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Taking Great Pictures --- The Myths

© Wendy Folse

How many times have you taken what you thought was the greatest photos ever of your vacation, relatives, children's birthday parties, etc. only to be devastated when you picked up your pictures at the local lab? Where did you go wrong? What did the lab do to your beautiful pictures? Whose fault was it? Need a new lab? Need a bigger lens? Need a better camera? Actually, the answer is probably No.

Learning to be objective about your images is the first step.

How to tell when the lab screwed up

• Do all the pictures have a heavy color cast to them? (Too red, too blue, too yellow, etc.) This is a sure sign that the lab processor did not set the machine correctly. Bring the film back and demand that they reprint them correctly. More on this subject in a future article.
• Look at the negatives. Can you read the name of the film and exposure numbers above and below the frames? If you can't then the processing was bad. If you can, then the film was processed correctly.

How to tell when you did

These are just a few of the common errors made by most point and shoot photographers.

• Some of the indoor prints have funky green patches of light and/or orange color cast. This is due to the wrong type of film being used since all amateur color film is designed for outdoor use or with flash. Period. If you shoot indoors, always use a flash. This has to do with the color temperature of the light but we won't get into that here. The rule is always, use a flash indoors.
• None of your prints came out. The film is blank. This is a very common error and has several causes. First, look at the film. Is the film totally black? If so, then it means that the entire roll was exposed to light. Probably because some one opened the camera while the film was still in it. This could also be a lab error but it is extremely difficult to prove. On the other hand, if the entire roll is clear plastic with only about 3 inches of black at the beginning then the film did not transport through the camera each time the button was pressed. This is a common error and one that is very easily fixed. Make it a habit that each time you load a new roll you take the time to press the shutter button several times and watch to see that the number is advancing. This is a habit that almost all of the professional photographers do without even thinking. Never put in a fresh roll and start to shoot on the first frame.

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