of the pack. So, when the customer came in and we opened the pack to say “Are these yours?” (mix ups could happen) they could see a nice picture of someone they could recognise, be happy and then pay up the fairly high cost of developing and printing needed.

On a good day we could get sack loads of film in for processing.